PORT-OF-SPAIN – The Mayor of Port-of-Spain Louis Lee Sing Friday called for an end the state of emergency (SOE) imposed here since August 21, even as the Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration announced it had hired prominent lawyers to assist the police in prosecuting people detained under the measure.
“I want to say that the evidence suggest that the reasons for calling the state of emergency will remain a secret to a small group, a cabal within the Prime Minister’s cabinet.
“What is abundantly clear is that the state of emergency is the government’s first giant step in disbanding the constitution of Trinidad and Tobago and in the process untold violence has been perpetuated against ordinary law abiding citizens.”
Lee Sing said that daily media reports suggest there is a “slapping down of some of our basic rights” and as he called on the government to end the SOE “immediately, noting that the present measure had stifled various organisations including the trade union movement from organizing any protest action against the government.
Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said that the four separate teams headed by prominent attorneys including the President of the Law Association, Dana Seetahal would be used to help the police secure convictions of persons being held under the SOE.
Ramlogan said the authorities had taken the initiative in an effort to allay the fears of any unwarranted abuse of human rights
But Lee Sing, flanked by two persons who had been detained under the SOE, said he had been receiving numerous calls and requests from people within the city about human rights abuses, including being detained and held in prison without any charges being laid.
Lee Singh said a third person, Robert Barath, a corrections officer with the Ministry of Legal Affairs, had been picked up in the sister isle of Tobago on suspicion of being involved in murder and flown back to Trinidad hooded in a helicopter belonging to the security forces.
He said Barath is now contemplating legal action against the authorities.
He said in many instances persons were being detained by the security forces during the SOE, which was extended over the last weekend by a further three months, without relatives knowing exactly where they were being held.
He agreed with the group, The Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute (TTTI) that the authorities issue a list of all detainees.
Lee Singh, a member of the main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM), which is bitterly opposed to the SOE and the five hour curfew, said that none of the more than 1 000 persons detained so far, had been held under orders of the National Security Minister.
“Where is the democracy in this country? . . . Persons genuinely believe that I could make interventions in having their loved ones who have been detained released. I have had to say to these people that this not a normal time in the history of our country and that is easier said than done”.
Lee sing said given the “naked assault” by the government on citizens here, “I say to you this morning that even during World War II there was no state of emergency in Britain while all the English people were fighting for the freedom of the world”. (CMC)
