Anti-apartheid activist Jeremy Cronin has revealed that he was one of those interrogated by the notorious police officer Sergeant Johannes Petrus van Wyk, also known as “Spyker“.

He told the Imam Abdullah Haron Inquest that an officer in the interrogation room had told him to cooperate because quote “you know what he did to Imam Haron”.

Among the torture tactics used against Cronin was sleep deprivation and being denied water.

Imam Haron, an anti-apartheid activist, was regarded as a so-called security risk by the apartheid regime.

He was detained in May 1969 and four months later, he was found dead in a cell at the Maitland police station.

An independent pathologist concluded that Imam Haron would have survived the brutal beatings meted out by his captors had he received proper medical attention.

Dr Steve Naidoo backed up two other experts at the inquest, saying that the Imam’s injuries do not correspond to that of a fall down a flight of stairs.

Rather, it was due to him being subjected to a sustained physical assault. Imam Haron has 27 bruises and a broken rib.