FREE AT LAST

The five, ordered to be freed by a Venezuelan judge early yesterday morning without any charge, after being detained for two years and seven months in a high security Venezuelan jail first on suspicions of terrorist activities, then on suspicions of espionage, were thanking Allah for his mercies.

“We thank Allah and all of you that made our freedom possible,” Wade Charles, one of the five freed men told Sunday Newsday yesterday.

“We are overwhelmed with joy. We just happy it’s all over.” Speaking on behalf of the other men - Dominic Petital, Asim Luqman, Andre Battersby and Leslie Daisley - who had been detained since March 19, 2014, Charles said, “We got an apology from all of the lawyers on behalf of Venezuela.” He said they were taken to court on Thursday, and then again on Friday at 1 pm until 2 am yesterday when they were ordered to be freed. Eight lawyers made submissions before the judge, and after a three-hour break, she ordered the men’s release.

They still remain at the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional (SEBIN) jail - known as a jail for political dissidents - until they go through the immigration process.

After news of the judge’s order broke in Trinidad, family members, relatives and friends greeted it with tears of joy and thanks to God, the Almighty.

However, some of the men will have to obtain travel documents as passports would have expired during their detention. It is expected that they will return sometime this week.

Sadiquaa Mohammed, wife of Petital, has consistently told Sunday Newsday that until her husband is back in Trinidad, only then she will celebrate. She said her recent experiences has made her forget “how to cry, how to be excited, how to be happy. I am just waiting patiently.” Petital had been detained in Venezuela four months after Mohammed had given birth to their son. He was previously detained during the 2011 state of emergency in Trinidad on suspicions of being part of an alleged plot to assassinate then Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and some members of her administration. He was never charged.

At a press conference held yesterday at the Highway Masjid, Charlieville, Organisational Head of the Islamic Front, Umar Abdullah asked that the nation welcome the men home while telling the story of conquest of Mecca in which peace and love was the mantra.

“This is what you can expect of the Muslim community when they return home,” he said. “You would not expect anything else coming out of the Muslim community as regard pointing fingers and blaming one another.” He also called on Government to put whatever mechanisms were needed in place to make it easy for them to reintegrate back into society. The journey of reintegration was going to be a difficult one, he said, and he called on Muslim, non-Muslims and Government in the future not to allow matters such as these to go on the length of time this one has gone.

The men were detained on March 19, 2014 along with the wives of three of them, eight children and three Imams. They were detained at the Plaza Hotel in Sabana Grande, Caracas where they were staying while awaiting visas to undertake an Umrah pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. The wives and children were the first to be allowed to returns to Trinidad. The Imams were freed after 45 days.

Sadiquaa Mohammed, Gloria Charles - mother of Wade - Amina Luqman, wife of Asim Luqman, and Latoya Baptiste, wife of Leslie Daisley could not contain their emotions as they thanked everyone who played a role in the men’s freedom. They were all the press conference along with other family members and friends. The scene was an upbeat, yet emotional one.

Baptiste told Sunday Newsday that if her husband “could only be back” in Trinidad by Friday, that would be her son’s best gift for his seventh birthday. A tearful Baptiste said she told her son, “Daddy will be coming home.” Amina Luqman said when she got the news, she was overwhelmed.

Not one to get her hopes up high, she said, she told her two sons and daughter and they were very excited. “Everybody happy,” she said. Gloria Charles told Sunday Newsday that her daughterin- law and 10 children were most happy. She said she always trusted in God and knew that he was going to answer their prayers. “Even if I cry. I am crying because I am happy,” she said declaring that she would be the happiest mother alive to greet her son at Piarco on his return.

Imam Hamzah Mohammed, one of the three Imams who was detained said, “It is a feeling you really can’t explain, but it is a feeling of joy, happiness.” The challenge for the men, he said, would be resettling. Though the incident occurred over two and half years ago, he said, sometimes the sound of a siren triggers bad memories.

He has had no counselling except for talking with some of his imam friends. He hopes that the men’s faith would have grown while in prison and they will know how to deal with their issues.

Attorney, Nafeesa Mohammed, who represented the interest of the families at home, said, “We knew they have been innocent from the beginning. They are not terrorists.” Both Abdullah and Mohammed expressed thanks to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, ministers and officials of the Government, and Venezuelan Ambassador Coromoto Godoy-Calderon, who were “working behind the scenes, behind closed doors and in the shadows” to achieve the goal of releasing the men. Noting that it was combination of efforts that secured the men’s release, she said, there was a combination of legal and judicial efforts and diplomatic efforts and other interventions.

There were times, she said, when the men were not being taken to court for weeks and months, and some pressure had to be applied like recently, when the judge, Maria Eugenia Nunez, took leave of the case without handing down a decision. On another occasion, she said a judge hearing their case was himself, jailed.Nevertheless, Nunez was recalled to the matter after the accused men proceeded on a hunger strike that lasted some 17 days.

During that period one of them collapsed in the prison and had to be hospitalised.