Innocent Syrian Kurd from Afrin dies in German prison

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Kurd from Syria known as Amad A. (26) died in a fire while trapped in jail, months after being wrongly imprisoned over police oversight.

The 26-year-old Syrian died in a clinic on September 29, two weeks after a fire in his prison cell in Kleve broke out. The authorities acknowledged he had been illegally imprisoned for more than two months as a result of mistaken identity, reported NM News Magazine.

He was reportedly confused with another suspect from Mali after he was arrested over a different matter.

The lack of investigation raised fears this could have been a case of racist behavior by the German police against the Syrian Kurdish refugee.

The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

Last Wednesday, the Minister of Justice, Peter Biesenbach, (CDU) North Rhine-Westphalian state, escorted the family to the burned out cell where the mother of the young refugee man broke down crying, Der Bild reported.

The opposition has called for his resignation. 

His lawyer Necdal Disli told Junge Welt that the family from Afrin did not expect this to happen to their son in Germany. “Regardless of their origin, what someone says should be investigated by the authorities,” Disli said.

During the funeral on October 13, the feeling among Kurds was, according to the lawyer, of yet more marginalization, but this time abroad.

“We have been persecuted in our countries of origin, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. And we fled to Germany to live in a democratic country. It is expected of a democratic country that the law applies to all,” Disli added.

The lawyer said politicians who campaign against refugees were also responsible for this incident.

A donation campaign has started to collect 10,000 Euros for the family to cover their legal expenses to follow the investigation into Amad’s death, fearing a cover-up after authorities suggested it was an apparent ‘suicide.’

Editing by Nadia Riva