JOHANNESBURG: A prisoner who escaped twice from high-security jails in South Africa died while being treated for an illness that guards reportedly at first suspected was part of another escape plot, officials said Wednesday.
Convicted murderer, rapist and armed burglar Ananias Mathe, from Mozambique, was renowned from his many audacious attempts to break out of prison.
He died in hospital in Durban on Tuesday “due to complications with digestive issues,” correctional services spokesman Thulani Mdluli Kwazulu told the SABC state broadcaster.
“We have been giving Ananias Mathe (the) medical attention he deserves for the past three months,” he said.
In 2006, Mathe achieved notoriety when he became the first person to ever escape from the maximum high-security C-Max Penitentiary in Pretoria. He was reported to have smeared himself in petroleum jelly, squeezed through a tiny window, broken down a wall and used a steel bed bar for a hook to hold a rope made from bed linen and clothes.
However, it was also suspected that he had inside help, and six prison wardens were dismissed over his escape.
After two weeks on the run, Mathe — dubbed by police as “the ultimate criminal” — was tracked down and captured when he was cornered in a house and stabbed a security guard in the eye with a screwdriver.
He was shot three times in the leg in that incident.
Mathe also escaped from Johannesburg Central police station’s high-risk detention facility in 2005, as well as making various failed escape attempts that included sawing though bars and chiselling holes in walls.
He died after being taken to hospital from Kokstad high-security prison in KwaZulu-Natal province.
“I think it was a genuine sickness,” an unnamed prison official told the Times Live website.
“Not so long ago he was caught trying to escape’ and when this happened we thought it was another attempt’ especially because it is the festive season.”
Mathe, aged about 39, was said to have had extensive military training in Mozambique.
Notorious prison escapee dies in S. Africa
Notorious prison escapee dies in S. Africa
Indonesia reaffirms Yemen’s territorial integrity, backs stability efforts amid tensions
- Statement comes after Saudi Arabia bombed a UAE weapons shipment at Yemeni port city
- Jakarta last week said it ‘appreciates’ Riyadh ‘working together’ with Yemen to restore stability
JAKARTA: Indonesia has called for respect for Yemen’s territorial integrity and commended efforts to maintain stability in the region, a day after Saudi Arabia bombed a weapons shipment from the UAE at a Yemeni port city that Riyadh said was intended for separatist forces.
Saudi Arabia carried out a “limited airstrike” at Yemen’s port city of Al-Mukalla in the southern province of Hadramout on Tuesday, following the arrival of an Emirati shipment that came amid heightened tensions linked to advances by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council in the war-torn country.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “appreciates further efforts by concerned parties to maintain stability and security,” particularly in the provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahara.
“Indonesia reaffirms the importance of peaceful settlement through an inclusive and comprehensive political dialogue under the coordination of the United Nations and respecting Yemen’s legitimate government and territorial integrity,” Indonesia’s foreign affairs ministry said.
The latest statement comes after Jakarta said last week that it “appreciates the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as other relevant countries, working together with Yemeni stakeholders to de-escalate tensions and restore stability.”
Saudi Arabia leads the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, which includes the UAE and was established in 2015 to combat the Houthi rebels, who control most of northern Yemen.
Riyadh has been calling on the STC, which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthi rebels, to withdraw after it launched an offensive against the Saudi-backed government troops last month, seeking an independent state in the south.
Indonesia has also urged for “all parties to exercise restraint and avoid unilateral action that could impact security conditions,” and has previously said that the rising tensions in Yemen could “further deteriorate the security situation and exacerbate the suffering” of the Yemeni people.
Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, maintains close ties with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are its main trade and investment partners in the Middle East.
