Soleiman Faqiri’s deadly restraint by Ontario jail guards in 2016 has been deemed a homicide — words his family has waited to hear for nearly seven years since he died shackled, pepper sprayed and covered with a spit hood face down on a cell floor.
The verdict from the jury at the coroner’s inquest carries no legal consequence, however it represents a major milestone in the family’s fight for accountability in the 30-year-old’s death.
“The jury has spoken and called this a homicide. There is no longer any doubt left that my brother Soleiman Faqiri was killed by correctional officers at CECC,” Faqiri’s older brother, Yusuf Faqiri, told CBC News.
“Although we will never get our beloved Soli back, my family is relieved that the truth has come out and that the facts has come to light for Canadians to see. The facts speak for themselves.”
WATCH | What we learned at the inquest into Soleiman Faqiri’s death:
WARNING: This video contains graphic footage. Soleiman Faqiri died at the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ont., after he was repeatedly struck by guards, pepper-sprayed twice, covered with a spit hood and placed on his stomach on the floor of a segregation cell. Shanifa Nasser explains what jurors were told at an inquest into the 30-year-old’s death.
Along with the homicide verdict, the jury made 57 recommendations aimed at preventing future deaths in provincial jails.
Following the verdict, the five-person jury delivered a poignant statement about their experience hearing from some 22 witnesses over the course of the three-week inquest:
“At many times it felt like watching a movie you had seen before where there were so many instances where if one small action had been different, the ending would not have been the one we know. But the movie always played out the same way and we are left to reflect on our shortcomings instead of seeing a happy ending.
Hopefully this will be the last time.”
Injuries a ‘perfect storm’ for his death: pathologist
Faqiri suffered from schizoaffective disorder — a combination of schizophrenic and bipolar symptoms. He was taken into custody on Dec. 4, 2016 after allegedly stabbing a neighbour during what his family has said was a psychotic episode. At the time of his death, he was awaiting a medical evaluation at the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences.
That assessment never happened.
Less than two weeks later, Faqiri was dead. Ontario’s chief forensic pathologist has said the injuries Faqiri sustained during a violent restraint by guards were “a perfect storm for his death.”
A straight-A student, Faqiri was captain of his high school football team and was especially close to his mother, his family has said. When he graduated, his future looked bright. In 2005, he enrolled at the University of Waterloo, where he was studying environmental engineering.
But his plans were cut short after a car crash when he was 19. Not long after, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
From that point on, his life took a turn. He couldn’t continue with school and was picked up several times under Ontario’s Mental Health Act. Over the years, his family has said it struggled to get him the help he needed and that he was on and off his medications, his condition deteriorating.
In his 11 days inside the Lindsay, Ont., jail, jurors heard his condition went from bad to worse.
Police can reopen investigation, but not obligated
Faqiri died after being repeatedly struck by guards, pepper sprayed twice, covered with a spit hood and left shackled face down on the floor of a segregation cell after being moved from a shower stall, where he allegedly squirted water and shampoo on guards.
The inquest made public for the first time video of Faqiri’s final moments leading to his violent restraint — video CBC News had sought for years through access to information requests since his death.
WATCH | Video shows final moments before Faqiri’s deadly restraint:
WARNING: This video contains violence and some viewers may find it disturbing. CBC News has annotated surveillance video of Soleiman Faqiri’s final moments to document the extent of the force correctional officers used on him before he died in a jail cell on Dec. 15, 2016. The timeline is based on an agreed statement of facts entered at the Ontario inquest into Faqiri’s death, which is currently underway.
It also revealed that multiple “well-intentioned people effectively shouted from a rooftop that Soleiman need help,” as inquest counsel Prabhu Rajan put it.
Those people included a guard who broke protocol to film Faqiri’s declining state in the days before his death in the hope of getting him help, a nurse who pursued a Form 1 application to send Faqiri to the hospital for a mental health assessment, and a manager who alerted some 60 supervising staff that Faqiri was languishing in his cell covered in feces for four straight days.
WATCH | Corrections officer coaxes Soleiman Faqiri from cell:
Sgt. Clark Moss had another corrections officer record this video of him helping Faqiri move from a cell to the shower in a bid to show the extent of Faqiri’s declining mental health. CBC Toronto is opting to post nine minutes of the footage to show the dynamic between the corrections officer and Faqiri. While it contains some graphic content and shows Faqiri in an apparent mental health crisis, CBC Toronto believes it is relevant to understanding this story. You can find the full story at cbc.ca/1.7050838
CBC News first spoke to Faqiri’s family just days after his death. His case was subsequently investigated by The Fifth Estate.
At the time of his first interview about his brother’s death, Faqiri’s brother Yusuf said: “We want to know why my brother died. Why did Soleiman die? How did Soleiman die? That’s what we’re looking for.”
The homicide verdict comes after three successive police investigations into Faqiri’s death ended with no criminal charges laid against any of the guards involved.
While the verdict bears no criminal liability, police can choose to reopen their investigation into the case based on what the jury heard. They are not obligated to do so.
“This was a long road for Soleiman’s family. For them, his case was always about a killing. In the end, five members of the public, after two days of deliberation, reached the same conclusion and declared Soleiman’s death a homicide,” one of the family’s lawyers, Edward Marrocco told CBC News.
“The police who sought to explain this away as something less should reflect and reconsider.”
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