Let's not forget what Doug Ford had said about Umar Zameer
The Ontario premier was cavalier with his statements at the time of Umar Zameer's hearings, and we should not forget how inappropriate they were.
I generally don’t pay much attention to Ontario politics because it is rather depressing. The premiere is a corrupt crony and caught red-handed multiple times in various scandals, the most recent of which was where he gave his friends permission to build on the greenbelt while taking kickbacks on the side. This post is not about that.
Today Umar Zameer was acquitted for first degree murder, a charge only brought against him because the person who died was a police officer. The gist of it is that two cops in plain clothes started banging on Zameer’s car in an underground parking lot. Zameer was with his pregnant wife and small child and feared for his safety; he tried to get away but the cop got in the way. It was an unfortunate accident.
At the time, this is what Ontario Premiere Doug Ford had said when Zameer was released on parole:
“It’s completely unacceptable that the person charged for this heinous crime is now out on bail. Our justice system needs to get its act together and start putting victims and their families ahead of criminals.”
Here’s the since deleted tweet:
This angered me at the time because:
No politician has any business commenting on an ongoing investigation
There is no presumption of innocence as evident in the phrasing of “the person responsible for this heinous crime”
The premiere of a province should know that the justice system is independent of the parliamentary system, and should not attempt to influence the former
A cop is no different than anyone else, and does not warrant any special treatment or comment from members of the political system
The idea of an entire system getting its “act together” is vague and preposterous
It identified a suspect as a criminal and somehow managed to bring the victim’s family into it
Today with Zameer being declared innocent, it makes Ford’s statements sound even more insensitive and inappropriate. I just wanted to document this somewhere on the internet.
Thank you Zara for raising your voice for Justice and showing how dangerous and irresponsible it is for people with power to give verdict on common people and interfere with Law.