Mouayed Bashir died in police custody. His family called for help and were treated like criminals.

            (L-R) Mouayed Bashir, Mahasin Khalil (Mum) Mamoun Bashir (Dad) Mohammid Bashir (Brother) 

This article is about the tragic death of a yet another black man in Wales, Mouayed Bashir. He was 29 years old, and he died after being detained by Gwent Police at his home in Newport, Wales. This death occurred some five weeks after the death in January of 24-year-old Mohamud Hassan in Cardiff.

 

The Bashir family will now be reliant on the IOPC to find out what happened to their son. Given the lack of public trust and confidence in the IOPC, police bodycam videos must be made available to the family and their legal team to be forensically examined as to what happened. Hilary Brown of Virgo Legal Consultancy is representing the family.

 

The IOPC will deny access to the police body cam videos. Nevertheless, we need to increase the campaign to ensure that all such videos are made available to families of those who die in police custody - as a matter of human rights. As I have stated previously concerning the Hassan case, it cannot be morally or legally right that the IOPC decides if and when families can see this material.  

 

Having spoken to the Bashir family, here are the summary details of what we do know.

 

The Police arrived at Mouayed's home on Wednesday, 17th February 2021, at around 9 am after his parents called for an ambulance as they were concerned for his mental well-being.

 

Mouayed had been a victim of an assault in January this year. He suffered a life-threatening injury after he was stabbed in the right upper thigh. Having been taken to a local hospital, he was urgently transferred by air ambulance to a specialist hospital, such was the seriousness of his injury.

 

For two weeks, he stayed in hospital. He was eventually discharged and went to his parents’ home to recover. However, it was immediately clear to his family that he wasn't coping well with his injury as a result of losing five litres of blood and suffering combination of PTSD and physical pain from his injury. Mouayed would stay for long periods secluded in this bedroom and constantly worry his wound was becoming more infected.

 

On the day of his death, Dad rang his GP at 8 am to seek advice. Mouayed had a lousy night, and whilst Dad was on the phone to the GP's surgery downstairs, Mum was upstairs tending Mouayed. She became very concerned about the deterioration of his behaviour and decided to call 999 for an ambulance. Hearing a commotion, Dad rushed upstairs, and Mum handed the phone to Dad to speak directly to the emergency services.

 

Within minutes a female and male Police officer arrived at their home and asked the parents if Mouayed was violent, to which they responded “no”. He never attacked individuals, although he was manically concerned about the severe injury to his leg.

 

The parents report that officers repeatedly asked Mouayed if he was violent. And both stressed that whilst he was distressed, he had never been violent. Nevertheless, they were asked this question again and again by police officers in attendance. It would appear as if the Police were treating this as a potentially serious public order incident rather than employing the compassionate approach that is required for dealing with people suffering a mental health crisis. 

 

Time and time again, inquests have made recommendations for police services to improve how they deal with people suffering from mental ill-health. 

 

Time and time again, we hear of Police immediately reverting to offensive policing tactics instead of employing best practice approaches as outlined in countless inquest recommendations and subsequent public enquiry reports.

 

While the Police were talking to the parents downstairs, Mouayed was in the shower. When he came out, he again barricaded himself in his bedroom. The Police made their way upstairs and were in the hallway outside his bedroom, and eventually forced their way into his room.

 

Dad poked his head round the bedroom door and saw Mouayed throwing things from his bedroom window. The officers asked Dad to leave the room, and he returned to his bedroom with Mom. It's then he saw more officers coming up the stairs; once the officers were inside Mouayed’s room, Mum and Dad report hearing a series of loud clicks, leaving their bedroom and asking police officers what was going on.

 

At that point, Mouayed fell utterly silent; both Mom and Dad were now extremely concerned and repeatedly asked what was going on; the Police told them to go back to their bedroom.

 

In this chaotic scene, Mum was in floods of tears and deeply distressed. Dad left their bedroom and went back to see what was happening. He saw Mouayed lying face down in his bedroom with his head in a wardrobe with Police tying him in leg restraints.

 

He was handcuffed behind his back. Dad asked if he could breathe and was told “yes” by a police officer. In response to asking why his son was handcuffed, unbelievably, he was told to stop interfering, or he'd be arrested. Mom was in shock at the aggressive nature of the officers. She couldn't believe they were being treated like this when they had simply requested help for their son. At this point, it was pointed out to the Police that Mouayed had a severe leg injury, and that leg restraints were likely to make that much worse.

 

Dad said that Mouayed’s legs began shaking at this stage, and he could see that he clearly had difficulty breathing. At this point, dad knew Mouayed was taking his last breath.

 

No ambulance had arrived, and an officer ran downstairs and came back with a rag that he passed to officers inside the room. We speculate that this may have been an ammonia-soaked cloth that may have been used to seek to revive an unconscious Mouayed. Maybe it was used to wipe blood seeping from his severe leg wound.

 

At this stage, his parents were so concerned that no ambulance had arrived that Mom called 999 for an ambulance. They report that Mouayed was lying motionless and unconscious. His father observed that he looked like he wasn't breathing.

 

Once Mom and Dad got through to the emergency services, they immediately passed the phone to an officer who told the ambulance service that Mouayed was conscious. Immediately Mum and Dad protested, saying, having seen Mouayed, it was clear to them that he was not conscious.

 

Police officers forcefully told them to go away. Elderly and frail Mum, who was utterly distressed, was then pushed in her shoulder by an officer. Both were ordered back to their bedrooms. When the paramedics arrived, they tried desperately to administer first aid to no avail. Two ambulances attended the property. One took Mouayed to the hospital. The state of shock and distress that Mum suffered meant that paramedics decided that she needed to go to a hospital in the other ambulance.

 

Having seen their son prone, face down and restrained, both parents said they believe their son was dead before the ambulance arrived.

 

At this stage, we're not sure how many officers had attended the family home. Initial reports from the IOPC suggest a total of nine officers were in attendance. However, this appears to be contradicted by the number of police vehicles reportedly seen outside the family home.

 

Things are reaching a crisis point in the Wales community’s confidence in policing, and the IOPC is at an all-time low. People are deeply dissatisfied with the alienating process of an independent police investigation and the complaint processes into these matters. The IOPC's arrogance, its culture of using former police officers to investigate former colleagues, is exemplified in this case. The lead investigation officer is a retired Gwent Police Officer.

 

There has been no contact with the family, who have already expressed their distrust of the institution, given the 40-year track record of the IOPC and its predecessor, the IPCC, in failing to prosecute a single police officer concerning any death in police custody case. The worthless IOPC statement on this case can be read here.

 

It is now urgent that the Welsh Parliament intervene and express its view on the inadequacy of independent police investigation processes. It must urgently tackle institutionalised racism and operational policing practices.

 

The Bashir family's reality will be a long slow process of denial of information, accountability, and then justice. This is precisely why the whole system of independent police investigations and the Inquest process needs radical reform. These institutions are incapable of delivering justice for any family, white or black, and must be the focal point for a national Civil Rights campaign that demands immediate and urgent reform.

 

We will support the Bashir family and all affected families to bring together the most inclusive and most significant possible civil rights agenda for change.

 

Please follow @Justice4Mouayed on Twitter or on Facebook for more info and contribute to the crowd justice fundraising page here.