Jamaat leader seeks bail again

"Taken from our C O U R T section."

YASIN ABU BAKR, the jailed leader of the Jamaat Al Muslimeen, will go on trial again on November 1 on a charge of conspiracy to murder two expelled members of the Jamaat.

The date was set when Bakr appeared before Justice Herbert Volney in the Port-of-Spain First Criminal Court at a special cause list hearing yesterday.

Bakr’s trial was originally fixed for October 2, but yesterday the date was changed.

This will be the second trial for Bakr on the charge. He went on trial in January 2005, but the nine-member jury failed to arrive at an unanimous verdict on March 16, 2005 and a re-trial was ordered.

Bakr, 64, of La Puerta Avenue, Diego Martin, was represented yesterday by attorney Celeste Jules, while Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson appeared for the State.

Bakr is charged jointly with two others with conspiring to murder Salim Rasheed and Zaki Aubidah at Citrine Drive, Diamond Vale, Diego Martin, on June 4, 2003.

Meanwhile, Bakr, also known as Lennox Phillips, will make another attempt tomorrow to get bail. The Jamaat leader has been in prison since November after he was charged with sedition, incitement, and terrorism. Bakr was charged with these offences following his sermon to his congregation at Eid celebrations on November 4 at the Muslimeen’s Mucurapo mosque.

Since his arrest on these charges, Bakr has made several bail applications. But these were strongly resisted by the State. In all the instances, the court refused bail to the Muslimeen leader.Although the indictment has been filed, no date has been fixed for the hearing of the sedition-related charges.

Since his incarceration, Bakr’s health has deteriorated and he has lost weight, judging from his appearance in court yesterday. Tomorrow’s bail application will be made on medical grounds.

A similar application was made on behalf of former Prime Minister Basdeo Panday in April this year after he was found guilty and jailed by Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls for knowingly failing to declare his London bank account to the Integrity Commission for the years 1997, 1998, and 1999.

Panday was released on $350,000 bail pending his appeal to the Court of Appeal.