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Civil rights activist hacked to death in AP

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

A civil rights activist Mohammed Azam Ali was hacked to death by two assailants in broad daylight in Nalgonda town of Andhra Pradesh on Sunday.

Police said the incident occurred in Nalgonda town, about 105 km east of Hyderabad, around 10.15 am when Azam Ali (30) went to attend a meeting convened to commemorate the death of former AP Civil Liberties Committee joint secretary Purushottam who was killed in Hyderabad on November 23 last year.

As the meeting at Dr Ambedkar Hall near the town bus station was yet to start, Azam Ali went to a nearby public telephone booth to make a call when two men came on a Hero Honda motorcycle and attacked him with swords and daggers. He died on the way to a nearby hospital.

Azam Ali, who worked as a teacher in a government school at Timmajigudem village, was district secretary of APCLC. He is survived by his wife and two sons.

People's Union of Civil Liberties President K G Kannabiran has condemned the killing. Other human rights groups have also decried the murder.

This was the sixth murder of an APCLC functionary.

It all began in 1985 when APCLC activist Gopi Rajanna was shot dead in Jagtial town in Karimnagar. This was followed by the killing of APCLC vice-president Dr Ramanathan in his clinic at Warangal the same year.

APCLC executive member and lawyer Japa Lakshma Reddy was killed in Karimnagar in 1986 and APCLC district committee convenor and lawyer Narra Prabhakar Reddy was murdered in Warangal in 1992.

APCLC joint secretary Purushottam was killed in Hyderabad in November last year. Four former Naxalites, who bore a grudge against Purushottam, were later arrested in connection with his murder.

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