Mooroogiah Dhanapathy Naidoo, a South African lawyer who was an active opponent of apartheid, died on June 1 in his birthplace, Durban, South Africa. He was 75.
His death was reported on Saturday by the British newspaper The Guardian, which said he had emphysema.
Over the years, Mr. Naidoo, who was widely known as M. D. Naidoo, belonged to the South African Indian Congress, the South African Communist Party (SACP), the African National Congress (ANC) and its military wing, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK).
He was imprisoned for six months as one of the leaders of volunteers from the Indian Congress who set up tents on land that was reserved for whites in 1946 as an act of passive resistance.
After studying at the University of Natal and in London, he was admitted to the South African bar in 1957 and practiced in Durban. Later he was disbarred and sentenced to five years in prison for helping a person on bail to flee South Africa and for other offenses, including ties to the Communist Party, which was banned at the time.
In 1977, he went into exile in Britain, where he remained active in opposing apartheid. In 1991 he returned to South Africa, and he resumed his law practice.
He is survived by a daughter, Sukthi.