This issue reports on the trial of three SWAPO guerrillas in Namibia, with a legal challenge for prisoner-of-war status under the Geneva Conventions. Topics covered include the continued banning of Nathaniel Maxuilili, torture and detentions in northern Namibia, attacks on Angola, education boycotts, and widespread political trials in South Africa. The issue exposes security force abuses, displays of guerrilla corpses, school protest crackdowns, press censorship, and trade union repression. It also covers the new IDAF constitution and the continued use of solitary confinement and psychological torture against detainees such as Neil Aggett. Legal cases include Barbara Hogan, Oscar Mpetha, and SWAPO youth leaders, among many others.

This issue of the News Bulletin focuses on political repression in Southern Africa, with a particular emphasis on Namibia and South Africa during mid-1986. It covers the Ai-Gams Declaration and the mobilization for Namibian independence, education struggles and student protests, SWAPO's military offensive against South African occupation forces, and the clampdown on information by South African authorities. The bulletin includes detailed reports of military actions, political trials, detentions, new laws under the state of emergency, and the repression of labour movements.