Manchester police accused of attempted ‘murder’ of British-Pakistani brothers

• Police try to go around and kill people, lawyer says.
• The victims older brother is a police officer but is afraid to go to work.
• The lawyer hopes that “honest” police officers will help in the investigation.

LONDON: The lawyer for the two British-Pakistani men attacked by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has said police carried out an “attempted murder” against the brothers at Manchester Airport.

“It was an attempted murder,” said Ahmed Yaqub, the lawyer for the brothers Mohamed Fahir and Mohamed Amad.

He added: “This was a joint operation killing of the young boys by the police. This is worrying because the police were meant to protect us, they try to go around and kill people. They threatened to kill them. One of the boys was threatened to be killed by a policeman”.

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

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

Footage shot in 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 next to him. The boys were at the airport to receive their mother who was arriving from Pakistan after a family visit.

Yakoob spoke on behalf of the family to media gathered at Rochdale police station – the site of many 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 his 56-year-old mother were also attacked at the airport.

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

Their older brother, an officer with Greater Manchester Police, added he was “too scared” to go to work.

Asked why the police approached the family, he said: “That is not relevant. The relevant issue at this time is the health and welfare of the family.”

“One thing I can say loud and clear is that nothing justifies brutal treatment by police officers.”

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

“People forget that the mother was also assaulted. She was punched and kicked in the face.”

Yakub said he had a “long history” with the police, but added: “We’re with policing, but we’re against people abusing their powers.”

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

He said the older brother of the victims was a police officer himself who is not afraid to go to work because he believes he will be treated the same way by Manchester Police.