The arrest and death of Muhammad Kamran Ashiq in police custody in Greece was a tragedy. While the Greek government and Athens police may attribute his death as a rare case, Ashiq’s death reveals much more than just a “few bad apples.” Ashiq’s case amplifies that Greece’s history of anti-immigration and police brutality is not behind them and points to a deeper pattern of exclusion and democratic erosion. 

According to his family and attorney, Muhammad Kamran Ashiq was detained by police on September 13th, 2024, due to an alleged connection in a domestic violence case in which no lawsuit had been filed. However, the police offered a conflicting account, stating that Ashiq was detained on September 18th. After his initial arrest, Ashiq was transferred to several prison stations, with no opportunity to contact his lawyer or family members. During his time in initial detention, police claimed that Ashiq engaged in a physical altercation with other detainees. However, no surveillance footage is available to corroborate the officers’ claims. 

“Greece Police” by theglobalpanorama is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

On September 21st, days after his initial arrest, authorities pronounced that Ashiq was found dead in the cell where he was being held. Upon viewing his body, family members noticed that Ashiq’s body was covered in bruises and welts. His family members assumed that the police had beaten him to death. Their suspicions only increased when officers stated that his cause of death was unknown. 

Ashiq was a Pakistani immigrant who had come to the country two decades earlier. He possessed all of the proper papers for legal status, held a job as a delivery driver, and could speak Greek fluently. However, even in recent years, Greece has had significant issues surrounding accepting immigrants into Greek society. Of the documented 158 hate crimes in Greece in 2023, over half were against immigrants. Of the over half, twenty-four were perpetrated by law enforcement. 

In a study, Elias Dinas et al. found that, specifically in Greece, greater exposure to immigration and refugees led to a rise in support of the Golden Dawn Party. The study focuses on exposure to Syrian refugees and how inhabitants of islands with greater numbers of refugees are more likely to vote for extremist parties. Far-right extremist parties, like Golden Dawn, use abrasive and fear-mongering language against immigrants for political gain.

And the worst part is it? It works. 

The presence of the Golden Dawn Party in Greece has only spread these anti-immigration sentiments. The Golden Dawn party is a neo-Nazi political party that dominated Greece during the 2010s financial crisis. While the Golden Dawn party has since been banned from holding office, they have given way to the rise of additional far-right parties. The continual rise and subsequent representation of these far-right parties only adds fuel to the fear of migrants, immigrants, and others from foreign nations. As evidenced by Ashiq, the fear turns into not just violence but systemic violence and an incapability of law enforcement to execute their duty to protect. 

A study by Iasonas Gousetis for the Hellenic League for Human Rights looks in depth into the pattern of police brutality in Greece. He finds that over 80,000 foreigners were arrested by police, and nearly 95% of them for causes apart from illegal status. Additionally, he highlights how high members of the police force in Greece have openly spoken about specifically targeting suspected immigrants. 

In her article “Unwelcome Change: Understanding, Evaluating, and Extending Theories of Democratic Backsliding,” Elieen Lust discusses the three main components of democratic backsliding. The second component Lust discusses is civil and political liberties, including freedom of speech and assembly. She argues that in a democracy, these liberties must be protected by law and safeguarded by institutions. An indicator of democratic backsliding is when citizens’ rights under and exercised by the law are unequal. 

Ashiq’s death in police custody reveals a systemic pattern that goes beyond an isolated incident or the “few bad apples” narrative. During his detention, Ashiq was denied counsel, a holding cell with surveillance, and even contact with his family to inform them of what had happened. His case was a direct rejection of the procedures law enforcement should have guaranteed him. Law enforcement undermined the rights guaranteed to Ashiq, disregarding civil liberties, likely due to his status as an immigrant. The lack of due process and transparency in Ashiq’s case shows how their application matters, even if civil liberties are granted to an individual. 

Lust writes that civil liberties should be constitutionally protected in a democracy, and in Greece, they are. However, both Ashiq’s case and Gousetis’ study show that these liberties are applied selectively. Immigrants, among other minorities in Greece, have not been afforded the enactment of these civil liberties by law enforcement countless times. Neglect of civil liberties to minorities by government-sanctioned institutions indicates a culture of democratic backsliding. 

For a democracy to work, all citizens must be guaranteed the same rights under the law. The police’s responsibility is to uphold those rights.

The death of Ashiq points to a critical indicator of erosion in Greece: a culture of exclusion. From a large amount of human rights abuses towards immigrants to the rise of far-right parties that peddle anti-immigration rhetoric, the sanctity of life for immigrants in Greece is rapidly vanishing. When institutions exclude and harm an entire demographic of its people, the deterioration of democracy is evident.