LETTER FROM ATHENS
On September 21, at the Agios Panteleimonas police station in central Athens, Muhammad Kamran Ashiq, 37, a Pakistani migrant who had lived in Greece for twenty years, was found dead. Quickly, photos of the naked man, covered in bumps and bruises, were published in the press and on social networks, causing outrage in the country. The leftist newspaper Efsyn believe that he was “tortured to death” by the police after being dragged for several days between five different police stations in the Greek capital, without his family or lawyer being informed.
On September 18, Muhammad Kamran Ashiq was arrested following a report from a woman who said he had followed her home. At the police station where he was detained, according to the police statement, he broke a sink. Transported to court to appear immediately, he was found guilty of “damage to other people’s property,” a penalty punishable by four months in prison.
The police maintain that the day after his conviction, the exile was found unconscious in his cell, which, unlike other spaces in the police station, did not have a surveillance camera. “Who caused these multiple wounds throughout his body that led him to the grave? »the Greek anti-racist movement Keerfa was outraged.
Another disturbing death
“The explanations given by the Greek police are far from clarifying this matter. They do not answer the reasons why this man was transferred from one police station to another, why for so many days he had no communication with his family or a lawyer, why there was no follow-up to the place where he was found dead, why not Did they treat him since he was injured?reacted Kostas Arvanitis, MEP from the left-wing Syriza party. This political group requested that a possible racist motive for this crime be examined in court.
After strong reactions from the opposition, NGOs and several demonstrations in front of the police station denouncing police violence, the Ministry of Citizen Protection asked the Rights Ombudsman to open an investigation into the circumstances of the detainee’s death and possible abuses against him. . by the police, to have “a complete and quick clarification” on this matter.
But before things calmed down, another disturbing event occurred at another Athens police station, in Omonia, famous for its mistreatment. the 1Ahem In October, a 29-year-old Bangladeshi migrant was discovered unconscious in his cell after hanging himself with the fabric of a piece of clothing. “The police speak of a suicide in a cell where there were eleven other detainees. Did no one realize that someone wanted to end their life? »Keerfa asked. The prosecution also ordered an investigation into this case.
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