‘We are not going away,’ vows family of man who died in jail

Mental health advocates condemn OPP decision not to charge guards

Soleiman Faqiri’s family and supporters say they’ll keep pushing for justice despite an Ontario Provincial Police decision not to lay charges over the mentally ill man’s death after he was allegedly pepper-sprayed, restrained and beaten by guards at a Lindsay, Ont., jail.

“We are not going away, we will continue to fight until we achieve justice for Soleiman, even though the OPP failed to have the courage to do their job,” older brother Yusuf Faqiri said Friday.

The family says it’s planning to hold a rally to demand accountability in downtown Toronto Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile, several dozen mental health, legal, prisoner, faithbased and national advocacy organizations are publicly condemning the OPP’s decision not to press charges.

Soleiman Faqiri, 30, who had schizophrenia, died on Dec. 15, 2016, while in solitary confinement at the Central East Correctional Centre, a provincially run jail. He had been arrested and charged with assaulting a neighbour, and had been at the jail waiting to be moved to a mental health facility.

In a statement last week, an OPP spokesperson confirmed the case was closed in “consultation with the Crown and after a thorough assessment of available evidence,” adding “there is no reasonable prospect of conviction on any criminal offences.”

An earlier report prepared by local police and obtained by the Star in February 2018 detailed how a struggle with six guards escalated to involve 20 to 30 more in the minutes before Faqiri’s death.

Many of the groups supporting the family say the case is an example of how the justice system fails the most vulnerable and marginalized, and underscores how people struggling with mental illness do not receive proper support and can instead end up arrested, detained and in some cases losing their lives.

“That’s the bigger picture we’re talking about,” Yusuf Faqiri said.

In a news release, the Schizophrenia Society of Canada said that people with severe mental illness should not be placed in prisons, but should receive proper treatment and help in a forensic hospital, adding: “We are deeply disappointed that justice has been delayed and denied for the Faqiri family.”

No date has yet been set for a mandatory coroner’s inquest in Faqiri’s death.

On Friday, his brother described him as an academically and athletically gifted man — he played competitive rugby and football — who spoke three languages and studied engineering at the University of Waterloo.

“More than all of that, Soleiman had a special relationship with every family member,” Yusuf Faqiri said. “That absence is missed every day.”

He added that outsiders often make the mistake of letting mental illness define a person. “Soleiman was so much more than that — as is every other person who suffers from mental illness,” he said.

Police investigators have now twice decided against charging any of the jail staff involved in Faqiri’s death. The Kawartha Lakes Police Service initially declined to lay charges. The OPP later agreed to re-investigate amid public outcry.

Three guards were fired over the case. One has since been reinstated; the other two are suing for the province for refusing to defend them as part of ongoing litigation launched by the Faqiri family.

Saturday’s rally is at 2. p.m. in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of the Solicitor General at 25 Grosvenor St., near Bay and College.