Senior Reporter
otto.carrington@cnc3.co.tt
Relatives of T&T nationals in Syria are upset with the lack of consultation by the Government regarding their plan to build a facility in Couva for returning nationals from Syria and Iraq.
More than 90 T&T nationals, including 56 children and 12 women, are being held at the Al Roj and Al-Hol detention camps for families with alleged Islamic State links.
Forty-four of the children in the camps are aged 12 or younger, with 15 of them under the age of six. At least 33 children were born in Syria, including one child, age three, born in Al-Hol.
At least 13 Trinidadian males, including at least one teenage boy, are being held in other detention centres. Six of the older boys and men—one 17, and five ages 18 to 20—were taken to Syria by family members when they were children.
Raheema Khan, whose sister and her children are at Al Roj camp in Syria, said, “We don’t know if this is another prison, so they are moving from one prison, that they spent five years in, to come to another prison for, the Lord alone knows, how long. So why weren’t the families informed of this? Why didn’t the repatriation committee at least mention to us that this was the line that the Government was taking?”
Khan mentioned that she had been in contact with her sister, stating, “Yes, I’m in contact with my relatives, but I can’t share this with her because her mental state is not 100 per cent. In the last conversation I had with her on Monday, the message she sent, she was crying because she said she doesn’t know when she’s going to be able to come home and she doesn’t know how long she’s going to be able to take this anymore, living in this camp. I can’t share information like this with her, because it will trigger her off, she’ll go into depression, and who will help her? I can’t give her that information.”
Another relative, Tamjeed Ali, whose grandchildren are in Syria, said, “The Government told the United Nations we do not have the means and the facilities to deal with this, and now they’re getting a structure.”
He added, “When they talk structure, is it somebody who’s going to make some money with the Government there? Why all this corruption? Is it that it’s hate? Is it Islamophobia? What are we doing? Are we not citizens of this country? If you see these little children—my granddaughter will be six at the end of this month. She has been there five years.”
Quantum Legal attorney, Criston J Williams, who is representing the family said, “Are these return care facilities meant to house women and children? Is it the creation of a Guantanamo Bay for children, basically? And what impact would that have on the Point Lisas Industrial Estate? If indeed it is to be held in Couva, what consultations have been done with the Muslim population to do any risk assessment on any impact of having women and children imprisoned in these facilities?”
Guardian Media attempted to contact the head of the Repatriation Committee, Nizam Mohammed, however, calls went unanswered.