Victims’ lawyer says race, religion and class must be considered by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry

Imran Khan, a lawyer who represents some of the Grenfell blaze’s bereaved, survivors and relatives stressed that the public inquiry into the fire that killed 72 people, including Moroccan nationals, in June 14, 2017 must consider «institutional racism», says Associated Press Tuesday and the Guardian.

For the lawyer «race, religion and social class» must be taken into consideration when trying to determine the circumstances surrounding the fire especially that the tower was housing immigrant and working-class residents.

«The inquiry’s terms of reference should be extended to consider the contribution of ‘institutional racism'», said Imran Khan during a hearing held on Tuesday.

Khan refers to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry which was launched on June 29th by British Prime Minister Theresa May. Headed by retired judge Martin Moore-Bick, the inquiry aims to «establish the facts of what happened at Grenfell Tower in order to take the necessary action to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again», said May.

On August 15th, the inquiry’s terms of reference were announced and included attempts to reveal the cause of the fire, the building’s design and construction and how it is related to the tragedy among others.

Race, class and religion

However, Khan believes that the terms of reference set by the inquiry are not enough. For him race and class must be part of the factors looked into by the judges. He argued that by ignoring that «[we] will be putting at risk the lives of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people from black and ethnic minority communities who are over-represented in high-rise blocks across Britain».

Danny Friedman QC, who represents some of the Grenfell tower’s victims, said during a hearing that the building was turned into a «death trap» by institutional and societal indifference. He told the inquiry that «Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea council and the tenant management organization created the death trap and did so using public funds».

Experts hired by the inquiry has also pointed at a 2016 refurbishment, saying that it added «flammable external cladding to the tower, which helped the braze spread from a four-floor apartment to engulf the building», says AP.

The inquiry is expected to hear firms and companies that led the refurbishment and management of the tower, stresses the same source.

For the record, in a digital memorial conducted by the Guardian, the British newspaper referred to the Moroccan nationals who died in the tragic incident. It recalled that 6 people out of the 72 victims who died in Grenfell were from Morocco.

Most of the deceased Moroccans were from Larache, a harbor town in the region of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima.