Editing Steve Biko (section)

====Response and investigation====
News of Biko's death spread quickly across the world, and became symbolic of the abuses of the apartheid system.{{sfnm|1a1=Mangcu|1y=2014|1p=263|2a1=Hill|2y=2015|2p=47|3a1=Wilson|3y=2012|3p=147}} His death attracted more global attention than he had ever attained during his lifetime.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=47}} Protest meetings were held in several cities;{{sfn|Woods|1978|p=166}} many were shocked that the security authorities would kill such a prominent dissident leader.{{sfn|Mangcu|2014|p=263}} Biko's Anglican funeral service, held on 25 September 1977 at King William's Town's Victoria Stadium, took five hours and was attended by around 20,000 people.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=169|2a1=Mangcu|2y=2014|2pp=28–30|3a1=Hill|3y=2015|3p=62}} The vast majority were black, but a few hundred whites also attended, including Biko's friends, such as Russell and Woods, and prominent progressive figures like [[Helen Suzman]], [[Alex Boraine]], and [[Zach de Beer]].{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=169|2a1=Mangcu|2y=2014|2p=30}} Foreign diplomats from thirteen nations were present, as was an Anglican delegation headed by Bishop [[Desmond Tutu]].{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=62}} The event was later described as "the first mass political funeral in the country".{{sfn|Mangcu|2014|p=30}} Biko's coffin had been decorated with the motifs of a clenched black fist, the African continent, and the statement "One Azania, One Nation"; [[Azania]] was the name that many activists wanted South Africa to adopt post-apartheid.{{sfnm|1a1=Mangcu|1y=2014|1p=31|2a1=Hill|2y=2015|2p=63}} Biko was buried in the cemetery at Ginsberg.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=63}} Two BCM-affiliated artists, [[Dikobé Ben Martins]] and [[Robin Holmes]], produced a T-shirt marking the event; the design was banned the following year.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=25}} Martins also created a commemorative poster for the funeral, the first in a tradition of funeral posters that proved popular throughout the 1980s.{{sfn|Hill|2015|pp=25, 60}}

[[File:Fist.svg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Biko's coffin featured the motif of a clenched black fist. Many in the Black Consciousness Movement used this fist as a symbol.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=10}}|alt=A stylised motif of a black clenched fist]]

Speaking publicly about Biko's death, the country's police minister [[Jimmy Kruger]] initially implied that it had been the result of a [[hunger strike]], a statement he later denied. His account was challenged by some of Biko's friends, including Woods, who said that Biko had told them that he would never kill himself in prison.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1pp=166–167|2a1=Mangcu|2y=2014|2pp=24–25, 262|3a1=Hill|3y=2015|3p=50}} Publicly, he stated that Biko had been plotting violence, a claim repeated in the pro-government press.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=167|2a1=Hill|2y=2015|2p=52}} South Africa's attorney general initially stated that no one would be prosecuted for Biko's death.{{sfn|Woods|1978|p=173}} Two weeks after the funeral, the government banned all Black Consciousness organisations, including the BCP, which had its assets seized.{{sfnm|1a1=Hadfield|1y=2010|1p=95|2a1=Macqueen|2y=2013|2p=522|3a1=Hill|3y=2015|3pp=54, 117}}

Both domestic and international pressure called for a public [[inquest]] to be held, to which the government agreed.{{sfn|Woods|1978|pp=173–174}} It began in Pretoria's [[The Old Synagogue, Pretoria|Old Synagogue]] courthouse in November 1977, and lasted for three weeks.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=176|2a1=Hill|2y=2015|2p=69}} Both the running of the inquest and the quality of evidence submitted came in for extensive criticism.{{sfn|Silove|1990|p=419}} An observer from the [[Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law]] stated that the [[affidavit]]'s statements were "sometimes redundant, sometimes inconsistent, frequently ambiguous"; [[David Napley]] described the police investigation of the incident as "perfunctory in the extreme".{{sfn|Silove|1990|p=419}} The security forces alleged that Biko had acted aggressively and had sustained his injuries in a scuffle, in which he had banged his head against the cell wall.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=177|2a1=Hill|2y=2015|2p=70}} The presiding magistrate accepted the security forces' account of events and refused to prosecute any of those involved.{{sfnm|1a1=Woods|1y=1978|1p=180|2a1=Mangcu|2y=2014|2p=264}}{{sfn|Whitaker|2003}}<ref name=vindicator />

The verdict was treated with scepticism by much of the international media and the US Government led by President [[Jimmy Carter]].{{sfn|Hill|2015|pp=82–83}} On 2 February 1978, based on the evidence given at the inquest, the attorney general of the [[Eastern Cape]] stated that he would not prosecute the officers.<ref name=CalgaryHerald /> After the inquest, Biko's family brought a civil case against the state; at the advice of their lawyers, they agreed to a settlement of [[South African rand|R]]65,000 ([[United States dollar|US$]]78,000) in July 1979.<ref name=vindicator/>{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=85}} Shortly after the inquest, the [[South African Medical and Dental Council]] initiated proceedings against the medical professionals who had been entrusted with Biko's care; eight years later two of the medics were found guilty of improper conduct.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=84}} The failure of the government-employed doctors to diagnose or treat Biko's injuries has been frequently cited as an example of a repressive state influencing medical practitioners' decisions, and Biko's death as evidence of the need for doctors to serve the needs of patients before those of the state.{{sfn|Bucher|2012|p=567}}

After the abolition of apartheid and the establishment of a majority government in 1994, a [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa)|Truth and Reconciliation Commission]] was established to investigate past human-rights abuses.{{sfn|Hill|2015|pp=191, 211}} The commission made plans to investigate Biko's death, but his family petitioned against this on the grounds that the commission could grant [[amnesty]] to those responsible, thereby preventing the family's right to justice and redress. In 1996, the [[Constitutional Court of South Africa|Constitutional Court]] ruled against the family, allowing the investigation to proceed.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=215}} Five police officers ([[Harold Snyman]], [[Gideon Nieuwoudt]], Ruben Marx, Daantjie Siebert, and Johan Beneke) appeared before the commission and requested amnesty in return for information about the events surrounding Biko's death.{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=215}} In December 1998, the Commission refused amnesty to the five men; this was because their accounts were conflicting and thus deemed untruthful, and because Biko's killing had no clear political motive, but seemed to have been motivated by "ill-will or spite".{{Sfn|Whitaker|2003}}{{sfn|Hill|2015|p=215}} In October 2003, South Africa's justice ministry announced that the five policemen would not be prosecuted because the [[statute of limitations]] had elapsed and there was insufficient evidence to secure a prosecution.{{Sfn|Whitaker|2003}}