Airport incident: mother was ‘attacked’ by police, family lawyer tells media
THE mother involved in the violent incident at Manchester Airport which was captured on video was left badly bruised after being ‘attacked’ by a police officer, the family’s lawyer has claimed at an explosive press conference.
Shameem Akhtar, 56, was allegedly hit in the face with a Taser, moments after her son, Fahir Amaaz, appeared to be kicked and stamped on as he lay on the ground.
Footage went viral from inside Terminal 2 showing Mr Amaaz, 19, being kicked in the head during the incident on July 23.
Our sister paper the Manchester Evening News later published a second clip, which shed more light on the moments leading to the incident.
The video showed Mr Amaaz and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, appearing to throw punches at a male police officer near a ticket machine inside one of the airport’s car parks.
Other officers were involved in the drama.
On Tuesday, the two brothers, from Rochdale, appeared alongside their lawyer Aamer Anwar and mother at a press conference.
Addressing the media gathered inside the Midland Hotel, Mr Anwar detailed the family’s version of events.
He said the family wanted to ‘set the record straight’ and provide context about what took place at the airport. Mr Anwar alleged that prior to the altercation involving her sons and the police, Ms Akhtar was racially abused on a Qatar Airways flight back from Pakistan.
A man sitting in the row behind had subjected her to a ‘tirade of alleged racist abuse’ and called her a ‘P*** b **** ’, he claimed. She was feeling extremely unwell and tried to move away from the man.
Ms Akhtar asked the man to calm down, but he continued to abuse and ‘bully’ her for several hours, Mr Anwar alleged.
When she left the aircraft, Mr Anwar alleged the man ‘used his hand luggage to repeatedly bump into her’. She was upset and collected the wrong luggage at the carousel, only realising when she got home.
The Manchester Evening News has put this version of events to Qatari Airlines for comment.
The press conference was told Ms Akhtar met her sons, who went to pick her up along with her six-year-old grandson, and explained what had happened on board.
Ms Akhtar then spotted the man she said had racially abused her.
“Both her sons approached the male and questioned him regarding the abuse,” Mr Anwar said. The lawyer went on to claim: “The male was rude and proceeded to laugh in her sons’ faces. An altercation then took place.”
Mr Anwar claimed the family then left towards the car park where the altercation with police began. He said Mr Amaaz was paying for parking at a ticket machine when three police officers – two female and one male – ‘grabbed him by the wrist’.
It is alleged the male police officer then ‘grabbed’ Mr Amaaz by the neck before hitting his head into the ticket machine.
Mr Anwar said the family were ‘shocked at the unnecessary aggression and violence’. “There was no attempt to speak to Fahir, to ask him to step aside, to caution him or simply say can we speak to you for a second,” he added.
Mr Anwar claimed that after Mr Amaad asked the male officer to ‘remove his neckhold’ on his brother, he was punched in the head twice and fell to the ground.
Ms Akhtar was holding her son at the time and also fell to the ground, he said. Mr Anwar said the officer then fired his Taser at Mr Amaad.
As Mr Amaaz ran towards the officer, he too was Tasered, Mr Anwar said. He claimed that the male police officer went to kick Mr Amaaz, who was ‘lying motionless facing down’, and Ms Akhtar ‘tried to pull her son’s head away’.
He said both brothers were ‘compliant’ before the officer stamped on Mr Amaaz’s head and the mother believed her son was dying as he was ‘limp’.
Mr Anwar claimed that Ms Akhtar was then hurt after an officer ‘struck her directly in the face using his Taser’. The same officer then allegedly kicked her other son, Mr Amaad, before dragging him to the floor and hitting him on the head with the Taser.
Mr Anwar said Ms Akhtar later noticed that she was ‘bleeding from her cheek underneath her left eye’.
She was left ‘lying on the ground bleeding’ before a passer-by took her home.
A photo showing bruising on Ms Akhtar’s face was shown during the press conference.
Following the initial altercation, Mr Anwar alleged that one of the officers kneeled down next Mr Amaad and told him: “You dirty f ****** c***, you think you can hit my officers. I am going to kill you when I see you, in my uniform or out.”
He said that Mr Amaaz asked the officer why his body-worn camera was switched off, and the officer replied: “I’ll show you why.”
The officer is then alleged to have ‘grabbed him by the neck’ before ‘dragging’ him around a corner and ‘throwing him face first onto the floor’.
Mr Anwar alleged the officer then asked Mr Amaaz: “Do you want my camera on now you dirty c***?”. He said Mr Amaaz ‘feared for his life’ at the time.
Mr Anwar told the press conference that the family had been ‘subjected to horrific racist and Islamophobic abuse on social media’ since the incident, and alleged that ‘there has been a campaign of disinformation in an attempt to justify alleged police violence’.
The incident sparked a number of protests across Greater Manchester.
However, Mr Anwar said the family was calling for people ‘to remain calm’ and avoid ‘taking the law into their own hands’.
The family said they are also seeking to meet with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to discuss the incident.
Mr Anwar previously said they had already spoken with the police watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), with a view to calling for an investigation into the officers involved. Meanwhile, the police constable in the video has been told he is under criminal investigation for assault, the IOPC has confirmed.
A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: “Investigations into incidents that occurred at Manchester Airport on 23 July are ongoing, we are fully co-operating with the independent investigation reviewing police conduct, whilst actively pursuing lines of enquiry into three incidents.
“We have obtained all relevant CCTV footage and are continuing to appeal for witnesses.
“If you have any information or footage to support the police investigation, submit it through GMP’S public portal: https://mipp.police.uk/ operation/06gmp23s59-po1.”
Following the publication of the first footage, the force said: “Officers were called to reports of an altercation between members of the public in Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport.
“Whilst attempting to arrest one of the suspects of the earlier altercation, three officers were subject to a violent assault, where they were punched to the ground. A female officer suffered a broken nose and all three were taken to hospital for treatment.
“As the attending officers were firearms officers, there was a clear risk during this assault of their firearms being taken from them.
“Four men were arrested at the scene for affray and assault on emergency service workers. We acknowledge the concerns of the conduct within the video, and our Professional Standards Directorate are assessing this.”
On BBC Radio Manchester on Tuesday morning, Chief Constable Stephen Watson said: “We live in a really complicated age, social media is really good at putting partial pictures into the public domain, and as a result people are quite swift to rush to judgement.
“We just need to be balanced and wait for all the facts to emerge, because the reality is the public still don’t have the full facts.
“There’s all sorts of imagery and all the rest of it that will be made available to the appropriate authorities at the appropriate time, but we don’t do this in the social media space.”
The Manchester Evening News has contacted Qatar Airways for comment, as well as the IOPC.