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Welsh police refuse to release bodycam footage to bereaved family of dead black man

Saeed Pourreza
Press TV, London

On January 9 last year, the Hassan family of Somali origin living in Cardiff, Wales, were stricken by grief after their 24-year old son Mohamud Hassan was found dead in his own apartment.

Hassan, who was only months away from being a father, was arrested on Jan. 8 on suspicion of a breach of the peace.

It soon emerged that while he was here, Mohamud came into contact with over 50 different members of Cardiff police. The next morning he was released without charge. When he arrived home, his family say, he was battered and bruised. His clothes splattered in blood. He went to bed later that same day never to wake up again.

That raised red flags for his family who then demanded to see police bodycam footage of his detention. One year on, they’re still waiting.

An investigation launched last year is still ongoing. Hassan's family accuse the OIPC, the police watchdog in charge of the probe, of cover-up.

They have also criticized attempts to blame Hassan for his own death, a reference to the UK interior ministry's coroner’s office report that Hassan had been drinking and taking drugs, and gotten into a fight on the night of his arrest.

Those supporting the Hassan family in their quest for the truth say his death is yet another incident in which a black person has died after contact with British Police. For Hassan's family, closure on his unexplained death is yet to come. 


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