Youth 'murdered for officers' pleasure'

Zahid Mubarek, Murdered by a racist, failed by a racist system

UK: An Asian teenager was murdered by a white racist after they were placed in the same cell as part of a game to fulfil the "perverted pleasure" of prison officers, a public inquiry heard on Friday.

Duncan Keys, the assistant general secretary of the Prison Officers' Association (POA), said that 19-year-old Zahid Mubarek was killed because warders at Feltham Young Offender Institution in west London "thought it would be funny to see what would happen when they put a young Asian lad in with someone who wanted to kill Asians."

Mr Keyes named Nigel Herring, the chairman of the Feltham branch of the POA at the time Mubarek was killed, as the "instigator" of a game called "gladiator" or "coliseum", which involved pitting inmates against one another and betting on which one would win in a fight.

White inmates would be placed with black prisoners, large prisoners with small, and bullies would be placed together in a bid to spark conflict. MrHerring thought the game as "funny" and laughed about it, Mr Keys told the inquiry.

He said: "I had gone to the general secretary and the deputy general secretary of my own union and I had told them of my deep concerns and the information I had. I was subsequently told to shut up."

Fearing his union would do nothing, Mr Keys made an anonymous phone call to the Commission for Racial Equality in May 2004, saying that Mubarek was killed as a result of the game. He also alerted senior prison officer officials about the practice, including the director general of the Prisons Service, Phil Wheatley.

Mr Keys said: "I believed that a cover up was taking place. I was just desperate to kickstart an inquiry, a serious inquiry into the information that I had been given."

Police investigated his claim but brought no charges. In his July 2004 police interview the prison officer told detectives he believed the game amounted to "a conspiracy to murder".

Mr Keys admitted he had no direct evidence linking Mubarek's murder to the gladiator-style fights.

He had heard this from Tom Robson, a POA national executive committee member with responsibility for Feltham in 2000. He added that the practice was well known by senior union officials.

Mubarak died seven days after he was beaten by his cellmate, Robert Stewart, in March 2000. Stewart, now 24, was later jailed for life for murder.

By injustice posted 7 March 05

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Zahid Mubarek's death shames us! 

UK: It is difficult to imagine a more brutal murder than that of Zahid Mubarek. The 19-year-old was clubbed to death by his cellmate at Feltham Young Offender Institution in the early hours of 21 March 2000. He was due to be released just a few hours later.

This Thursday, Mr Justice Keith will finally begin a public inquiry into the mistakes that led to this killing. The prison service has admitted responsibility for the death and its director-general, Martin Narey, has apologised to the Mubarek family for failing Zahid. An inquiry is not designed to bring justice; that is the function of the courts. In handing down a life sentence to Mubarek's killer, Robert Stewart, in November 2000, the criminal justice system did what it could.

Some would argue that a line should have been drawn under the case at that point. The Home Office claims it has now put checks in place to prevent the negligence that placed Stewart, a racist who had threatened to kill his 'padmate', with a vulnerable Asian prisoner serving his first sentence.

But this death was not just the result of a series of mistakes stemming from overcrowding and undermanning. The inquiry will examine a culture of prejudice at the heart of the prison service, which goes far beyond so-called 'institutional racism'. Colin Moses, the first black chairman of the Prison Officers' Association, is also the first senior member of his organisation to recognise that there is a right-wing hardcore of thugs within the POA which must be rooted out.

Zahid Mubarek was a criminal, but he had all but served his time and the prison service owed him a duty of care. That he was murdered on the eve of his release reveals a terrible abnegation of that duty.

David Blunkett has been wrong to resist the calls for an inquiry. But the pace of change in prison reform has been so shamefully slow that the findings four-and-a-half years on will remain woefully relevant. Ministers should instigate a full-scale investigation into racism in the prison service. Where abuses are found, they must be dealt with by the courts. Zahid Mubarek's family deserves nothing less.

By Just Us posted 16 November 04

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