Muslims at Parliament for ‘Caracas Five

He led a group of relatives and friends of the jailed quintet in a peaceful protest outside Parliament at Tower D, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, during which time he was able to meet Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General, Stuart Young, who assured him the men’s plight is a priority for the Government. Due to these assurances, Abdullah adjourned a vigil that he said had been intended to last until the men are repatriated.

Abdullah’s group was very upset that despite a Venezuelan judge last week ordering the men to be freed, this had not been done.

He related that despite the court order being addressed to the SEBIN police, they are declining to free the men until they are so instructed by Venezuela’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Regarding the charges, Abdullah said the men were originally charged with planning to assassinate Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, but these charges were dropped in favour of other, lesser trumped up charges of spying.

He said the men had stoutly resisted pressures placed on them to plead guilty to the latter charges, as he reasoned that the penalty worldwide for such an offence can be as severe as the death penalty, in contrast to the three years proffered to them by the Venezuela authorities.

Sadiqa Mohammed, wife of Dominic Pitilal, one of the detainees, told Newsday the men are frustrated and tired and are now prepared to meet their deaths in Caracas, even as she lamented his two-year and seven-month incarceration.

“Their life is being put at danger right now, as they are being bullied by the security forces in SEBIN.” Mohammed was hopeful that the men would return to TT this weekend, although Abdullah was more cautious, as he noted that government offices close on the weekend, so he’d not set a timeline.

Mohammed urged the TT Government to send a delegation to Caracas. She did not see it all as a judicial process but more as a political process involving some victimisation.

“Why is it that if our men are ‘freed’, they are still locked up a week later?” .