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In Memory of Ferhat Mayouf: Excluded, Criminalized, Murdered
Abolish All Prisons!
On July 23, 2020, Ferhat Mayouf died at the age of 36 in Moabit prison due to smoke inhalation. For us, it is clear: This was murder! Murder by this state and its racist institutions.
Ferhat was arrested on the basis of a trivial theft accusation. Because he did not have a secure legal residency status, he was placed in pretrial detention. There, he was locked in his cell for 23 hours a day. His cries for medical and psychological care were ignored. Instead, he suffered humiliation and violence. On the evening of July 23, a fire broke out in his cell. Ferhat screamed for help. Instead of quickly opening the door and rescuing him, the guards waited for the fire department to arrive. For twenty minutes, he was left to face the fire in his locked cell. Twenty minutes that cost Ferhat his life.
Excluded:
Prisons mainly hold people affected by poverty, racism, deportations, homelessness, traumatic life histories, and mental crises. Those who fled war, torture, and poverty, hoping for a better life. But also those who rode the public transport without a ticket or who struggle to make ends meet through informal jobs or petty crimes.
Criminalized:
The mere existence of these people is criminalized. The state uses different means for this, such as residency laws to make people illegal, or the police, who expel poor, racialized people, homeless individuals, and drug users from public spaces. Social problems created by capitalism are addressed by the state with violence, fighting those affected and protecting the wealth and power of a few.
Criminalization, however, does not only affect the poor and marginalized, but also all those who organize and stand up for a different society. Comrades from the antifascist, Palestine solidarity, Kurdish, climate, or anti-war movements are relentlessly pursued by the state security, dragged to court, and imprisoned. The same applies to comrades Mehmet Karaca and Nanuk, who have been in Moabit prison for months.
Murdered:
We speak of murder because people are systematically pushed toward death in prison. Humiliation, destitution, lack of protection, violence, and torture are part of everyday life and structure there. At the same time, the suicide narrative is a frequently employed tool of the judiciary to deny any responsibility or even active complicity in the death of prisoners.
They deprived Ferhat Mayouf of his freedom and then let him die against his will. That was murder!
On the fifth anniversary of this deadly cell fire, we want to take to the streets again to commemorate Ferhat Mayouf and protest against the conditions that led to his death. We will show Mehmet Karaca, Nanuk, and all the other prisoners in Moabit that we will not leave them alone. We will not allow Ferhat’s death to be forgotten.
Join us on the streets: July 23, 2025, 18:00, at Turmstraße U-Bahn Station!
No Forgiving, No Forgetting
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