Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, Muhammad Amaad, 26, deny all charges
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, left, and Muhammed Amaad, right outside court following an earlier hearing(Image: Jake Lindley / Manchester Evening News)
A judge told potential jurors in the trial of two brothers on trial over an alleged altercation with police at Manchester Airport that they ‘must not allow yourselves to be influenced by anything you may have read or heard on the mainstream media or social media’.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, and Muhammad Amaad, 26, both of Tarnside Close in Rochdale, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court today.
They have been charged with assault following video footage of an alleged incident involving police officers and members of the public in July last year.
A panel of 40 jurors was reduced to 28 after the panel was asked to complete a questionnaire.
As jury selection began, Judge Neil Flewitt KC told the panel of 24 potential jurors: “You will have realised from the questionnaire this trial involves events at Manchester Airport on July 23 last year which attracted a large amount of mainstream and social media interest.”
He added that as the trial progresses there was likely to be further media comment.
He went on: “You must reach your verdicts in this trial based on the evidence presented in court and you must not allow yourselves to be influenced by anything you may have read or heard on the mainstream media or social media.”
Judge Flewitt urged the panel not to look up any information about the case on the internet until they returned on Wednesday morning to resume jury selection.
Mr Amaaz is charged with assaulting a member of the public Abdulkareem Hamzah Abbas Ismaeil by beating him on July 23, 2024, at Manchester Airport.
He also faces a second charge that he assaulted PC Zachary Marsden causing actual bodily harm on the same date, also at Manchester Airport.
A third charge alleges he assaulted PC Lydia Ward causing actual bodily harm on the same date at the airport.
A fourth charge against him alleges he assaulted, by beating, an emergency worker, PC Ellie Cook.
His co defendant Muhammad Amaad, his brother, faces a single charge, namely that he assaulted PC Zachary Marsden at Manchester Airport on July 23.
The trial is scheduled to last three weeks.