Shocked and disappointed, the families of the five T&T nationals detained in Venezuela have renewed calls for the Government to intervene at the diplomatic level since the men now face two new charges, including spying, despite the fact that the Venezuelan authorities have dropped terrorism charges against them. The other new charge is intention to commit a crime.
Attorney Nafeesa Mohammed spoke of her the mens’ families dismay at the new development. Islamic Front leader Umar Abdullah said Wednesday he had been informed of the situation.
The five — Wade Charles, Dominic Jamal Pitilal, Asim Luqman, Andre Bathersby and Lesley Daisley — were detained since March 2014 on suspicion of terrorism after being held at a Caracas hotel with a 22-member T&T Muslim group which had gone to caracas to get Saudi Arabia visas for the annual Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.
The bigger group was released but the five were detained on suspicion of terrorism, and have been before the court several times.
In last month’s T&T/Venezuela talks, Government officials had said that repatriation of nationals of each state was on the table. That had spurred optimism for their release and raised hope among the men’s families.
National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, who later met with his Venezuelan counterpart for security talks, had said that Government had asked for the matter to be speeded up, but understood that it was ultimately up to Venezuela’s judicial process.
T&T hands-off
The T&T Government’s careful approach and tone were echoed by Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Stuart Young. He had said that T&T could not interfere with that judicial process, and that there was no connection between the detainees’ issue and projected repatriation of Venezuelan nationals at T&T’s Immigration Detention Centre.
Yesterday, Mohammed said the men have not yet filed any plea in the matter which had been adjourned to next week in the Venezuelan court.
She added: “But their families are shocked and horrified because after the T&T/Venezuela talks, public pronouncements were made that repatriation of nationals of both countries would be done.
“These new charges have made the families of the men very disappointed as their menfolk are still before the courts. Everyone had expected the men would be home perhaps in time for Eid.”
“People are very concerned because of the espionage charge especially...spying on what for whom? Why would they plead guilty to something they don’t know about? While there is respect for the matter before the Venezuelan courts, we must be mindful of the circumstances.
“So we are asking for high level diplomatic intervention in this matter and for T&T authorities to share the information they have with Venezuela as it relates to securing their release.”
Mohammed added: “We have heard the National Security Minister say the matter is subject to the Venezuelan judicial process but we need to deepen the dialogue with Venezuela on this.
“Government has to undo the damage done in the last term when wrong information was sent about the men. We hope all parties will follow closely the pronouncements from the T&T-Venezuela meeting.”