The total number of serving political prisoners in South Africa at the beginning of 1979 was around 550. This compares with a total of 440 on 1 January 1978 (official figures released in June) and is arrived at by adding the 194 persons convicted and sentenced in 1978 (see next page) and subtracting those known to have been due for release during the past year (the number of releases may have been slightly greater, as no complete lists of prisoners or release dates is made available by the authorities, but it is unlikely to substantially affect the total number of those now in prison).
Issue 21 · article
South Africa
Overview of political prisoners in South Africa at the beginning of 1979.
