- Police are trying to go around and kill people, lawyer says.
- The victims' older brother is a police officer, but he is afraid to go to work.
- The lawyer hopes that “honest” police will help in the investigation.
LONDON: The lawyer for the two British-Pakistanis assaulted by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has claimed that police carried out an “attempted murder” on the brothers at Manchester Airport.
“It was an attempted murder,” said Akhmed Yakoob, the lawyer for brothers Mohammed Fahir and Mohammad Ammad.
He added: “This was a joint killing of the youth by the police officers. It is worrying because the police officers were intent on protecting us and they are trying to go around killing people. They were threatened with death. One police officer threatened to kill one of the youth.”
The Birmingham-based lawyer said he received a call for help from the family at the centre of the incident. Yakoob, dubbed the “TikTok lawyer”, won a significant number of votes in this year's West Midlands mayoral election, finishing third on a pro-Gaza ticket.
He came second as an independent and reduced Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood's majority from 25,000 to just over 3,000 in the July 4 election.
Footage filmed at Terminal 2 of the airport shows an officer kicking and stomping on the head of a man who was lying face down on the ground, with a woman kneeling beside him. The boys were at the airport to greet their mother, who was returning from Pakistan after a family visit.
Yakoob spoke 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 mother, 56, were also assaulted at the airport.
The two men had come to pick up their mother, who had flown in from Pakistan, he said.
His older brother, a serving officer with Greater Manchester Police, added, was “too scared” to go to work.
Asked why police had approached the family, he said: “That's not relevant. What matters now is the health and well-being of the family.”
“One thing I can say loud and clear is that nothing justifies the barbaric treatment by police officers.”
“Because as you can see from the videos that everyone has seen, there was no threat to the police or the public.
“People forget that the mother was also attacked. She was punched and kicked in the face.”
Yakoob said he had a “long history” with the police, but added: “We are with the police, but we are against people taking advantage of their powers.”
He said he hoped “honest” police officers would come forward to assist the IOPC's ongoing investigation.
He said the victims' older brother was a police officer who was not afraid to go to work because he felt Manchester police would treat him the same way.
