The family of a murdered Muslim teenager say they feel discriminated against by the police after they failed to convict anyone for eight years after their son died.
Abdul Karim Boudiaf, an aspiring lawyer from Tottenham, was 18 when he was fatally shot in the neck while walking with friends outside a pub in north London in 2009.
A man stood trial for his death but no one has ever been convicted.
The grieving family said they feel let down by police and prosecutors due to the failure to secure a conviction eight years after they lost their son.
They said that the initial police inquiry felt “cursory” and left them feeling discriminated against because of their race and class background.
Mr Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, raised concerns in the House of Commons.
He said that the family’s race and ethnicity could have played a factor in their ability to get justice for Mr Boudiaf, adding that it had “echoes” of the Stephen Lawrence case.
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
Double jeopardy legislation previously protected anyone acquitted of an offence from retrial, but changes to the law in 2005 meant a suspect can be tried again for the same offence if there is “new, compelling, reliable and substantial evidence”.
But Mr Lammy claimed that while the rule is good in principle, it is restrictive in practice, as it means cases can remain open but dormant for years because further evidence hasn’t been presented to police – which has occurred in the case of Mr Boudaif’s murder.
Speaking to The Independent, Mr Boudiaf’s sister Yasmine Boudiaf said the family’s dealings with the police and the outcome of the trial revealed that the system is “not made” to help the needs of ethnic minority groups from low income areas.
