Oury_Jalloh Oury Jalloh, a 36 year-old refugee from Sierra Leone died on 7 January 2005, in a police station in Dessau, tied with handcuffs to a fire-proof mattress at his hands and feet. The cause of death was officially recorded as heat shock, the police claiming he set fire to the mattress with a cigarette-lighter, caused the mattress to burn thus burning himself.