OXFORD LAW GRADUATE CLEARED OF WRONGFUL ARREST AT LAST YEARS RIOTS

Last summer we all watched the riots unfold on our TV's in shock and dismay. Many of us lived in the regions affected by these riots and could only look on in horror as shops were looted and buildings burnt down. This all diverting our attention from the real reason for the initial unrest, the death of Mark Duggen at the hands of the police.


Influenced by images of looting and rioting on our screens many of us had made up our minds on the current and previous court case concerning individuals arrested and put on trial. Presuming that the police had done a good job, and all those on trial were violent criminal thugs who deserved everything they got.


I was already aware of the failings of the police before attending a trial at Wood Green court but nothing prepared me for the experiencing of hearing first hand how the need to incarcerate someone could overtake truth and justice.
This trial confirmed to me how when it comes to young Asian and Black men the word of the police is not always as reliable as it may seem.


Last week I sat in on a case of an Asian man called Fahim Alam, a young Law graduate from Oxford University. Alam was accused of being part of a hostile crowd in Hackney and for throwing a rock/brick at the police. However Alam cites that he was at Thomas Square on his way home and was just an observer of the skirmishes between a group of young people and the police.


On the evening of the 8th of August Mr Alam left the London Civic Forum after his first day as a research Intern to walk the short distance to his elderly Grandparents home in Hackney. On route Mr Alam encountered  a crowd of local residents and young people on Thomas Square observing skirmishes between the police and a group of youths on Mare Street
Mr Alam cites that as part of his Masters at the London School of Economics he studied riots and that his curiosity got the better of him and he decided to stay and observe the events unfolding in front of him.


Unfortunately for Mr Alam he caught the eye of one PC Sparks who said in court "spotted the alleged defendant due to his Arab Military style Shemegh" (British military terminology for Scarf or kuffiyah) Because Mr Alam wore a so called Shemegh PC Sparks decided to observe Alam regardless of the fact that Mr Alam was just standing watching the proceedings. PC Sparks insisted in court that he observed Mr Alam continuously for 30 minutes without looking away as the scarf had alerted him to Mr Alam's presence on the scene, this was regardless of the fact that during this 30 minute observation, several missiles, rocks, bricks and fireworks were being thrown at the police after they decided to charge the crowd several times. PC Sparks colleagues described the scene as hectic and chaos and PC Sparks himself said that despite his military training he was extremely frightened and thinking of his girlfriend at home, yet through all this his eyes remained transfixed by Mr Alam's Arab style Shemegh.


PC Sparks whole testimony rested on the observation of this so called Arab style brown scarf, which infact when shown in court was a multi coloured tasselled scarf. His description in his police notepad of the person that threw the missile was of an IC2 male  brown skinned European male as in Spanish/Italian etc) rather then an IC4 which is an Asian male.


This particular point resounded with me deeply as well as greatly disturbing me as the last time the police had mixed up their ethnic coding a young man called Charles de mendendez lost his life at the hands of the police.
PC sparks insisted in court that he continually observed Alam for 30 Minutes through a hail of missiles and that he was 100 % sure that it was Mr Alam who throw a brick that hit another officer PC Jones.


As well as inconsistencies with Mr Alams ethnic coding, PC sparks in his post arrest notes made no mention of Mr Alams height, hairstyle, facial hair or any other distinguishing features, in fact he had completely got Mr Alams clothing wrong, his whole testimony consisted of fundamental mistakes, and was based solely on this Arab style Shemegh.


Yet on this flimsy description Mr Alam was bundled into a police van, arrested, taken to court at 3am and spent 6 weeks in prison followed by a further 6 months on a 9pm curfew with an electronic tag attached to his ankle. Yet it took the Wood Green Jury just 30 minutes to unanimously clear his name.


Mr Alam was represented by Imran Khan, famously known for the Stephen Lawrence case, Mr Khan describes the Police as "having an itchy Trigger finger" and compared PC Sparks observation of Alam to the "where's Wally" cartoon where you have to spot a man in a stripy scarf  in a huge crowd of people! Khan's cross examination of Sparks showed the court the inconsistencies and presumptions that this police officer had made and highlighted all the fundamental mistakes that he had made that led to the arrest and incarceration of an innocent man.


Watching PC Sparks and his colleagues make their statements was a almost surreal experience. Spark's statement was terribly inconsistent, confused and reeked of racism and an imperialistic military attitude. Mr Alam is quoted as saying "the testimony was riddled with inconsistencies, together with highly racialised and politically loaded language and that this landmark case raises serious questions about the police and the criminal justice system.


Mr Alam was fortunate to have the legal representation that he did with Imran Khan, whereas many young Asian and black men are not so fortunate, this leaves you pondering, how many innocent young men and women of colour are languishing in our jails on merely the word of a bigoted policemen?
Fortunately for Mr Alam the jury was able to distinguish the lies from the truth and he was able to walk out of the Court a free man, however nothing can compensate for the false imprisonment and the humiliation he suffered at the hands of the Police and the media who were quick to condemn him as a thug but not so quick to write about his acquittal.
But I imagine this will spurn Mr Alam to tackle these issues head on, he has already been working on a documentary dealing with the riots and the issues and questions it has raised and this documentary will be released on the 1 year anniversary of Mark Duggens death.


If we walk away from this learning one thing is that a uniform does not essentially make you truthful or one of the good guys and that we need to look more deeply into the institutionalised racism found in the British Police force before another innocent young man has to go through the same ordeal.