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Family holds vigil in Toronto for Soleiman Faqiri seven years after his death in custody

Soleiman Faqiri is shown in this undated family handout photo. In the 11 days before Faqiri's death, family members tried to visit him four times, making the hour-long drive to the Ontario jail where he was being held, his brother said. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Yusuf Faqiri . Yusuf Faqiri / Handout

The family of Soleiman Faqiri gathered in Yonge-Dundas Square Saturday night to mark the seventh anniversary of his death while in custody at a Lindsay, Ont., jail.

The vigil comes days after a coroner’s inquest deemed Faqiri’s death a homicide.

Faqiri  died in 2016 in a segregation cell at the Central East Correctional Centre following an attack by guards.

The coroner’s inquest report included 57 recommendations following three weeks of evidence and testimony.

On Dec. 14, 44 Canadian senators signed a statement echoing the inquest’s findings.

The statement declares “prisons are not and must not be permitted to substitute as treatment centres.”

Several vigils have been held in Faqiri’s memory across the country in the years since his death.

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