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Witness History

The L'Amicale Four

Witness History

BBC

Personal Journals, Society & Culture, History

4.51.6K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1999, a fire at the L’Amicale gambling house in Port Louis, Mauritius, killed seven people. The fire began during riots that followed a disputed football final between the Catholic Fire Brigade and the Muslim supported Scouts Club.

Police arrested dozens of suspects, and four men were later convicted of arson and murder. They became known as the L’Amicale Four.

Years later, a group of senior lawyers reviewed the case and found major gaps in the original investigation, raising new questions about what really happened.

Katie Harris hears from Imran Sumodhee, one of the L’Amicale Four.

A CTVC production.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there.

For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue.

We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina’s Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall’ speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler’s List; and Jacques Derrida, France’s ‘rock star’ philosopher.

You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world’s oldest languages.

(Picture: A crowd of supporters for the L'Amical Four. Credit: l’express)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

0:07.0

An early start here. It's time to kick off.

0:10.0

Your day. Morning!

0:11.9

What a line-up.

0:13.3

Oh, thanks very much. We do get some great guests on the show.

0:16.1

The crowd is loving this.

0:18.3

Thanks, guys. Thank you. Too kind.

0:20.2

From morning chaos to match day commentary.

0:23.6

And everything in between.

0:25.0

BBC sounds packed with personality.

0:31.7

Hello and welcome to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Katie Harris.

0:40.4

We're going back to 1999 and an event in the small Indian Ocean Island of Mauritius

0:46.1

that led to four men spending nearly two decades in prison in what many believe to have been a major

0:52.6

miscarriage of justice. They were convicted of burning

0:55.9

down the Lamichal gambling house in the capital, Port Louis, killing seven people after rioting

1:02.4

broke out at a football match. I've been speaking to one of the men, part of the group that became

1:08.1

known as the Lamamekow Four.

1:16.1

I still remember the atmosphere in court as we waited for the jury's verdict.

1:19.3

It was like being in suspense during a thriller.

1:22.9

But my family still had hope that we would receive justice.

1:27.1

It's the 20th of November 2000.

1:29.7

Imran Samudhi and his fellow accused are waiting to hear their fate in the courthouse in the Mauritian capital.

...

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