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April 29, 2006
Trinidad: Muslim Leader May Remain In Jail Until October
We have reported extensively on the Trinidadian Islamist group Jamaat al Muslimeen and its leader Abu Bakr (pictured). The group staged an attempted coup on Trinidad in 1990, during which 24 people died in the violence, and the then prime minister, Arthur N.R. Robinson, was shot in the leg.
Abu Bakr has been in jail since November 7 last year, following his arrest for comments he made at the Jamaat al Muslimeen mosque and compound in Murcapao Road, Port of Spain. He had said on November 4, at Friday prayers following the end of Ramadan, that unless wealthy Muslims paid him zakat (a tithe) that there would be bloodshed and war. A subsequent raid at the compound discovered a hand grenade, sniper rifle, and 500 rounds of ammunition were discovered.
Abu Bakr was originally charged with sedition and incitement of others to breach the peace, and on November 23 we reported that terrorism had been added to the list.
A series of four bomb attacks began with an attack last summer on July 22 in Port of Spain and injured 13 people, and ended on October 14 at a nightclub in the district of St James in Port of Spain. Suspicion fell on Bakr, and he was arrested. He was later released, and loudly protested his innocence.
On Friday December 22, while Bakr was in custody, two members of the Jamaat al-Muslimeen were discovered in possession of a large bomb at their home in Arima, 10 miles from Port of Spain.
We reported on March 12 that the current government of Trinidad & Tobago, led by Patrick Manning of the People's National Movement (PNM) has been cracking down on the group, following an increase in violence on the island. Several Jamaat members with gang connections have died in gun attacks since December.
On Thursday April 6, Abu Bakr appeared in court, but this was not in connection with the errorism, sedition and incitement charges. He was facing a retrial of a case that had foundered on March 16 2005. The case was stalled because the Director of Public Prosecutions was unavailable, and he was ordered to reappear on the following Monday.
On a previous court appearance from February 16, connected with the retrial, Bakr said that the government was trying to make him a pauper, for demanding financial restitution of $32 million for the group's 1990 coup.
Bakr reappeared in the Port of Spain Second Criminal Court at the Hall of Justice on Monday 10 April, but once again, the case did not go ahead. Justice Joan Charles adjourned the case until yesterday, the 28 April. He then told the judge that he wished to be tried on terrorism charges before he faced his retrial.
Abu Bakr appeared again in court yesterday, according to the Trinidad & Tobago Express.
The case for which he is facing retrial relates to statements he apparently made on June 4, 2003 in Citrine Drive, Diamond Vale, in Diego Martin. Bakr is accused of conspiracy to murder two former members of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, Salim Rasheed (aka "Small Salim") and Zaki Abudiah, Bakr's son-in-law. The previous trial had ended after two and half months at the Hall of Justice when a nine-member jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
Bakr is jointly accused with Brent Miller (aka "Big Brent"), David Millard (aka "Buffy"), and others known as "Dwight", "Crock", "Skins" and "Damian".
64-year old Bakr, who was a former policeman called Lennox Phillips, was told yesterday in a closed session of court that he will now have his trial date on the charges of conspiracy to murder scheduled for October 2, later this year.
Apparently, Bakr is attempting to have a British Queen's Counsel (QC) to defend him. Yesterday was his sixth appearance in court this year. If his court case on conspiracy charges is to be delayed until later this year, and as no date has been set for the trial on sedition, terror and incitement charges, it seems that Bakr will remain in jail until then, remanded in custody. With two trials ahead of him, rather than one, his chances of gaining bail are remote.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at April 29, 2006 7:58 PM
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