Poetic.Injustice
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Police repeatedly failed to protect a disabled Iranian refugee as neighbours waged a violent seven-year campaign of hate that culminated in his murder by a misguided vigilante, a report has concluded.
Avon and Somerset police officers may have been biased against Bijan Ebrahimi because of his race, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said.
The watchdog revealed that Ebrahimi made 85 calls to the force between 2007 and July 2013, when a neighbour punched and kicked him to death before setting fire to his body outside his Bristol home.
In 73 of the calls, Ebrahimi reported allegations including racial abuse, criminal damage and threats to kill, but police failed to record a crime on at least 40 of those occasions. Rather than seeing him as vulnerable, he was dismissed as a nuisance, the report said.
In the days before his death Ebrahimi called the police to say his neighbour Lee James had barged into his home and attacked him. Police did attend but arrested Ebrahimi, 44, rather than James. Neighbours, who wrongly believed he was a paedophile, cheered as he was led away.
Ebrahimi was allowed home and later called police to tell them a mob had gathered outside, pleading with them to send help. Hours later James murdered him.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jul/05/police-failure-protect-bijan-ebrahimi-murder-ipcc