Leader of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen Yasin Abu Bakr was denied entry to Jamaica last night and then detained there. He is expected to be deported back to T&T today. Bakr had reportedly left Port-of-Spain for Jamaica to attend the ‘Million Man March’ event at the National Arena, Kingston, on Sunday. The event is being hosted for the first time outside the United States and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is slated to speak.
On his Facebook page yesterday, Abu Bakr’s son, Fuad, said his father was to be a guest of Farrakhan and was also using the opportunity to visit one of his daughters at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies. But shortly after disembarking from the Caribbean Airlines flight at the Norman Manley International Airport, he was denied entry and taken into custody, RJR News reported.
Sources told the T&T Guardian earlier that Abu Bakr was initially handcuffed and put on board flight BW457, which was due to return to Piarco shortly after 9 pm last night. But minutes later he was taken off the flight and detained by authorities in Kingston. Abu Bakr reportedly protested noisily when detained by the Jamaican officials and tried to insist on being allowed to attend the event. The flight left without him.
Contacted yesterday, National Security Minister Gary Griffith denied Bakr’s detention was an act of retaliation by the Jamaican authorities over T&T’s refusal to allow entry to 13 Jamaicans last week. Griffith is expected to meet with Jamaican officials to discuss that issue. Griffith said the Jamaican authorities have a right to deny entry into their country anyone they considered to be a national security.
He said the granting of a CSME certificate “does not prevent the authorities from denying entry to anyone who was considered to be a national security threat into any Caribbean state. “No one must be allowed to walk into another state as if he has a divine right to do so with a CSME certificate,” he added. A statement from Jamaica’s National security Ministry yesterday said Abu Bakr was refused entry under Section 4 (1) h of the Immigration Restriction (Commonwealth Citizens) Act, which states:
“The following Commonwealth citizens (not being persons deemed to belong to the Island as defined by sub-section (2) of section 2) are prohibited immigrants:
(h) any person who, from information or advice which in the opinion of the Minister is reliable information or advice, is deemed by the minister to be an undesirable inhabitant of or visitor to the island.” It said the decision was taken in the interest of national security, given the present threat posed to public safety. Jamaican media reported last night that arrangements were being made for Abu Bakr to spend the night at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre or the Gun Court Rehab Centre.