Court hearings begin Wednesday
The Shoaib Khan inquest begins at Nicosia District Court on Wednesday at 10:00. Khan, a Pakistani national, died on 6 January 2025 after officers from the Mobile Immediate Action Unit (MMAD) shot at two vehicles near the Potamia buffer zone during an anti-poaching operation.
Conflicting accounts emerge
Police claim officers fired to stop two vehicles suspected of smuggling. However, the post-mortem revealed Khan was shot in the back. Authorities first discovered his body in a Nicosia parking lot and initially ruled his death natural. Four days later, officials found a 9mm police bullet, yet the Law Office decided not to prosecute the officers.
Activists push for accountability
The “Justice for Shoaib Khan” initiative, a coalition of activists and human rights groups, said the inquest moved forward only after sustained pressure from Khan’s family. The group alleges authorities tried to cover up the killing, pointing to the initial misclassification and delays in reimbursing the family for repatriation and travel expenses.
“The inquest gives us a crucial chance to expose the systemic failures that allowed this killing to happen with impunity,” the initiative said.
Questions over police actions
The group criticised the officers’ conduct, asking why trained shooters missed tyres and hit the cars instead. They also questioned why the officers remained on duty and why authorities never launched a criminal investigation despite contradictory evidence.
Others involved face charges
Police have not charged the officers, but two drivers – a 39-year-old Cameroonian and a 37-year-old Iranian -remain in custody. They face charges of attempted murder of police officers and facilitating illegal entry. One driver changed his testimony, saying Khan died immediately after being shot and was later moved to a Strovolos car park.
Lawyers for Khan’s family say authorities denied them full access to investigative materials and that officers refused to give additional statements.
Wider human rights concerns
The “Justice for Shoaib Khan” initiative said the case reflects a broader pattern of border violence. “Racialised migrants face extreme force and dehumanisation at the border,” the group said.
Full press release of “Justice for Shoaib Khan” initiative:
On 28 January, the inquest into the murder of Shoaib Khan will begin at the Nicosia District Court at 10:00. Court monitoring and showing support to this case could be crucial. The inquest comes only after sustained pressure from Shoaib Khan’s family and supporters, who have been demanding truth, accountability, and justice since his death.
On 6 January 2025, the life of Shoaib Khan, a young migrant, was violently taken when he was shot at the back by members of an anti-poaching unit operating under the Mobile Immediate Action Unit (ΜΜΑΔ) of the Greek Cypriot police, near the Buffer Zone in Potamia. Police officers fired at two vehicles with the supposed intention of immobilising them. Instead, live ammunition penetrated both vehicles’ shells, fatally wounding Shoaib Khan, who was a passenger.
Up until now, the state and the police have treated Shoaib Khan’s murder as a natural outcome of migration policy enforcement, rather than as a killing that should have never occurred and should be investigated as such.
Concerns about transparency and accountability have surrounded the handling of this case from the very beginning. The case was publicised with the first coroner’s verdict classifying the death as due to “natural causes”, only to find out days later that a bullet from a police gun was the actual cause.
Shoaib Khan’s brother travelled to Cyprus in order to identify and repatriate his brother’s body, as well as to get information on the circumstances of his death. However, during this process, information about the circumstances of the killing was released slowly, partially, and inconsistently. Testimonies have been missing or contradictory, with serious questions concerning the officers’ claim of acting in self defense. Key statements have not been shared with the legal team representing the family, and the police officers involved have refused to provide further statements. Significant gaps remain in the official account of the events.
Despite these serious inconsistencies, no criminal or disciplinary investigation has been launched into Shoaib Khan’s killing. Instead, the authorities imprisoned the two drivers of the vehicles, the only other direct witnesses, for alleged smuggling offences. Both remain imprisoned; still awaiting trial, with their legal teams not yet in possession of the alleged inculpatory evidence in their cases.
Taken together, these facts demonstrate a failure of accountability by the state, including the authorities’ refusal to reimburse the family for expenses incurred in connection with the repatriation of Shoaib Khan’s body and travel to Cyprus for the identification.
We refuse to accept this as normal.
The inquest, which was decided to take place after pressure of the legal team of the family, represents a crucial opportunity to bring this case into the public eye, expose the systemic failures that allowed this killing to occur with impunity, and demand answers about Shoaib’s death.
We demand answers to the following questions:
1. On what basis was an anti-poaching unit deployed to a migration-related incident? Who and which mandate authorised their involvement?
2. Who made the operational decision to stop the vehicles, and under whose command were the officers acting?
3. How is it possible that police officers, who have supposedly undergone training on precision shooting, repeatedly missed their stated target of shooting only in the air and the tires of the first vehicle but instead hit two cars, fatally shooting Shoaib Khan in the back?
4. Why were the police officers involved not immediately suspended and investigated following the killing?
5. Why was there no criminal investigation initiated, despite contradictory evidence, missing testimonies, and the officers’ refusal to provide further statements?
6. Why has the family’s legal team been denied full access to statements, evidence, and investigative material? What information continues to be withheld, and on what legal basis?
7. Why has the shooting into the second car involved in the incident not been fully investigated? How come that the officers involved never mentioned shooting at a second vehicle?
Shoaib Khan’s killing is not an isolated incident. It is part of a wider system of border violence, where racialised migrants are subjected to extreme force and dehumanisation. We stand in solidarity with all those affected by border regimes that normalise death, violence, and injustice.
We call for a collective response and sustained action against the cruelty of border violence and the murderous logic of systemic racism. Justice for Shoaib Khan means accountability, not only for those who pulled the trigger, but for the policies and institutions that made this killing possible.
We will continue to fight for truth, accountability, and political consequence.
Source: Philenews
Also read: Potamia investigations reveal 24-year-old killed by police gunfire
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