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By Ezzoubair Jabrane
Casablanca- a fourteen-year-old of Moroccan origin was hit by the Metro in Brussels as he was allegedly trying to flee the police, but police officers said he committed suicide.
On his way back from school, Suleiman Jamili , a fourteen -year-old student with Moroccan origins, was caught by 3 Metro controllers along with two of his peers in a Metro Station in Brussels on the 21st of February, according to Al Massae.
The controllers had watched the 3 schoolchildren through surveillance cameras and approached them to check for their Metro Cards. Soon they were joined by 4 policeman suspicious of the children’s’ intentions and inspected them although they were minors, simply coming to the Metro station straight from a nearby school.
Suleiman’s friends were searched first. His first colleague was released when the officers were unable to find anything ‘suspicious’ in his possession, but the 14-year old veiled girl was handcuffed and taken to the patrol car because of a pair of manicure scissors found in her bag.
The father, drawing on witnesses, said that the policemen’s inspection of his son, an asthmatic, was disproportionate to the situation especially since they accused him of sexually harassing his female colleague. The inspection and accusation subjected the student under terrible psychological pressure, making him unable to speak.
The father of the victim says: “I know my son very well, scolding him or yelling at him is enough to put him through a huge emotional tension, let alone 4 policemen and 3 controllers surrounding him as if he were a criminal.” He went on to say that his son “must have been in an inconceivable state of stress”.
At a certain moment and under extreme panic, Suleiman attempted to flee from the policemen’s grip and took a small railway passage and was hit by the metro.
Suleiman’s family’s shock was two-fold: when they were told that their son was hit by the Metro and when the police said that he committed suicide. The father strongly objected the claim saying that his son “was killed twice, when they put pressure on him pushing him to run away, and when they spread the allegation that he had committed suicide”. “Loves life, he is very live, enthusiastic, assiduous in his studies and lives in a stable family; why would he commit suicide … it is impossible that he would,” his father said.
Immediately after the incident, the police in Brussels started sending correspondences and authorizing the official media to confirm Suleiman had committed suicide. However, the father’s objection to the rumor pushed the Office of Public Prosecution in Belgium to open an investigation on the incident while the policemen in question were granted sick leave as they were “shocked” by the incident.
Suleiman’s father said in an interview with Al Massae that behind the police’s fabrication is an attempt to escape any juridical or material follow-up, and to be exempt from the accusation of racism towards a minor. The family of the victim, consequently, would be obliged to pay compensation to the Metro company while deprived of Life Insurance compensation, in addition to being accused of maltreating their child.
The heart-breaking incident shocked the Belgian public at large especially since the policemen are suspected to have been the cause and trying to cover their tracks with falsification. A number of anti-racism organizations have given their support to the family of the victim. The school allowed a minute of silence to mourn Suleiman’s death and many activists and politicians, including the Moroccan Consul, attended his funeral.
The victim’s coffin was transported to his father’s birthplace in Tangier where it was buried.
