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  • On the one year anniversary of his shocking death, the family of Mohamud Hassan say they continue to be denied crucial video footage. 
  • The cop watchdog IOPC has still not concluded its report into the incident that should have been delivered by September 2021. An inquest is set for May this year. 
  • An emergency protest has been called today at 12 noon outside Cardiff Bay Police Station, and supporters are being urged to demand the release of the video footage. 

Image: Justice for Mohamud Hassan protest, by Tom. Davies.

The family of Mohamud Hassan, the young Black man who died just hours after leaving police custody and telling friends he had been assaulted by cops, have said the authorities involved are guilty of a cover up.

“As a family, all we’ve ever wanted is honesty and answers. We have had none of that. The Police and the IOPC have conspired to cover up, obscure, frustrate, delay and dispute our search for the truth,” they say in a statement released on the year anniversary of Mohamud’s death today. 

“One year on from the untimely and suspicious death of our beloved family member Mohamud Hassan, we remain a family in shock at the treatment we have received from the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) throughout the last year,” the family said. 

On 8th January 2021, 24 year old Mohamud Hassan was arrested at his home on Newport Rd, Cardiff, for a suspected breach of the peace and taken to Cardiff Bay Police Station, but was released without charge the following day. After telling multiple witnesses, including the taxi driver who took him home, that he had been assaulted by police, Mohamud Hassan died on the 9th January. 

Family members say they saw bruising on his body when he came home, something later confirmed by an initial autopsy report. In March 2021, the inquest heard from a pathologist who conducted a post-mortem that the cause of death was ‘“unascertained.” 

So far, six South Wales Police officers are under investigation over the death, including for excessive use of force, ignoring pleas for medical assistance and issues with the custody records. 

A full inquest is due to open in May, after the IOPC’s report into the death has been repeatedly delayed. 

The civil rights barrister Michael Mansfield QC, who has previously worked on high profile cases including Stephen Lawrence, the Birmingham Six, Hillsborough and the Bloody Sunday Massacre, has been retained by the Mohamud Hassan family. 

The spokesperson for the family, Lee Jasper, said that the family were deeply traumatised as a result of still not knowing what happened, something they say could be addressed if the police and IOPC were to release the relevant video footage to the family, but they have repeatedly refused to do this. 

“Had the footage of Mohamud’s last moments been released to us, then we would have been spared the slow torturous agony of consistently speculating day by day on precisely what happened to him that awful night,” the family said today. 

They have also said that the refusal to release the footage gives the police defence an unfair legal advantage over the family. 

“Part of the reason for this is that most families who suffer a death in custody are routinely denied access to this footage because the IOPC wishes to dampen down public outrage whilst the police, we believe, use these body cam videos to construct a plausible legal defence.”

My Jasper backed up this point and also asked who else has seen the tapes whilst the family are denied access to them.

“The accusation is that they’re retaining the videos so that they construct plausible denial and legal defence for the officers concerned,” he told voice.wales in an interview. “The question is, who else has access to those videos? I guarantee you South Wales Police have seen them and probably a whole host of other key stakeholders, but not the family and their legal team.”

The campaign has now been forced to appeal to the UK Government to demand the release of all police body camera and CCTV footage to the Hassan family immediately.

The public release of video footage soon after high-profile shootings has become the norm in the US, the majority of states having passed legislation to give general access to footage made by cops on the job.

Even in instances where footage is withheld from public view, the family is given access to the evidence to scrutinise how their loved-one has died. This basic right has been continually denied to Mohamud’s family, however. 

The one year anniversary of Mohamud Hassan’s death will see an emergency demonstration outside Cardiff Bay police station at 12 noon, organised under difficult circumstances with Wales’ current Covid restrictions. 

The campaign spokesperson Lee Jasper has told voice.wales however, that when limits to outdoor protest are lifted, a major protest is planned in the Welsh capital. After Mohamud’s death last year, the local community led mainly by its youth, held four days of consecutive protest whilst the majority of the political establishment in Wales remained silent.

Despite police targeting the organisers, the protests helped to put the issue on the agenda of the Black Lives Matter movement internationally. 

The campaign is now seeking wide scale backing to keep the pressure on the police and the IOPC. 

Shavanah Taj, General Secretary of Wales TUC who are officially backing the campaign, said: 

“The Wales TUC remains resolute in our commitment and support for Mohamud Hassan’s family and the wider community, who are seeking an honest and transparent explanation of his death.”

“Given historical allegations of institutional racism leveled at South Wales Police and other recent cases of police brutality, we need to ensure that the investigation is subjected to independent legal scrutiny, supported by independent expert witnesses.”

“We have a duty to stand up to racism and systemic structural inequality and call out racism wherever we see it. It is important that the trade union movement in Wales continue to support our members both inside and outside of the workplace, and how we respond to tackling widespread inequality must remain a priority.”

Hilary Brown, the civil rights lawyer working on the case alongside Martin Mansfield QC, has also condemned what she says is the cruel treatment of the family: 

“The length of time it has taken for the IOPC to conclude their investigation is totally unacceptable. The family made requests early in the investigation to disclose the police body cam and CCTV of MH that both the IOPC and South Wales Police have access to – which has still not been disclosed to the family.”

“This failure has significantly contributed to the ongoing trauma suffered by the family. This denial constitutes a cruel and unusual punishment for a family seeking nothing more than the truth as to what happened to their beloved Mohammud.” 

In their statement, the family also hit out at the South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Alun Michael, who they accuse of silence and call on to suspend officers under investigation over the death. 

“As of today, six Cardiff police officers are now under investigation, and the only reason we believe that happened was due to our relentless questioning of the Police version of events,” they say. “We call on South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, whose silence on Mohamud’s death has been deafening, to support our demand that all police officers be suspended from duty immediately.”

“Finally,” the family of Mohamud Hassan says, “we would like to take this opportunity to thank the tremendous support we’ve received as a family from the public. Your continued support has been of enormous help to us in enduring the last year.”

“Please continue to support and take part in our all-day Twitter and Instagram storm for justice on January 9th, 2022, with a power surge between 5 pm – 7pm.”