"INJUSTICE"- THE FILM THAT REFUSES TO DIE
By Mojisola Oduola -Falola
For people who still believe in a just world and that the Police are your friend, Injustice is a film that must be seen. It is a documentary on deaths in police custody. Injustice tells us that statistically, in Britain, there have been an alarming 1,000 deaths in police custody, prisons and mental institutions in the last three decades.
The makers of the documentary are defying threats to stop the film being shown. They have had to resort to "guerrilla screenings" to defy the police threats of legal action to stop the film being shown. The documentary, which took seven years to make, includes calls for several Metropolitan Police Officers to be prosecuted. But the Police Federation through its lawyers has sent a series of legal warnings to cinemas planning to screen the film, often just minutes before it is due to be shown. The filmmakers, Migrant Media, have developed a last minute strategy of shifting the venue to defy the police ban.
British actress, Cathy Tyson who is the narrator of the documentary said, "the fact that they (the police) are trying to get the film stopped is sinister. I am not anti Police, but why don't they come forward and freely admit what has gone on in these cases".
Injustice is intended as a tribute to the families of those who have died in custody. They have together formed the United Friends and Families Campaign. The Police Federation claims that it is only opposed to the film because it contains scenes where officers are openly and repeatedly accused by relatives and their supporters of being "murderers". In the documentary, there are no interviews with the police, although, a spokesman for Migrant Media said individual officers had been approached on each case for comment.
The documentary showcases the cases of three men-Shiji Lapite, Brian Douglas and Ibrahima Sey - who all died in the mid -Nineties from injuries received while being arrested by Metropolitan Police officers in different parts of London.
Shiji Lapite, an asylum seeker and father of two, was stopped in December 1999 by the police for "acting suspiciously". In the ensuing struggle, one officer held Shiji in a headlock while a fellow officer kicked him in the head. On his death, the coroner found more than 40 areas of injury on Shiji's body, including crushed bones at the front of his neck and severe bruising across his back.
At his inquest the jury took 20 minutes to come to a unanimous verdict of unlawful killing. However, the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to prosecute the two officers involved in Shiji's death.
Five months after the death of Shiji Lapite, Brian Douglas was stopped by two Police Officers in Clapham, South London, after a night out a friend. The two officers admitted using batons to restrain him. He was taken to Kennington Police Station and despite serious head injuries, he was detained at the station for 15 hours before being taken to the hospital. He died almost a week later of fractured skull and damage to brain stem. Evidence at his inquest said the force of the blow was equivalent to being dropped from 11 times his own height on to his head. The jury returned a verdict of misadventure, which was later challenged unsuccessfully by the family at the High Court.
Ibrahima Sey, a Muslim from Gambia had just celebrated the birth of his daughter in March 1996 when the Police were called to a domestic dispute at his home in Forest gate, East London. Police later reported that there had been a bit of scuffle during which CS gas had been used.
The next day, police informed his relatives that Ibrahim had "passed away" in Police custody at Ilford Police station. When his relatives were shown his body, they saw that he was badly bruised on his forehead and stomach- the cause of his death was officially recorded as "restraint asphyxia". The inquest jury was so appalled it insisted on adding manslaughter to the verdict of unlawful killing.
To the makers of this film, Britain seems like a former Soviet Republic. Cinemas are cancelling screenings after being hit with warnings that they may be sued- delivered as ever, at the last minute. The only way to see the documentary is to contact the director via www.injusticefilm.co.uk and in the manner of old Soviet dissidents trying to find a samizdat, convince him it is safe to tell you about 'guerrilla' showings at a secret location in your area.
Trying to advertise the film is difficult and three cinemas have pulled the film.
Injustice is not just about the deaths of people at the hands of police brutality, it is about the lives of the families they left behind and their thwarted struggles.
The next battle for the producers of Injustice is to get the film shown on television and in cinemas. Channel 4, which had previously backed Migrant Media films, has refused to have anything to do with the production on Injustice. Whether the will show it is the issue now.
The documentary has achieved one major thing- that of showing the viewer how the police profiles of the victims were taken up by the main stream press and history was soon revised. Shiji Lapite became a drug dealer overnight and "the biggest strongest most violent black man" the officer had ever seen. Joy Gardner, who died after police stuck 13 feet of tape round her face, had her character blackened. She was described as wild and uncontrollable. The documentary shows pictures of her in her true light-A gorgeous, vibrant woman.
Families of the victim's start out believing in the concept of justice convinced that people will be punished for the deaths of their loved ones, but as the years pass, they lose faith.
To view the screening of Injustice visit www.injusticefilm.co.uk