Joshua.Seemu­n­gal

Se­nior In­ves­tiga­tive Jour­nal­ist

joshua.seemu­n­gal@guardian.co.tt

Two lo­cal Is­lam­ic or­gan­i­sa­tions, the Ja­maat al-Mus­limeen and the Is­lam­ic Mis­sion­ar­ies Guild, are among those ex­press­ing con­cern that Mus­lim pris­on­ers, par­tic­u­lar­ly those held in the Teteron Bar­racks, are be­ing de­nied their right to prac­tise their re­li­gion dur­ing the Holy Month of Ra­madan.

The or­gan­i­sa­tions are call­ing for ur­gent gov­ern­ment in­ter­ven­tion.

De­tainees, as seen in video tes­ti­monies, have com­plained of be­ing de­nied ac­cess to Qur’ans, suit­able con­di­tions for prayer, spir­i­tu­al coun­sel with imams, and di­etary ac­com­mo­da­tion for fast­ing.

Leader of the Ja­maat-al-Mus­limeen, Sadiq Al Razi, who re­placed the late Yasin Abu Bakr, wrote to the Act­ing Com­mis­sion­er of Pris­ons, Car­los Car­raspe, on March 3 ex­press­ing con­cern.

“I write with deep con­cern re­gard­ing re­ports from fam­i­ly mem­bers that the Mus­lim in­mates in gen­er­al, and par­tic­u­lar­ly the in­mates held at Teteron Bar­racks, Ch­aguara­mas, are be­ing de­nied the full op­por­tu­ni­ty to prac­tise es­sen­tial as­pects of their re­li­gion, par­tic­u­lar­ly the ob­ser­vance of fast­ing dur­ing the blessed month of Ra­madan.”

Ac­cord­ing to Al Razi, he did not re­ceive an ac­knowl­edge­ment of re­ceipt.

The Is­lam­ic Mis­sion­ar­ies Guild, through its leader Im­ti­az Mo­hammed, al­so called for ur­gent in­ter­ven­tion.

“If that right is tak­en away from them, as Mus­lims, we feel dis­ap­point­ed at the be­hav­iour of the peo­ple re­spon­si­ble for tak­ing away this right of theirs to have the free­dom to prac­tise their re­li­gion. Be­ing de­nied their right to prac­tise their re­li­gion, they should be giv­en that right. In this case, we are talk­ing specif­i­cal­ly of Mus­lims, and we will ex­press that the State would not take that right away from them, es­pe­cial­ly dur­ing this month of Ra­madan.”

Mean­while, Imam Loris Bal­lack, the Ja­maat’s for­mer sec­ond-in-com­mand and one of the 1990 in­sur­rec­tion­ists, sought to warn the coun­try of the dan­gers of the prece­dent be­ing set.

“That is the be­hav­iour of the Mossad. This is some­thing that we need to ad­dress be­cause there are faiths, and men will make their prayers, but the Mus­lim has a mo­tion to make their prayers. To de­ny a man, es­pe­cial­ly at this time, in the month of Ra­madan, to de­ny a man his rights to pray is a sad thing,” Bal­lack said.

The Con­sti­tu­tion states that free­dom of con­science and re­li­gious be­lief must be guar­an­teed to all as a fun­da­men­tal right. This in­cludes the abil­i­ty to prac­tise re­li­gion.

In De­cem­ber 2023, two Mus­lim pris­on­ers, Ayok­ie Charles and Sher­win Mor­gan, is­sued pre-ac­tion pro­to­col let­ters to the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al, warn­ing that they would pur­sue le­gal ac­tion against the State if their rights to re­li­gious prac­tice and be­lief were not grant­ed.

The two pris­on­ers, who had ap­plied for per­mis­sion to pur­chase their own food, were among 241 Mus­lim pris­on­ers who, in protest, re­fused non-ha­lal meals from the prison for three months.

In 2005, Mus­lim pris­on­er Al­ludin Mo­hammed won a law­suit against the Com­mis­sion­er of Pris­ons af­ter of­fi­cers forcibly cut his beard against his wish­es.

The court ruled that his right to re­li­gious be­lief and ob­ser­vance was vi­o­lat­ed.

De­tainees seek sup­port

Ten Mus­lim de­tainees moved to Teteron Bar­racks in Ch­aguara­mas dur­ing the Gov­ern­ment’s first State of Emer­gency last Ju­ly, have been plead­ing for in­ter­ven­tion, say­ing they are be­ing de­nied ba­sic hu­man rights at fa­cil­i­ties that were not clas­si­fied as pris­ons be­fore the SOEs.

The de­tainees were clas­si­fied by the Gov­ern­ment as high-risk crim­i­nals who al­leged­ly played roles in an al­leged as­sas­si­na­tion plot against Cab­i­net mem­bers, as well as key ju­di­cial of­fi­cials and po­lice of­fi­cers.

Sev­en months af­ter the de­ten­tion, no charges have been laid in con­nec­tion with the plot, but the de­tainees re­main in the same fa­cil­i­ty.

Earl Richards and Nef­ta Fe­lix are Mus­lim in­mates who were among those moved to Teteron.

Richards was one of 11 men charged in 2015 with the mur­der of Dana See­ta­hal, SC.

Fe­lix was one of five men charged with the mur­der of 30-year-old Shel­don Dun­can in 2012.

The two are cell­mates.

Guardian Me­dia In­ves­ti­ga­tions viewed footage of the men speak­ing with their at­tor­ney, Chris­ton J Williams, via video con­fer­ence last week.

Richards in­tro­duced him­self by name, looked di­rect­ly at the cam­era and said he was speak­ing from a place of pain and dis­tress, phys­i­cal­ly and spir­i­tu­al­ly.

“The spir­i­tu­al dis­tress is with any­body all over the world, no mat­ter what they are charged with; they give them a foun­da­tion to hold their spir­i­tu­al growth, which is their re­li­gious books, and since we are here, we haven’t got­ten our Qur’an to help with our spir­i­tu­al foun­da­tion.

“Phys­i­cal dis­tress is that I am suf­fer­ing from a di­a­betes com­pli­ca­tion and the prison is not able to give me my prop­er di­et, so I am get­ting plen­ty of faint­ing spells…I lost a lot of body weight. I came in here at 249, and I am weigh­ing 170…I speak­ing from a place of pain,” he said, adding that he has not show­ered or brushed his teeth in two months.

Fe­lix spoke less emo­tive­ly, but shared the same sen­ti­ments and hope.

“Up­on the blessed month of Ra­madan, since the be­gin­ning, we have not been able to prac­tise our re­li­gious rights, based on what the con­sti­tu­tion says. As a Mus­lim, I need to al­ways keep my­self hy­gien­ic. Where shav­ing is con­cerned. I have been giv­en one shaver for the past eight months. I have not been giv­en or al­lowed to have my re­li­gious books. I have not been able to see a re­li­gious in­struc­tor, an imam. What rule did we break to have this priv­i­lege tak­en away?” he said, look­ing in­to the cam­era.

Guardian Me­dia’s In­ves­ti­ga­tions Desk sought com­ment from the Act­ing Com­mis­sion­er of Pris­ons, Car­los Cor­raspe, about the claims, but did not re­ceive a re­sponse up to yes­ter­day evening.