Basics Community Newsletter Bulletin
June 13, 2008

On June 12, 2008 the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) released reports regarding the police murders of 18-year-old Alwy Al-Nadhir and 28-year-old Byron Debassige. In both cases, the reports cleared police of any wrongdoing. The families are distraught and unsatisfied with the reports. Both official reports clash with the information that the families had been given prior to the reports being released. In addition, certain crucial information was missing from the reports. Nowhere in Debassige’s report does it mention that Byron was schizophrenic. Contrary to what the report says about eyewitnesses, witnesses told the family that Byron posed no visible threat and was in fact singing and laughing when he was approached by the police.

In Al-Nadhir’s case, the report says that Al-Nadhir tried to grab the officer’s gun from him. This is inconsistent with the scant information provided to the family prior to the report being released when investigators told Al-Nadhir’s family that he had tried to run away.

In both cases, the families will fight for a timely coroner’s inquest in order to find out what really happened to their loved ones. The Justice for Alwy Campaign is bringing together families like Byron’s and Alwy’s who have suffered the loss of a loved one at the hands of police. Together, families affected by police brutality are coming together to demand justice and build a formidable people’s movement to make that possible. Justice for Alwy and Byron now!

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