Muslim head: TT needs crime bill, not terrorism law

Abdullah and several other prominent Muslim leaders, including president of the Islamic Missionaries Guild Imtiaz Mohammed and Jamaat Al Muslimeen leader Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, were not invited to the meeting, but remained steadfast in their view that some of the proposals contained in the amendment to the Anti-Terrorism law were seriously flawed and needed to be revisited.

Abdullah predicted that the meeting with Dillon will bear little or no fruit. “Having meetings with those individuals are of no use at all,” he said. “Those individuals are not able to offer solutions to what is happening right now.” Abdullah said while many of the leaders who attended the meeting would have been able to speak on aspects of the faith, they were out of touch with what was happening on the ground.

“They like to sit and talk about issues of the religion, but in terms of being relevant, they never know what is taking place,” he claimed.

Asked why he felt the specific Muslim groups were left out of the meeting, Abdullah said: “The Government knows if they meet with us they will be challenged with the questions we will pose to them. It is unfortunate what is happening at this point in time.” The national security minister’s meeting with the selected group of Muslims came almost one week after Abdullah and other Muslim leaders met in an emergency session at the Islamic Missionaries Guild, Kelly Village, Caroni, to discuss the Government’s proposals for amending the Anti-Terrorism Bill.

The group, Muslims of Trinidad and Tobago (MOTT), has since called for the existing legislation to be repealed, insisting that it infringed the rights of Muslims and non-Muslims alike, particularly those travelling to Syria and other Middle-Eastern countries.

At a recent post-Cabinet news briefing, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said the Government was bolstering the existing anti-terrorism legislation with a view to minimising the likelihood of citizens joining terrorist organisations overseas.

This came after National Security Minister Edmund Dillon announced in the Senate that there were some 130 citizens who left local shores to join terrorist organisations.

Among other things, the Government proposes stiff penalties for those found to be in support of people bent on joining terrorist organisations and a revision of the provisions for the investigation of suspected terrorists and the gathering of information by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

The amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Bill are expected to be laid in the Parliament tomorrow.

Dillon’s meeting on Friday with members of the Muslim community sought to devise a strategy for collaboration by which information could be shared with respect to identifying potential terrorist recruiters and those seeking to go overseas to engage in conflicts, a statement from the Ministry of National Security said on Friday.

Among the groups represented at the meeting were the National Islamic Counselling Services, Islamic Resource Society, National Muslim Women’s Organisation of T&T and the Trinidad Muslim League.

The US Government was involved in the discussions also, which is expected to be an ongoing initiative.

The meeting came as Justice Frank Seepersad declared three men as terrorists for conspiring to commit a terrorist attack in 2007 at John F Kennedy International Airport, New York, by exploding fuel tanks and the fuel pipeline under the airport.

The men, Trinidadian Abdel Nur, former Guyanese parliamentarian Abdul Kadir and US naturalised Guyanese Russell De Freitas, were deemed as terrorists in accordance with Section 22 (B) of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2005.

However, Abdullah yesterday maintained the Anti-Terrorism Act should be repealed.

“This is still my opinion. We do not need a terrorism bill here. What we need is a crime bill,” he said.

“The Government of Trinidad and Tobago, the Attorney General, the Minister of National Security are paying too much attention on something that has no effect on Trinidad and Tobago.

Abdullah accused Al-Rawi and Dillon of instilling fear in the hearts of the people in the country.

He said citizens should not be concerned about terrorism.

“This is the land of calypso, sun, sea, sand. In the Guinness World Book of Records, we have the most amount of holidays in the country.

What terrorism are they talking about? “We have been living here without any threats to us, apart from the 1970 (Black Power) uprising and the 1990 attempted coup.” Reiterating that the MOTT has called for a meeting with Al-Rawi, Abdullah again argued the bill casts aspersions on Muslims and other non-Muslim devotees alike.