Manchester police accused of attempting to ‘assassinate’ British-Pakistani brothers

LONDON: The lawyer of the two British-Pakistanis assaulted by the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has said that the police carried out an “attempted assassination” on the brothers at the Manchester airport.

“It was an attempted assassination,” Akhmed Yakoob, the lawyer of the brothers Mohammed Fahir and Mohammad Ammad said.

He added: “This was a joint enterprise assassination of the young boys by the police officers. That is concerning because the police officers were meant to protect us, are trying to go around and kill people. They were threatened to kill. One of the boys was threatened to be killed by a police officer.”

The Birmingham-based lawyer said he took a call for assistance from the family at the centre of the incident. Dubbed the “TikTok lawyer”, Yakoob won a significant vote share at this year’s West Midlands mayoral election as he finished in third position on a pro-Gaza ticket.

He came second as an independent and slashed Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood’s majority from 25,000 to just over 3,000 in the July 4 elections.

Footage filmed at the airport’s terminal two shows an officer kicking and stomping on the head of a man who was lying face down on the floor, with a woman kneeling beside him. The boys were at the airport to receive their mother who was coming from Pakistan after a family visit.

Yakoob has spoken on behalf of the family to media gathered at Rochdale police station — the scene of several protests so far.

He said Mohammed Fahir, 19, had undergone a CT scan following his head injuries and was “fighting for his life”, and that Fahir’s brother and 56-year old mother were also assaulted at the airport.

The two men had arrived to pick up their mother who had flown in from Pakistan, he said.

Their elder brother, a serving officer with Greater Manchester Police, he added, was “too afraid” to go into work.

Asked why the police had approached the family, he said: “That’s not relevant. The relevant issue right now is the health and the wellbeing of the family.”

“One thing I can say loud and clear is that nothing justifies the barbaric treatment from the police officers.”

“Because as you can see from the videos that everybody has seen there was no threat whatsoever to the police or the public.

“People are forgetting that the mother was assaulted as well. She got punched and kicked in the face.”

Yakoob said he had a “long history” with the police himself but added: “We are with policing but we are against people taking advantage of their powers.”

He said he hoped that “honest” police officers would come forward to assist the ongoing IOPC investigation.

He said the elder brother of the victims’ was himself a police officer who is no scared to go to work because he feels he will be treated the same way by the Manchester police.