20 people heard him say ‘I can’t breathe’ – Is Jimmy Mubenga UK’s Eric Garner?

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• published: 20 Dec 2014
• views: 736

Watch the full episode here: http://bit.ly/1vaRSd7 Adrienne Makenda Kabana, the widow of Jimmy Mubenga who died whilst being restrained by G4S staff, recently found not guilty of manslaughter, talks to Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi about the case. She says she was ‘shocked’ by the decision, describing it as a ‘scandal’. She was expecting a guilty verdict, given the ‘overwhelming’ evidence, and the jury didn’t explain how they reached that decision. Two of the G4S guards were found to have racist messages on their phone, but the court was not allowed to hear this evidence. Unless the system changes, she thinks that this will continue, and we will see more cases. She says she is planning to highlight racism across the world in the criminal justice system, with a campaign for independent monitors so that people can be held accountable for incidents like this. She wants to continue the campaign because ‘we don’t know who’s going to be next in line.’ She will appeal because she wants to know who is responsible, and is frustrated at G4S and the Home Office, saying ‘they know.’ Like Eric Garner, Jimmy Mubenga shouted ‘I can’t breathe’ and died ‘because they wouldn’t listen to him.’ G4S said they didn’t hear him. Her family was stunned, and her children are ‘going to live with pain’ without the ‘guiding hand of a father.’ And she says that until they admit the truth, ‘they’ll hear Jimmy’s voice telling them I can’t breathe.’ Deborah Coles, co-founder of Inquest, who has been helping Jimmy Mubenga’s family, believes that serious questions are raised over the case. Racist texts found on 2 of the co-defendants phones were deemed as inadmissible in court, when they were deemed relevant and admissible at the coroner’s inquest. The coroner at the inquest recognised that the ‘endemic racism’ we know about in the deportation process was relevant to concerns about people being deported, and she says this makes it difficult to reconcile the jury verdict with the evidence given at trial. Medical experts all agreed that his death was caused by the restraint used on him, and 20 people heard Jimmy Mubenga say he couldn’t breathe and needed help. There were ‘streams of grossly offensive texts’ about immigrants and ethnic minorities which ‘have to be considered’ when they are responsible for deporting people from the country. It is a ‘system which is motivated by profit’ and lacks accountability, both individually and the company itself. She believes that deaths of people like Jimmy Mubenga are ‘not a concern’ to them, and we need to question if it is acceptable to have a situation where someone can die and no one is held accountable for it. And Jimmy Mubenga will be a ‘mark of shame in how a system has treated an individual.’ LIKE Going Underground http://fb.me/GoingUndergroundRT FOLLOW Going Underground http://twitter.com/Underground_RT FOLLOW Afshin Rattansi http://twitter.com/AfshinRattansi FOLLOW on Instagram http://instagram.com/officialgoingundergroundrt

20 people heard him say ‘I can’t breathe’ – Is Jimmy Mubenga UK’s Eric Garner?

• Report rights infringement
• published: 20 Dec 2014
• views: 736

Watch the full episode here: http://bit.ly/1vaRSd7 Adrienne Makenda Kabana, the widow of Jimmy Mubenga who died whilst being restrained by G4S staff, recently found not guilty of manslaughter, talks to Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi about the case. She says she was ‘shocked’ by the decision, describing it as a ‘scandal’. She was expecting a guilty verdict, given the ‘overwhelming’ evidence, and the jury didn’t explain how they reached that decision. Two of the G4S guards were found to have racist messages on their phone, but the court was not allowed to hear this evidence. Unless the system changes, she thinks that this will continue, and we will see more cases. She says she is planning to highlight racism across the world in the criminal justice system, with a campaign for independent monitors so that people can be held accountable for incidents like this. She wants to continue the campaign because ‘we don’t know who’s going to be next in line.’ She will appeal because she wants to know who is responsible, and is frustrated at G4S and the Home Office, saying ‘they know.’ Like Eric Garner, Jimmy Mubenga shouted ‘I can’t breathe’ and died ‘because they wouldn’t listen to him.’ G4S said they didn’t hear him. Her family was stunned, and her children are ‘going to live with pain’ without the ‘guiding hand of a father.’ And she says that until they admit the truth, ‘they’ll hear Jimmy’s voice telling them I can’t breathe.’ Deborah Coles, co-founder of Inquest, who has been helping Jimmy Mubenga’s family, believes that serious questions are raised over the case. Racist texts found on 2 of the co-defendants phones were deemed as inadmissible in court, when they were deemed relevant and admissible at the coroner’s inquest. The coroner at the inquest recognised that the ‘endemic racism’ we know about in the deportation process was relevant to concerns about people being deported, and she says this makes it difficult to reconcile the jury verdict with the evidence given at trial. Medical experts all agreed that his death was caused by the restraint used on him, and 20 people heard Jimmy Mubenga say he couldn’t breathe and needed help. There were ‘streams of grossly offensive texts’ about immigrants and ethnic minorities which ‘have to be considered’ when they are responsible for deporting people from the country. It is a ‘system which is motivated by profit’ and lacks accountability, both individually and the company itself. She believes that deaths of people like Jimmy Mubenga are ‘not a concern’ to them, and we need to question if it is acceptable to have a situation where someone can die and no one is held accountable for it. And Jimmy Mubenga will be a ‘mark of shame in how a system has treated an individual.’ LIKE Going Underground http://fb.me/GoingUndergroundRT FOLLOW Going Underground http://twitter.com/Underground_RT FOLLOW Afshin Rattansi http://twitter.com/AfshinRattansi FOLLOW on Instagram http://instagram.com/officialgoingundergroundrt