[evoz] Feb.23 event
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
West Coast Speaking Tour
Hear this man’s brother call for justice
VICTORIA: Saturday February 23 from 2-3:30 pm Central Library Community Room, 735 Broughton St Lekwunmental health who was killed while in custody at the Central East
Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ontario on December 15, 2016.
According to a surveillance video and internal report, Soleiman died after
guards at the provincial facility pepper-sprayed and beat him. As a result
of the vicious beating, Soleiman sustained fifty bruises and a blow to the
head. His hands were bound behind his back when he was being pepper
sprayed. Soleiman was then forced into handcuffs and leg shackles and
returned to a cell in solitary confinement, which the United Nations notes
can constitute torture when prolonged and used against those suffering
with mental health.
Soleiman was one of five siblings and the family came to Canada from
Afghanistan when he was a young boy. Soleiman's family describes him as "a
kind, gentle soul who meant the world to his friends and family. Even
while he suffered from schizophrenia, he always had a warm smile and a
kind word to share. Soleiman needed a bed and a doctor, instead he got
fists and cuffs."
An initial police investigation exonerated any guards from wrongdoing and
no charges were laid, even though thirty guards were in his cell. The
Ontario provincial government is refusing to provide the family with
access to the full investigative file. Now, in 2019, his family are on a
West Coast speaking tour to Vancouver and Victoria in order to build
support for the demand that the government open a new investigation by an
external police force and justice for Soleiman.
Join us for a panel discussion with Soleiman Faqiri's brother Yusuf
Faqiri, and local advocates on the systemic injustices and relationship
between prisons, racism, and health.