FRANZ J.T. LEE FACED WITH DEPORTATION TO SOUTH AFRICA
The German youth organization SDS (Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund -- German Socialist Students League] has taken up the defense of the anti-apartheid fighter Franz J.T. Lee, who is threatened with deportation from West Germany to his native South Africa.
SDS has become internationally known for its role in mobilizing ever larger numbers of German youth in militant protests against authoritarianism and oppression. On February 18, it was host in West Berlin to an international youth demonstration of 20,000 against the war in Vietnam, the largest demonstration of its kind in that city since the demonstrations against Hitler.
The SDS national leadership issued a statement February 24 "sharply protesting the action of the South African Ministry of the Interior in refusing to renew the passport of the 'colored' South African student and doctoral candidate
Franz J.T. Lee."
The SDS called attention to the
dangers facing Lee if he is returned:
"The South African government, which re-
presses all opposition to its apartheid
policy, is now seeking to silence all
opponents of racism outside the sphere
of its control. The case of Dr. Neville
Alexander, who received his degree at
the University of Tubingen, is an ex-
ample of what return to South Africa
means for oppositionist students. He was
sentenced to ten years in prison in 1964
for his opposition to the Suppression of
Communism Act and the Sabotage Act."
Lee was a political associate of
Dr. Alexander in South Africa. A year be-
fore the arrest of Dr. Alexander and his
companions, Lee left South Africa to
study in West Germany. Since their in-
prisonment he has been active in defense
work in their behalf.