Abdul Monaf and Harun Kaji, who said: ‘There should be more equality’

Published: 18 April, 2013
by ALICE HUTTON

TWO Muslim families who claim they had to wait days to bury their loved ones have called for changes to a “medieval” coroner’s court system operating without an out-of-hours service.

Relatives of Joynal Kaji and Abdul Gafur, who both died suddenly at home, said they were stopped from meeting the traditions of the Islamic faith under which the dead are buried as soon as possible.

Muslim families are normally expected to organise burials by the day after death at the ­latest.

The Kaji and Gafur families say delays caused by a lack of out-of-hours or bank holiday service at St Pancras Coroner’s Court meant both families were left in limbo for up to a week while post-mortems were completed.

The families came forward together after the New Journal reported last week that the coroners system could be speeded up to allow for earlier ­burials, as well as less invasive ­post-mortems for those of Muslim and ­Jewish faiths.

The issue was raised at Monday’s full council meeting by Camden safety chief Labour councillor Abdul Hai, who is calling for reform at St Pancras.

The proposed changes would be part of new national reforms under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 introduced this summer by the first national chief coroner Judge Peter Thornton QC after he was appointed in September last year.

If approved, they would bring the 800-year-old coroner system under national guidelines for the first time since it was founded in 1194.  

The Kaji and Gafur families have spoken out in support of the proposed changes, saying that the service at St Pancras is “letting down” families. They have asked for “more equality, more flexibility, more availability and more compassion” for all grieving relatives.

Joynal Kaji, 82, died unexpectedly of pneumonia over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend in April last year. Because he died at home an inquest was a legal necessity.

His son Harun, 33, said the family were told it was “impossible” to conduct a post-mortem before the Tuesday because “everyone was on holiday” at the court.

He said they were refused access to see his father in the mortuary because it was also shut.

“Finally we buried our father on the Thursday – six whole days after he died,” he said.

“Six days of waking up every morning and not knowing what was going on. There was no compassion at St Pancras. The court kept saying to us: ‘This is the law.’ And we said: ‘We respect the law but the law doesn’t say you can’t have an out-of-hours service.’

“Some coroner’s courts do have an out-of-hours service, but we don’t have one in Camden. From what we know of other courts now, the one here is just medieval and it is ­letting families down. For us it is something we are scarred with.”

In a more recent case, Abdul Monaf’s father Abdul Gafur died of a heart attack on Friday morning last week.

But by the time undertakers had taken away the body of the 72-year-old retired waiter at around 3.30pm St Pancras Coroner’s Court had shut for the day and the family’s phone calls went unanswered.

The post-mortem was carried out on Tuesday this week and the funeral took place yesterday (Wednesday).

Mr Monaf, 32, said: “We have had to wait six days to bury my father. It has happened all over again. And if it has happened to both of our families it will be happening to others. And we think it’s time for some change to give families some respect.”

Mr Kaji added: “It is not about religion it is about your loved one who has died and about compassion and respect. London is the most cosmopolitan city in the country and there should be more equality, more flexibility, more availability and more compassion.”

The two families are  supporting changes to allow less invasive post-mortems, using computer scanning equipment.

Cllr Hai has campaigned for changes to the coroner’s system for a year and in May will launch a booklet providing extensive advice for families of all faiths and nationalities going through the inquest system.

He said: “I have come to the view that there needs to be that national change or other families like these will be left to defend themselves. This shows you that it is not a one-off.

“I see distressed families who call me at weekends, like Abdul and Harun, who can’t bury their family members because there is no out-of-hours service. There needs to be consistent, national standards with fundamental reforms.”

Camden Council has operated an out-of-hours registrar since 2009 to allow death certificates to be issued.

Sayed Miah, a committee member at King’s Cross Mosque, said: “We get a lot of distressed families calling us up about this problem. But a lot of families don’t know who they can turn to and just accept it. These policies were made 800 years ago and do not reflect the multicultural city and country we live in.”

A council press officer said the coroner’s court would look into claims by the two families. He said that the details of the cases could not be confirmed.