QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Now, in a letter addressed to the chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Coroner last month, Ontario’s chief forensic pathologist Michael Pollanen said he has decided to review the case and provide an opinion on the cause of Faqiri’s death. “I believe it is important for me to review this case, on the basis of my duties,” Pollanen wrote in a letter dated May 18."
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: “In Ontario, the Chief Forensic Pathologist supervises and directs all medicolegal autopsies and can therefore exercise discretion on reviewing complex cases if there is a scientific, justice-related, or public interest in undertaking a review.” Since Faqiri’s death, his family and many advocacy groups have condemned both the Ontario Provincial Police as well as the Kawartha Lakes Police Service for their decisions not to press criminal charges in the case. A report prepared by Kawartha Lakes police that was obtained by the Star in February 2018 described how six officers forced handcuffs and leg shackles on Faqiri as they returned him to a segregation cell. According to the report, Faqiri became aggressive and spat at the guards in the hallway near his cell before a struggle began during which he repeatedly tried to get up and several guards hit him to keep him restrained. At one point, a “code blue” was called and 20 to 30 officers came to help, with dozens participating in the effort to restrain Faqiri. Faqiri was later left alone handcuffed in his cell, after which he was observed to be “possibly not breathing” and he was dead by the time paramedics arrived, the Kawartha police report said."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "A six-part TVO podcast series, titled ”Unascertained” after the initial finding and launched last April contains details Yusuf Faqiri said were not part of the initial report — including accounts of an eyewitness inmate who saw the altercation, as well as statements from prison guards who took part in the scuffle, among other key details. These details must be considered in the new post-mortem report, Faqiri said. He said that discounting them would be yet another sign that the authorities are disrespecting the family and their quest for justice. “We are grateful that the chief pathologist has taken over the case. It’s a historic moment and we are going to push through with guarded hope,” he said."
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STORY: "Chief forensic pathologist will reassess Solomon Faqiri's death in 2016 confrontation with Ontario jail guards," by Crime Reporter Gilbert Mgabo, published by The Toronto Star on June 9, 2021.
GIST: "Ontario’s chief forensic pathologist is reopening the case of a mentally ill Ontario man who died after he was pepper-sprayed and beaten by guards inside a Lindsay jail, a move Soleiman Faqiri’s family says gives them hope the truth about his 2016 death may finally come to light.
Faqiri was 30 years old when he died inside a prison cell at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ont., on Dec. 15, 2016. He had schizophrenia and had been held in solitary confinement while awaiting a mental health assessment to determine whether he was fit enough to face assault charges.
An initial coroner’s report released in June 2017 found that Faqiri sustained more than 50 injuries and bruises to his body during a three-hour confrontation with jail guards before his death in a segregation cell. But the coroner’s office concluded it was not possible to know which specific injury led to his death. Having failed to determine which guard struck the fatal blow, the report officially termed Faqiri’s death “unascertained.”
Since Faqiri’s death police reports and legal documents have revealed that as many as 30 guards were present during the altercation, amid which he was pepper-sprayed, pinned down with leg irons and placed in a spit hood while handcuffed.
Now, in a letter addressed to the chief counsel for the Office of the Chief Coroner last month, Ontario’s chief forensic pathologist Michael Pollanen said he has decided to review the case and provide an opinion on the cause of Faqiri’s death.
“I believe it is important for me to review this case, on the basis of my duties,” Pollanen wrote in a letter dated May 18.
In an emailed statement to the Star, Pollanen said he could not comment on the specific aspects of this case but stressed that complex death cases can be reviewed and reassessed as more evidence or information is presented.
“Each death investigation is unique,” he wrote, noting that such reviews of post-mortem reports are not unusual, especially for intricate death investigations.
“In Ontario, the Chief Forensic Pathologist supervises and directs all medicolegal autopsies and can therefore exercise discretion on reviewing complex cases if there is a scientific, justice-related, or public interest in undertaking a review.”
Since Faqiri’s death, his family and many advocacy groups have condemned both the Ontario Provincial Police as well as the Kawartha Lakes Police Service for their decisions not to press criminal charges in the case.
A report prepared by Kawartha Lakes police that was obtained by the Star in February 2018 described how six officers forced handcuffs and leg shackles on Faqiri as they returned him to a segregation cell.
According to the report, Faqiri became aggressive and spat at the guards in the hallway near his cell before a struggle began during which he repeatedly tried to get up and several guards hit him to keep him restrained.
At one point, a “code blue” was called and 20 to 30 officers came to help, with dozens participating in the effort to restrain Faqiri.
Faqiri was later left alone handcuffed in his cell, after which he was observed to be “possibly not breathing” and he was dead by the time paramedics arrived, the Kawartha police report said.
Yusuf Faqiri, Soleiman’s older brother who has been at the forefront of years of effort to demand accountability, said the decision of the chief pathologist to reopen this case is overdue.
“This is the first time that we have seen some semblance of a sincere effort from government institutions for looking at this,” he said, describing the move as “a very important step” toward bringing justice to the family.
“We want accountability and justice for my brother,” he said. “My brother did not just roll over and die. We need to know why he died and how he died. The truth has to come out.”
Faqiri also said the initial coroner’s report from 2017 is outdated and did not capture the full extent of what happened.
A six-part TVO podcast series, titled ”Unascertained” after the initial finding and launched last April contains details Yusuf Faqiri said were not part of the initial report — including accounts of an eyewitness inmate who saw the altercation, as well as statements from prison guards who took part in the scuffle, among other key details.
These details must be considered in the new post-mortem report, Faqiri said. He said that discounting them would be yet another sign that the authorities are disrespecting the family and their quest for justice.
“We are grateful that the chief pathologist has taken over the case. It’s a historic moment and we are going to push through with guarded hope,” he said.""
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