Relatives of the five T&T nationals detained in a Venezuelan prison are demanding the dismissal of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dennis Moses.
The call was made by spokesman for the protesters, Umar Abdullah, who is the leader of Waajihatul Islaamiyyah, also known as The Islamic Front.
He said the relatives will continue to protest in front of the Parliament until the men return to T&T. The five who were detained in Venezuela since 2014 and were to be released last month but are still detained in Venezuela are Dominic Pitilal, Wade Charles, Asim Luqman, Andre Battersby and Leslie Daisley
They went to Caracas to allegedly obtain visas for Hajj.
Abdullah said yesterday’s protest was also in support of the release and return of Tariq Shamoon Mohammed, a final year student at the University of Medinah. He remains detained in Saudi Arabia for more than a year on suspicion of being a terrorist .
Abdullah said Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, promised to deal with the matter with urgency when they protested outside Parliament five weeks ago.
“That obviously did not happen because we are now five weeks after and we decided to come back here again to show solidarity and our presence should be a reminder to our parliamentarians that this is issue has not been solved as yet,” he added.
Abdullah said: “We are calling upon the Foreign Minister to act in accordance with his duties and to have these men return home as quickly as possible and we are calling on the Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to immediately fire the Foreign Affairs Minister for his lack of political will and lack of experience in diplomacy in getting back those men.”
Also yesterday, a woman identified as Susan Jeremiah Alexander, employed in the NWRHA, also staged a placard demonstrations outside the Parliament.
She said she was seeking an audience with Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh over the state of health care in the country.
She collapsed during the protest but recovered minutes later.
As Deyalsingh was leaving the building she attempted to speak with him.
He said to her that her matter was to be taken to the Regional Health Authority.