The coroner’s inquest into the killing of Shoaib Khan begins today, Wednesday 28 January 2026, at 10:00 a.m., before the Nicosia District Court. Khan, a young migrant, was killed by police gunfire in Potamia, near the Buffer Zone, on 6 January 2025.
The development has been welcomed by the Justice for Shoaib Khan initiative, which stresses that the inquest comes after sustained pressure from the victim’s family and solidarity groups demanding truth, accountability, and justice.
Police shooting in Potamia
Shoaib Khan was killed when members of the Anti-Poaching Unit, operating under the MMAD, opened fire at two vehicles in an attempt, as stated at the time, to immobilise them. The bullets pierced the vehicles and fatally wounded Khan, who was a passenger in one of the cars and was struck in the back.
Concerns over transparency and accountability
Justice for Shoaib Khan statement:
On 28 January, the inquest into the murder of Shoaib Khan will begin at the Nicosia District Court at 10:00. Court monitoring and showing support to this case could be crucial. The inquest comes only after sustained pressure from Shoaib Khan’s family and supporters, who have been demanding truth, accountability, and justice since his death.
On 6 January 2025, the life of Shoaib Khan, a young migrant, was violently taken when he was shot at the back by members of an anti-poaching unit operating under the Mobile Immediate Action Unit of the Greek Cypriot police, near the Buffer Zone in Potamia. Police officers fired at two vehicles with the supposed intention of immobilising them. Instead, live ammunition penetrated both vehicles' shells, fatally wounding Shoaib Khan, who was a passenger.
Up until now, the state and the police have treated Shoaib Khan’s murder as a natural outcome of migration policy enforcement, rather than as a killing that should have never occurred and should be investigated as such.
Concerns about transparency and accountability have surrounded the handling of this case from the very beginning. The case was publicised with the first coroner's verdict classifying the death as due to "natural causes", only to find out days later that a bullet from a police gun was the actual cause.
Shoaib Khan's brother travelled to Cyprus in order to identify and repatriate his brother’s body, as well as to get information on the circumstances of his death. However, during this process, information about the circumstances of the killing was released slowly, partially, and inconsistently. Testimonies have been missing or contradictory, with serious questions concerning the officers’ claim of acting in self defense. Key statements have not been shared with the legal team representing the family, and the police officers involved have refused to provide further statements. Significant gaps remain in the official account of the events.
Despite these serious inconsistencies, no criminal or disciplinary investigation has been launched into Shoaib Khan’s killing. Instead, the authorities imprisoned the two drivers of the vehicles, the only other direct witnesses, for alleged smuggling offences. Both remain imprisoned; still awaiting trial, with their legal teams not yet in possession of the alleged inculpatory evidence in their cases.
Taken together, these facts demonstrate a failure of accountability by the state, including the authorities’ refusal to reimburse the family for expenses incurred in connection with the repatriation of Shoaib Khan’s body and travel to Cyprus for the identification.
We refuse to accept this as normal.
The inquest, which was decided to take place after pressure of the legal team of the family, represents a crucial opportunity to bring this case into the public eye, expose the systemic failures that allowed this killing to occur with impunity, and demand answers about Shoaib's death.
We demand answers to the following questions:
- On what basis was an anti-poaching unit deployed to a migration-related incident? Who and which mandate authorised their involvement?
- Who made the operational decision to stop the vehicles, and under whose command were the officers acting?
- How is it possible that police officers, who have supposedly undergone training on precision shooting, repeatedly missed their stated target of shooting only in the air and the tires of the first vehicle but instead hit two cars, fatally shooting Shoaib Khan in the back?
- Why were the police officers involved not immediately suspended and investigated following the killing?
- Why was there no criminal investigation initiated, despite contradictory evidence, missing testimonies, and the officers’ refusal to provide further statements?
- Why has the family’s legal team been denied full access to statements, evidence, and investigative material? What information continues to be withheld, and on what legal basis?
- Why has the shooting into the second car involved in the incident not been fully investigated? How come that the officers involved never mentioned shooting at a second vehicle?
Shoaib Khan’s killing is not an isolated incident. It is part of a wider system of border violence, where racialised migrants are subjected to extreme force and dehumanisation. We stand in solidarity with all those affected by border regimes that normalise death, violence, and injustice.
We call for a collective response and sustained action against the cruelty of border violence and the murderous logic of systemic racism. Justice for Shoaib Khan means accountability, not only for those who pulled the trigger, but for the policies and institutions that made this killing possible.
We will continue to fight for truth, accountability, and political consequence.
"Justice for Shoaib Khan" Initiative
Co-signing:
- Community of Struggle «AFOA»
- KISA – Action for Equality, Support, Antiracism
- NEDA – New Internationalist Left
- IWW CY – Industrial Workers of the World - Cyprus
- HADE!
- Spirithkia
- Queer Collective
- African LGBTIQ Cyprus
