UK: Death - calls for end to CS tests
01 May 1996
The death, in Ilford police station, of 29-year old Gambian asylum-seeker Ibrahima Sey sparked demands for an end to CS gas spray trials less than a fortnight after they began. Mr Sey's death followed his arrest after a disturbance at his home in east London. A march to Ilford police station the following weekend attracted over 1000 people demanding a public enquiry, the suspension of the officers involved in Ibrahima's death and an immediate halt to CS gas tests.
Ibrahima Sey was arrested, by up to 20 police officers, at his home on March 16 following an argument with his wife. Ibrahima displayed no aggression towards the police and allegedly volunteered to go with them to Ilford police station once his children were in the care of friends. He was accompanied to the police station by a friend. On their arrival up to a dozen policemen forced Ibrahima to the floor, where they knelt on him and allegedly handcuffed his hands behind his back while holding him in a stranglehold.
His friend observed the police assault but was prevented from intervening. He was removed, as Ibrahima's screams echoed around the police courtyard, and held in an interrogation room for five hours. On his release he was told of his friends death. Ibrahima's family only found out about his death once police had contacted the media to inform them that he had died of heart failure.
The use of CS gas has been acknowledged by the police, although they are unwilling to specify when it was used. Witnesses observed that it was not used when Ibrahima was arrested outside his house and there is also no indication that it was used in the police vehicle on the journey to Ilford police station. Ibrahima's friend has confirmed that it was not used before he was removed to an interrogation room. This leaves the disturbing implication that Ibrahima was sprayed with the gas, after being handcuffed, while he was separated from his friend.
A post-mortem, carried out on behalf of the Police Federation, the Coroner and the Metropolitan police, concluded that Ibrahima was suffering from "hypertensive heart disease" and that he died after "a period of exertion", although it didn't stipulate exactly what this "exertion" was. The Sey family were unable to have a representative present as they had been given a wrong date by the police. The outcome repeats previous police claims of heart disease made about another black man who died in custody, Wayne Douglas, despite the fact that eye-witness described him receiving a brutal beating by the arresting officers (see Statewatch Vol. 5, no.6)
A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) stressed that there "is no evidence that CS spray contributed to this tragic death [and] there are no plans to suspend use of the spray." His assertion differed from that of the Police Complaints Authority who await the results of a toxicology test, "which would show whether the gas contributed to Mr Sey's death."
This autopsy conclusion is also disputed by Mr Sey's family, who pointed out that he was a former Gambian policeman and a member of the national football squad, with no record of heart disease. His brother expressed scepticism: "I saw his body at the mortuary. There were a lot of scars to his face, a big hole in his forehead and a lot of scratches to his chest." The family would like a second opinion on the autopsy. It should also be noted that tests carried out at the Chemical Defence establishment at Porton Down revealed that high doses of CS gas exposure can result in heart failure.
Two days after Ibrahima's death there was a spontaneous demonstration by 250 members of the Gambian community. A demonstration of over 1000 people - largely from the Gambian and other African communities in London - marched from Forest Gate police station to Ilford police station a few days later. They were joined by local people who recall a long history of racist abuse from officers at Forest Gate police st