On Thursday Dec 1st 2005 around 7 :20 in the moring, Mohamed Anas, 24 years old was shot with 2 bullets by an officer of the SPVM on Kent Avenue, near Côte-des-Neiges St in very suspicious circumstances. Members of the Moroccan and muslim communities in Montreal are shocked and are demanding answers to the many questions which remain unanswered up untill now. COBP offers its solidarity with those close to the victim and denouces what unfortunately seems to be the latest case of police killing and racial profiling.

Mohamed, who was born in Morroco, was a permanent resident in Canada since 1991. The last person to see him alive is the Iman who saw him leave the mosque around 6 :35 AM, after morning prayer. Mohamed was going back to his place, a few feet away but he never made it. He got a bullet in the right shoulder, another straight in the heart and his body had wounds as well, on his forhead and on his nose, like he was whacked onto the ground. He was wearing a djellaba and a turban and had a beard, all of which leds us to believe that his appearance is the cause to his unjustified death.
Mohamed was killed on a raid site in which he was not connected to. This raid was part of a mjaor police operation brought about by the SPVM, the SQ, the RCMP and possibily the FBI as well, which an additional 6 raids were all part of. According to the media 5 people were arrested and are facing a combined 244 fraud charges for a credit card scame operation to buy gas.(1) These individuals were suspected by the authorities to make fake passports and to be connected to « International Terrorism », but the anti-terrorist devision of the SQ has since denied these allegations.(2)
The day after the drama, the Journal de Montréal published the version of the police: Mohamed is presented as a mentally ill man who stabbed a police officer in the neck and in the leg before being shot by the same officer.(3) But, Mohamed Anas’s father, Mohamed Bennis and the people who knew him, adamentally claim that he wasn’t armed nor aggressive, and even less so mentally ill. For them, he had an « impeccable reputation » and « the allegations against him by the police are completely incompatible with his personality and his character. »(4)
Normally, investigations done for people who are dead from the hands of the SPVM are handled by the SQ, but as this incident implicates them, its the Quebec City Police who are handling the investigation on the cirumstances surrounding the death of Mohamed. When his father telephoned the police the day after the event, he was told that the case was closed, and when he went to meet them in Quebec City, they told him they were waiting on the coroners report before making any comments on the case.
The police have talked about 3 direct witnesses to the death of Mohamed. The wife of Samir Benlakhif, who was arrested for fraud just before the drama, said that she heard the 2 shots of fire and saw the police officer who was holding his leg. For so called security reasons the father could not see the wounded officer, who it seems left the hospital the same day. The officer is only 25 years old and thus, inexperienced. The father of Mohamed also couldn’t see the infamous knife, nor the video cassettes from the surveillance cameras from the Bell building which might have filmed the scene, but according to the police cannot be used. On top of hiring lawyers, Mohamed’s father and the group Atlas Media have set up a support committee in hopes to find out what really happened surrounding the death of Mohamed.(5)
As well the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) and the Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) have both demanded via press releases public investigations on the circumstances around the death of Mohamed Anas. The two advocacy groups for the rights of Muslims express their worry and dismay at what seems to be a case of racial profiling.(7) The MCM state that « the Montreal Muslim community is eager to know what really happened as they are very concerned about this incident, and they feel less safe in the streets of Montreal. » The organisations have asked the mayor of Montreal, the Minister of Public Security and the chief of the SPVM to « reaffirm once more, their comitment to a zero tolerance police in regards to all forms of racism and racial profiling. » The president of MCM, Salem Elmenyawi, hopes to have « honest and frank answers very soon » and hopes that « this incident will not sour relations between the police and the Muslim community. »(8)
Among the numerous questions that remain unanswered, the main one is : What happened between 6 :35 and 7 :20 AM when a young Muslim traditionally dressed was in the middle of a police operation potentially linked to terrorism? Also, the fact that Mohamed had wounds on his face and that the police officer was wounded in the leg leaves us to believe that he might have been arrested and brought to the ground before being killed. Finally the fact that the police refuse to show the video cassettes, the wounded officer and the knife, reinforces the theory of a police killing, and leeds us to believe that the police want to now hide what really happened (what is referred to as a cover up).
The question of racial profiling is also extremely important in the context of « war on terrorism », where all Muslims are suspected to be terrorists and where CSIS agents harass Arabs and Muslims to spy against on their own communities. If they refuse, they risk beeing arrested without beeing charged, on the basis of suspicion and secret evidence, indefinitely detentained and deportated to torture, like the five person presently targetted by a security certificate in Canada, such as Adil Charkahoui.(9) In this context, was Mohamed a victim of paranoia or zeal by a young police officer who prefered to shoot before asking questions when he saw a young Muslim at the scene of a raid?
The COBP is commited to supporting the efforts of his family and his community to know the truth so that the guilty be brought to justice. This struggle requires a mobolisization that goes beyond the Muslim and Moroccan communities. As well, this incident occured in Côte-Des-Neiges, a neighborhood where youth and immigrants face daily police harrassement. This is one more reason why we must all be concerned about the ongoing police abuse and their impunity. An injustice against one person is an injustice against all, this is why solidairty remains our best and our only weapon to demand the truth and justice.

Collective Opposed to Police Brutality - (514) 859-9065 - c...@hotmail.com - www.copb-mtl.com

(1) Hugo Meunier, « Jeune homme abattu par un agent, le père croit à une bavure policière », 8 décembre 2005 : http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20051208/CPACTUALITES/512080438/CPACTU...
(2) Fabrice de Pierrebourg, « La police cherchait des fraudeurs liés à une organisation terroriste », Journal de Montréal, 2 décembre 2005.
(3) Fabrice de Pierrebourg, « Abattu par la police en pleine avenue Kent, il venait de poignarder le policier », Journal de Montréal, 2 décembre 2005.
(4) MCM, « Le Conseil Musulman de Montréal demande une enquête transparente et opportune sur la mort par balles de Hannas Mohamed, et s’inquiète aussi de la possibilité de profilage racial », 12 décembre 2005 : http://www.muslilmcouncil.org/en/2005/12/transparent_investigation_into_...
(5) Hugo Meunier, Op. Cit.
(6) Groupe Atlas Média, « Bavure policière, Un jeune marocain abattu par un policier à Montréal » : http://www.atlasmedias.com
(7) CAIR-CAN, « Unanswered questions remain about shooting of Muslim man », 11 décembre 2005 : http://www.caircan.ca/itn_more.php?id=2190_0_2_0_C
(8) MCM, Op. Cit.
(9) Coalition for Justice for Adil Charkaoui: http://www.adilinfo.