Dallas County is refusing to release the full autopsy report of an Afghan asylum seeker who died in ICE custody at Parkland Hospital in March, despite multiple public information requests.
John Creuzot, the county's district attorney, has asked state Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, to block the report's release, citing an ongoing federal criminal investigation.
Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal's death certificate says he died from anaphylaxis and asthma as the result of an adverse drug reaction and ingestion of methamphetamine. It does not explain when the methamphetamine, an illegal drug, was ingested. Paktiawal, 41 at the time of his death, had no known allergies, according to his family, which said he did not use illegal drugs.
"My family has waited months to understand how my brother died, and we’re still waiting for [an] answer," Naseer Paktiawal, his younger brother, said. "Whatever they say on that certificate, whatever they put it on there, that’s not true, and that’s not what my brother deserves."
According to AfghanEvac — a nonprofit that assists with the resettlement of Afghans who allied with the U.S. — an independent forensic pathologist hired by Hazeer’s family found “nothing remarkable” in his “underlying health for a man his age.”
When the independent exam took place, Nazeer had already been embalmed, so no blood remained for toxicology testing, according to AfghanEvac.
Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, known among family and friends as Nazeer, fought alongside U.S. Army Special Forces in Afghanistan for more than a decade before being resettled in Texas in 2021, after Kabul fell to the Taliban. He was seized by ICE outside his home near Dallas on March 13 and was dead less than 24 hours later. He leaves behind a wife and six children, all of whom his brother, Naseer, is now caring for in addition to his own family.
"He was not a criminal. He was not a threat to the public, to this country. He fought for this country," Nazeer Paktiawal said. "I want ... the medical examiner’s autopsy report to be released. I want every question to be answered, and I want accountability. Accountability is warranted most of all. I want the truth. I’m not asking [for] anything. I just want the truth about what happened to my brother."
Following Nazeer Paktiawal's death in March, Houston Public Media received a statement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The department said that Nazeer’s humanitarian parole expired last year. It also said Nazeer had been arrested for alleged SNAP fraud and theft last year. However, no charges were filed.
Homeland Security also released a social media post claiming there was no record of Nazeer’s military service. Houston Public Media has viewed a certificate from U.S. Army Special Forces thanking Nazeer for his “sacrifice and service.”
Shawn VanDiver, a U.S. Navy veteran, is the founder and president of AfghanEvac, an organization devoted to helping Afghans who served alongside U.S. armed forces to resettle in the United States. He has been advocating on behalf of the Paktiawal family.
"If there is an active federal criminal investigation as [the] Dallas County DA states, then the American people deserve to know why. Transparency cannot be selective," VanDiver said. "The only way to restore confidence is through a complete and independent thorough accounting of what happened during Mr. Paktiawal’s detention and the medical care that he received."
