Venezuela President Nicholas Maduro is expected to arrive today in T&T for the signing of a new agreement on energy affairs. With his arrival, the Waajihatul Islaamiyyah (The Islamic Front) thinks the T&T Government should be prudent and let good sense prevail by asking Maduro, “as a sign of goodwill”, to release or expedite the legal proceedings concerning the five Muslim T&T nationals who are still detained in Venezuela.
The five men—Wade Charles, Dominic Pitilal, Asim Luqman, Andre Battersby and Leslie Daisley —were arrested on terrorism charges on March 19 2014 after the Venezuelan intelligence agency raided their hotel rooms. On March 27, 2014 a delegation of officials, headed by Rear Admiral Richard Kelshall (national security adviser to the Prime Minister of T&T), left Trinidad on a fact-finding mission.
According to the head of the Islamic Front, Umar Adullah, during the one-day visit Kelshall made several statements against three of the nationals arrested in support of his informal statements to the defence attaché of Venezuela in Trinidad a few days prior. “This accusation made Mr Kelshall remains highly disputable,” he added. The five Trinidadians are being held in a Sebin prison in Caracas, Venezuela.
“On a number of occasions, the men were not taken to court, owing to court documents not reaching Sebin on time and the unavailability of transportation,” he said. T&T Guardian understands that the matter is now being sent for trial to Court 20 of the Tribunal de Juicio before Judge Ali Paredes, who has been recently arrested on allegations of corruption.
“The entire judicial system has been shut down due to some new appointments. So there is no telling when our nationals would have an audience again,” it was stated. A diplomatic note was sent from T&T’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 18, 2014 to the External Affairs Ministry in Caracas to open diplomatic dialogue between the countries to seek the men’s release.
“A commitment was made by our government and so another intervention on August 19, 2014 was made, via another diplomatic note, but that is as far as it has reached. No further communication was made after this date,” Abdullah said. He believes the T&T Government has not taken a handle of the situation and everything was left in the hands of the justice system in Venezuela.
Abdullah added: “Our letter to the Prime Minister of T&T was answered, referring the matter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then later on to the Ministry of National Security but still the matter remains unresolved as our calls for the T&T Government to send a delegation to Venezuela remain hopeful.
“The families of these men continue to be victims of bureaucratic delay. After 11 months and four days, we are out of options and finances. It is difficult as we have to hire someone to cook halal meals (food prepared as prescribed by Muslim law) on a daily basis for our detained Muslim brothers. Our application for halal meals were futile.
“These men were the sole bread winners of their families and were snatched from their wives and children. The lawyers, too, seem out of options and are asking that we put pressure on our government to do something in the matter as it is 100 per cent political. Our Minister of Foreign Affairs has since directed us to the Trinidad Embassy in Caracas.”
The Islamic Front has been in Venezuela over the past five months with the hope of meeting as many individuals and organisations who might be able to assist in the matter, he said. “We see this as an ideal opportunity for our government to fulfil its promise; in doing all that they could within their power to bring back our nationals home.
“An option has presented itself and again we are asking the Government not to allow this opportunity to pass by without considering the freedom of our nationals, while remaining cognisant of the proverbial candle costing more than the funeral,” he added.