Abram Fischer is struck off the roll of advocates

The Johannesburg Bar Council struck Abram Fischer's name off the roll of advocates for his role in the struggle against apartheid. As an advocate Fischer defended people such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and eighteen others after they were arrested for participating in the Defiance Campaign. He also led the defence in the Rivonia Trail from 1963-64. On 23 September 1964 Fischer was arrested for contravening the Suppression of Communism Act. At the start of the trial he was granted bail to enable him to leave the country and argue a case in England, undertaking to return. Upon his return, he attended his trial which commenced on 16 November 1964. Fischer then went underground early in 1965 and eluded the security police until his arrest in December of the same year. In 1966 he was found guilty of contravening the Suppression of Communism Act and conspiring to commit sabotage. He was sentenced on 9 May 1966 to life imprisonment. At his trial Fischer expressed no regrets for his involvement in the struggle against apartheid exclaiming 'I believe what I did was right'. While serving his sentence Fischer became ill and after initially delaying his release on medical grounds, the government released him in 1975. Fischer died a few weeks after his release. After the fall of apartheid, Fischer's daughters, Ilse Wilson and Ruth Rice applied to have their father reinstated to the roll of advocates. In a historic ruling in October 2003, a full bench of South Africa's high court posthumously reinstated Bram Fischer to the roll of advocates 40 years after he was struck off the roll.