Taxi driver who died in SA police custody buried in Mozambique

Matola - Mourners in Mozambique gathered on Saturday for the funeral of a taxi driver who died in police custody in South Africa after officers cuffed him to their van and dragged him through the streets of Daveyton.

Family and friends of the 26-year-old Mido Macia travelled from South Africa overnight to pay their final respects and he is due to be buried in Matola, a city next to the capital Maputo.

Nine police officers have been charged with his murder, but pleaded not guilty in a hearing on Friday.

Bystanders filmed Macia being manhandled, handcuffed to the back of a police van and dragged hundreds of metres in Daveyton, on the East Rand, on 26 February.

He was found dead in his cell two hours later, having suffered severe head and internal injuries.

The footage spread quickly online and sent shock waves across the world.

Before the funeral on Saturday, rights groups marched to the South African embassy in Maputo in protest at Macia's killing amid an outcry at the treatment of foreign migrants in the neighbouring country.

On Wednesday around 1 000 people attended a memorial for Macia at the sports stadium in Daveyton.