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Picture of the day: On this day in history Nelson Mandela was freed from prison

This day in history on 11 February 1990, the world's most famous political prisoner, Nelson Mandela, was freed from prison after serving a 27-year jail term to lead South Africa from apartheid to democracy.

Watch Mandela walking out of prison with Winnie

 

Nelson Rolihlahla Dalibungha Mandela was born in the Transkei on July 18, 1918, and trained as a lawyer. He became a key figure in the African National Congress (ANC) and its decision in 1955 to embark on organised resistance to the newly-elected National Party in the form of the Defiance Campaign.

Going underground after the ANC was banned in 1960, he was arrested and sentenced in 1964 to life imprisonment for plotting the overthrow of the government.

He served the bulk of his time on Robben Island, where he became a symbol of apartheid injustice.

Freed by the reformist head of state FW de Klerk in 1990, he was elected president of the ANC the following year. In May 1994 he was inaugurated president of South Africa by a new non-racial Parliament.

He formally retired from public life in June 2004