New lawyer for Manchester Airport video compared Israel and US to 9/11 hijackers
Aamer Anwar reportedly made controversial comments over a decade ago on BBC Scotland.
The new lawyer for the individuals brutally beaten by police officers in Manchester Airport made a comparison between Israel and the US and the 9/11 hijackers in a past interview.
Speaking over a decade ago, Aamer Anwar, who is now representing brothers Fahir Amaaz and Muhammad Amaad, appeared on BBC Scotland after a major terrorist attack that involved a Jeep Cherokee loaded with propane canisters was driven into the airport.
“There is no justification for the murder of innocent people”, he said at the time. “The US and Israel, however, are equal to any 9/11 hijacker.
“We should not differentiate between a stealth bomber and a suicide bomber. The effects are exactly the same. They kill innocent people.”
Anwar, a Glasgow-based solicitor, has been a vocal anti-racism activist and notably campaigned on behalf of the family of Surjit Singh Chhokar, a waiter who was murdered in 1998 in North Lanarkshire.
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The solicitor has now turned his services to the two brothers seen in the Manchester Airport attack video, where a police officer can be seen kicking a man in the head. This video shared widely on social media, sparked outrage and led to massive protests in Rochdale and Manchester city centre.
Footage disclosed over the weekend showed that the individuals had assaulted three police officers before being physically maimed. However, Anwar said that this was not a justification for the violence the police officers displayed.
"If certain police officers behave like this in an area full of CCTV and in the presence of so many witnesses, then it really begs the question of what they are capable of when there is no such evidence", he told reporters.
“Highly trained police officers can never use provocation or emotion to justify the use of excessive, illegitimate and potentially lethal force.”
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Anwar is replacing Ahmed Yakoob, who stepped aside as the victim's lawyer after claiming the media had tried to "sabotage" him since the incident.
"You may have seen the various media reports about me in the last couple of days", Yakoob said in a social media video shared on Sunday evening.
"The media have tried to sabotage me. It's not the first time they've done this though, but they've made this whole situation about me rather than police brutality and police misconduct, which is unfair on Greater Manchester police and the family.
