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December 1, 2005
Trinidad: Suspected Islamist Bomber is Freed
We reported earlier on Lenville Small, who was arrested on Saturday, 19 November.
Small was suspected of being a bomber. Since July 22 there have been four bombs in and near Port of Spain. Small's brother was a member of the group Jamaat al Muslimeen, who is serving a 211 month sentence in the US for gun-trafficking.
A judge, Mark Mohammed, invoked the country's new anti-terror laws to keep Lenville Small in custody but today, after 12 days in detention, he was set free on the recommendation of attorneys representing the state. The judge had applied for powers of detention three times.
A move by his defence council saw another judge, Justice Judith Jones, issuing a writ of habeas corpus. This would have required Small facing a court this morning, but by that time he had been released, states the Trinidad Express".
Police searched Lenville Small's home after a tip-off that he possessed explosives materials. None were found, but in a pocket he had a piece of paper bearing the names of Bioxin Universal and Nitrospan, two items from a list which the police had been given by an informant.
Small was in cheerful mood today after his release, but has claimed in a statement that he was interrogated about the chemicals, and accused of having chemicals which could "blow down the whole Port of Spain". He further alleged that one interrogating police officer offered him a financial inducement of $100,000 to divulge the name of the person who had given him the sheet of paper.
His lawyers have said they will be pursuing a case against the unconstitutional nature of Mr Small's detention without charge.
A separate list was found at Small's home. This had five names of public officials who had caused his brother to be in jail on the gun-trafficking charge. Against each name was the figure for an amount of money.
The leader of Jamaat al Muslimeen, Yasin Abu Bakr, was originally detained after the fourth bomb which went off at a nightclub in St James, a suburb off Port of Spain, on 22 July, injuring 11 people. Bakr was released without charge, but was subsequently arrested again and charged for terrorism. Bakr is also charged with sedition and incitement. During searches at the Jamaat al Muslimeen compound, police and army bulldozed Abu Bakr's office. A search found a rifle and ammunition.
His detention. according to the Trinidad Guardian has affected members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen. The acting imam and welfare officer for the organisation, Kala Akii Bua said to a news conference at the headquarters of Jamaat that the JaM has been weakened by the imprisonment of its leader.
We reported earlier that 12 people had been arrested at 11 illegal quarries who were believed to be members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen. Akii Bua denied the sect's involvement.
He said that in the 1970s Yasin Abu Bakr owned a licence to quarry on Tatou Trace at Valencia, but it had been out of operation for years.
Police had claimed that nine of the eleven illegal quarries they had visited belonged to Jamaat al Muslimeen.
In 1990 Bakr and nearly two hundred members of the group had staged an attempted coup on the island, in which 20 people were killed. Bakr and his followers were given official pardons.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at December 1, 2005 10:52 PM
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