Three apartheid-era spies released on humanitarian grounds скачать в хорошем качестве

Three apartheid-era spies released on humanitarian grounds

(1 Jul 2006) 1. Wide of Harare central prison 2. Mid of Kevin Woods, Michael Smith and Philip Conjwayo going out of the prison 3. Woods being hugged 4. Smith hugging then shaking hands 5. Conjwayo shaking hands and his son wiping tears from his eyes 6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Kevin Woods, released: "I don't know yet if I am free, I will know when I'll get out by that gate there. But for now I it feels good, after such a long time it feels good." 7. Close - up of Philip Conjwayo 8. Conjwayo shaking hands 9. Mid of Smith 10. Woods counting money 11. Conjwayo walking out of prison complex 12. Woods walking out of prison complex, smiling and waving hands 13. Conjwayo and Woods exchanging hats 14. Woods speaking STORYLINE: Zimbabwe on Saturday freed three apartheid-era spies who were serving life sentences for a politically inspired murder. Zimbabwean nationals Kevin Woods, Michael Smith and Philip Conjwayo were convicted in 1988 in a car bombing targeting exiled members of South Africa's now governing African National Congress. The explosives detonated before reaching their target in the second city of Bulawayo, killing the Zimbabwean hired to deliver them. President Robert Mugabe pardoned the three men on humanitarian grounds, state radio reported. Conjwayo, now in his 70s, suffers from cancer and his two alleged accomplices also have health problems, according to their lawyers. Woods and Smith were handed over to South African diplomats outside Harare Central Prison and were expected to travel by road to South Africa, prison officials said. Conjwayo was met with embraces from his son, Obert, and whisked away by car. The men refused to answer reporters' questions, saying only that they were thankful to Mugabe for their release. At least six South African agents were arrested in the 1980s during a sabotage campaign against ANC activists living in Zimbabwe during the fight against apartheid. Woods, a heavily bearded former member of the Zimbabwe secret police, was sentenced to death with Smith and Conjwayo for the Bulawayo killing. Two other bombings blamed on the group targeting ANC offices in the capital, Harare, caused no fatalities. The Supreme Court ordered their sentences commuted to life in prison after they spent five years on Death Row, ruling the delay was inhumane and a breach of prisoners' constitutional rights. The three other convicted agents, none of them Zimbabweans, were released after serving jail time, at least one of them on the request of South Africa's post-apartheid government. However, Mugabe rejected appeals from South Africa's first black president, Nelson Mandela, on behalf of Woods, Smith and Conjwayo, on grounds that they were Zimbabweans who murdered a fellow national. Woods sought permission to seek medical treatment for heart disease in South Africa in 2003, but Zimbabwean authorities rejected the appeal for security reasons. Before their conviction, South African security forces mounting a daring rescue attempt. Gary Kane, a young Zimbabwean air force officer, was recruited to steal a helicopter to ambush a prison convoy taking the men to trial. The operation was aborted when the convoy ran late, and the military began searching for the missing aircraft. Kane flew the helicopter to an airfield in central Zimbabwe and escaped alone on a South African plane waiting to collect the group. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...