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May 13, 2006

Trinidad: Islamist Fights Against Government Lawsuit Worth $32m

The governnment of Trinidad wishes to confiscate $32 million from Yasin Abu Bakr (pictured), leader of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen. The amount is being sought in punitive damages for a coup which was mounted by Bakr and the Jamaat in July, 1990. In this failed operation, over a period of a week, in which parliament was held under siege for six days and the local television station was taken over, 24 people lost their lives. The police headquarters were firebombed, and the prime minister at the time, Arthur N.R. Robinson, was shot in the leg.

Following the attempted coup, Robinson offered Bakr and the Jamaat a pardon, which was then retracted. 114 members of the group stood trial, including Bakr himself, but charges were then dropped and the case was abandoned.

The government of Trinidad and Tobago, led by Patrick Manning of the People's National Movement (PNM) commissioned the Attorney General to launch its suit on February 6. The aim of the suit is to recover properties worth the stated figure, as Bakr and the Jamaat have several houses.

Bakr is currently in custody, following his arrest on November 7. He was arrested for comments he made at his Eid ul-Fitr Friday sermon on November 4, in which he threatened war and bloodshed if wealthy Muslims did not pay a zakat or tithe, to the Jamaat. As a result of this, he was charged firstly with sedition and incitement, and then with terrorism.

His trial on the five counts related to sedition, incitement and terrorism will have to wait until he first undergoes a retrial for the conspiracy to murder two former members of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, Salim Rasheed (aka "Small Salim") and Zaki Abudiah, his son-in-law. He underwent a trial last year, but the jury of nine failed to reach a verdict.

The charges against Bakr on conspiracy to murder relate to comments he made on June 4, 2003 at Diego Martin. One of his six co-accused, David Millard (aka Buffy, aka Mustapha Abdullah Muhammad), fled Trinidad later that month after being accused of murdering a woman, Jillia Bowen. We reported on 6 May that Millard is currently in custody in Guyana, accused of shooting dead the Guyanese Agriculture Minister, Satyadeow Sawh, on April 22 this year. The minister's brother and sister and a security guard were also shot.

Bakr is going to remain in custody for a while. He was told on April 28 that he will have to wait until October for the conspiracy retrial, and then he will be tried for the other five counts.

We stated earlier that when Abu Bakr appeared in court on February 16, he claimed that the government was trying to make him into a pauper with its $32 million lawsuit.

Today, the Trinidad & Tobago Express reports that one of Bakr's lawyers, Mark Seepersad, is arguing that his client does not owe any money to the state.

The submission was made yesterday in a hearing at the Fourth Civil Court in the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain, the capital. Justice Rajendra Narine laughed, and said that the issue was not for him, the judge, to decide. He told the attorney that he only needed to make a judgement on whether the properties listed by the State could be sold.

Abu Bakr is also fighting the case with another plaintiff, Kala Akii Bua, of the Jamaat. Seepersad, who is acting for both men, said that "they are going to argue that the debt has been satisfied, as remarkable as it sounds." Lemuel Murphy, another attorney for the Jamaat pair, told Judge Narine that with Bakr in pcustody, it was difficult to gather information and gain instructions.

The suit brought by the Attorney General goes back to earlier rulings. In 1994 a lawsuit had been brought for the firebomb damage made to the police headquarters. No defence had been filed for this by the Jamaat and 57 of its members.

Consequently, on September 16, 1996, judgement was passed against the 57 individuals. The amount of compensation was then assessed in January 2001 as $15 million. An additional interest of 3% per year was added to this sum, taking effect from July 27, 1990, with an additional 12% interest added for every subsequent year following the 2001 ruling, for which the sum was not repaid.

Yesterday, the figure owed stands at $32 million, with daily interest of $6,480.30. The next hearing on this case will be heard on June 12. Justice Narine said that he would proceed with the matter then, and gave a last opportunity to Seepersad to respond to the summons officially. The Jamaat attorney has 21 days to file his affidavits.

It appears that the attorneys for Jamaat al Muslimeen are deliberately trying to fillibuster and obfuscate. Dana Seetahal, leader of the Attorney General's team criticised the defendant's delay in complying to the response deadlines, and noted that another attorney for the state, Robin Otway, was conducting a title search of the listed properties, but was being hampered by a lack of computerisation in the Registrar General's department.

Abu Bakr came to lead the Jamaat al-Muslimeen in the 1980s. His real name is Lennox Phillips. He was educated in Canada, and was a former policeman before he became a Muslim.

Last year, a series of four bomb attacks took place in and around Port of Spain, beginning on 12 July and ending on October 14. Several people were injured in the blasts. Following the last attack, upon a nightclub in St James district, in which 10 people were injured, Abu Bakr was arrested. He was released shortly after, protesting his innocence.

Following his arrest on November 7, a raid at his compound unearthed a rifle, ammunition and a grenade. On December 22, two Jamaat members were arrested, following a raid on their home. A large bomb was found in the house, with wires, antennae and timers, which was being packaged during the police swoop.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at May 13, 2006 9:37 PM

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