Things are progressing concerning Mohamud Hassan's case, but not in how statutory authorities would have hoped. Last week saw the IOPC hold its first meeting with the Hassan family. At that meeting, the IOPC told the family that I had become persona non grata.
The IOPC had sought legal advice that concluded that I could not be invited to the meeting, despite the Hassan family requesting my attendance.
The IOPC is setting a dangerous precedent seeking to infringe on the fundamental rights of families to be supported and represented by advocates and activists of their choice when seeking to negotiate the complex and challenging process of the independent police complaints process.
The IOPC also held its first Community Reference Group on 2nd February 2021. It had invited 17 individuals and organisations to attend a meeting to hear about progress in their investigation and answer questions. The Hassan family considered this a public relations exercise and informed the IOPC, that they did not want any detailed aspects of the inquiry into their sons' death discussed with this group without their prior consent,
In the event, only four people attended the meeting, which indicates how little trust and confidence people have in the IOPC or the process of an independent police investigation.
Some at the Community Reference Group (CRG) meeting challenged the IOPC about their decision to refuse to allow me to attend their initial meeting with the Hassan family. .
In the CRG meeting, Senior Independent investigator Ian Andrews revealed that Mohamud Hassan had come into contact with a staggering total of 50 plus South Wales Police Officers. That's an incredible number of officers considering he was in their care for just 10 hours. Mohamud was arrested on Friday 8th January at 10 pm and released without charge at 8.30 am the following day.
The most obvious question to ask here is why such an overwhelming number of police officers involved in the arrest and detention?
Such numbers would typically indicate the arrest and detention of a terrorist suspect or a mass murderer. It would seem to me to be reasonable to conclude that many of these officers must've been involved in the violent restraint suffered by Mr Hassan.
Is it any wonder the family has so much difficulty getting the IOPC to release the police bodycam videos? Can you imagine the scene that involves one slightly built 24-year-old black man and 52 South Wales police officers?
This is South Wales in 2021 not Mississippi Alabama in 1968. We must increase our demands to ensure the highest possible transparency and access to information are afforded to the family.
The family and the broader movement are embarked upon a historic task of setting new precedents concerning death in police custody investigations. Every passing day provides more compelling evidence that we are right to do so.
We are planning a Twitter storm on Tuesday, February 9th 2021 on the four-week anniversary of Mohamud’s death see the campaigns Facebook page for more details
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