On Friday, news came that Mohammed Fahir Amaaz and Muhammad Amaad will not face a third trial for assaulting PC Zachary Marsden at Manchester Airport in a brawl which was shown – in part – in viral social media clips almost two years ago. The brothers were accused of causing actual bodily harm but two juries failed to reach verdicts on the charge and CPS said ‘any further retrial in these circumstances would be highly exceptional’. On Talk TV yesterday, Reform deputy leader Richard Tice said the decision ‘beggars belief’. Some online commenters have suggested the brothers were let off entirely. What happened?
In July 2024, viral footage showed Fahir Amaaz being kicked in the head by PC Marsden while he was lying on the ground in a car park at Manchester Airport. This sparked protests, calls to dismantle Greater Manchester Police and comparisons with the death of George Floyd. Shortly after, CCTV footage published by the Manchester Evening News ‘appeared to show the police officers coming under attack moments before the kick’.
The judge would have allowed a majority verdict but this did not happen
The brothers’ mother had arrived at Manchester Airport on a flight from Doha. She told them that another passenger had racially abused her and pushed a luggage trolley into her. Amaaz confronted the man, Abdulkareem Hamzah Abbas Ismaeil, in a Starbucks and then headbutted and punched him. Amaaz said Ismaeil had threatened to kill him, but two workers at the coffee shop told both trials that they had not heard this threat and that Amaaz was the aggressor. Police interviewed Ismaeil on suspicion of racially aggravated assault; no charges were brought against him.
