In the early morning Tuesday, a man was reported dead in the Athens Omonia Police Department. The 29-year-old man, originally from Bangladesh, is reported to have been found hanged, according to an anonymous police comment given to Greek public broadcaster ERT, using his own clothes.
This comes just days after the news that a man named Mohammad Kamran Ashiq, originally from Pakistan, was found dead in the nearby Agios Panteleimonas police station with bruises all over his body. In the intervening days, there have been growing discussions of police violence and racism, with several demonstrations across the country, and questions levied by opposition political parties.
Two Men Found Dead in Police Stations
The Hellenic Police stated the 29-year-old man was arrested Monday night for causing damage to a police patrol vehicle. They noted he was held “in the detention area together with 11 other prisoners.”
The organization KEERFA (Movement United Against Racism and the Fascist Threat) have identified the young man as Mia Harizul. The president of the organization, Petros Constantinou, told To Vima English Edition that he had visited the Omonia station himself, and the officers there at the time told him that the damage to the patrol vehicle was a broken rearview mirror.
“Police report a suicide in a cell inside a detention center where 11 other detainees were being held. Did no one notice in the slightest that someone next to them was ending his life? How did detention turn into death?” wrote KEERFA in a statement. “The government’s racist and repressive policies have turned police stations into morgue lobbies.”
The Hellenic Police press office of Attica did not comment on where or if there are cameras in the Omonia police station, nor how many holding cells. The police confirmed that the prosecutor’s office had been informed about the incident, and ordered an investigation be opened, and that a medical examiner and a team from the criminal investigations directorate were called to the scene.
Mohammad Kamran Ashiq was reported dead on the 21st of September in the Agios Panteleimonas police station.
A full coroner’s report has not yet been published. But in a press conference called on the 26th, Ashiq’s brother, Imran Ashiq, and his lawyer stated that Mohammad Kamran Ashiq was beaten from his head to his toes. Gruesome photos of Ashiq’s body covered with large bruises spanning his back, legs, and arms were published in the Greek press.
The police statement, made public after the first reports of the death were published online, states that a man was arrested late on Sept. 18 after a woman reported he had followed her to her building. He was taken to the police station where he allegedly broke the precinct’s sink. He was charged with destruction of property, disruption of public service, among other misdemeanors. He was convicted and taken back to the police station. The police claim he was found unconscious and pronounced dead the next morning.
Ashiq’s brother said in the press conference that he had not been informed about his brother’s whereabouts for days, and questioned how he received such a beating. Ashiq, his lawyer, and the president of the Pakistani Community of Greece all have named this a murder as a result of police violence, and are calling for it to be investigated as such.
The Minister of Citizen Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis, ordered the investigation into the death be forwarded to the Citizen’s Ombudsman, “in order to have a full and rapid clarification of the case, within the framework of the mechanism for investigating incidents of police arbitrariness, so that no shadow is left at all.”
Javed Aslam, president of the Pakistani Community of Greece, stated that the group want an independent investigation into the incident and that beatings of community members in police stations are so commonplace they cannot be counted. “If you want to learn how many times these things happen and how many times no one files an accusation, it is a massive number,” said Aslam. “Someone who is a migrant endures terror and fear often.”
Other Similar Incidents
There are similar reports of migrants dying inside police stations. In 2013, a 46-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant went to the same Agios Panteleimonas police station to complain of a threat at his work and according to police “suddenly lost consciousness and fell to the floor,” dead. In 2019, Ebuka Mamasubek, a 34-year-old immigrant from Nigeria died in another nearby police station. Police stated that there was no evidence of police brutality, and that Mamasubek “lost consciousness while he was waiting in the waiting room, without previously complaining of any discomfort,”. The United African Women’s Organization called the incident a murder.
These other incidents have been linked with the deaths of the two migrant men reported this week. “It is not the first time that incidents of police arbitrariness and violence have been recorded in police precincts in the area,” stated Syriza. “Such incidents expose the entire police force to the eyes of society and create a feeling of insecurity and impunity. It is obvious that the possible racist motivation of the perpetrators of Mohammad’s torture should be specifically investigated.”
