……”My son was no Terrorist”
By FRANCIS JOSEPH
A 36-year-old man who was detained by the police into an alleged plot to disrupt Carnival 2018, will receive more than $243,000 in damages and costs.
Tariq Mohammed was arrested at his Mohammedville, El Socorro, San Juan, home on February 8, 2018 and kept at various police stations for seven days before he was released without charge. He is the son of prominent radio broadcaster, Shamoon Mohammed.
Justice Robin Mohammed found that Tariq Mohammed was wrongfully arrested, falsely imprisoned, and assaulted by police officers, who raided his home.
Justice Mohammed awarded Mohammed $145,000 in general damages and $40,000 in exemplary damages. The Office of the Attorney General was also ordered to pay $18,194.52 in pre-judgment interest and $39,479.17 in prescribed costs.
In a 54-page judgment, Justice Mohammed found that the police had failed to justify Mohammed’s continued detention after the initial investigation produced no evidence against him.
He said, “The failure to do so renders the seven-day detention wholly unlawful.”
The matter arose after a team of armed police officers executed search warrants at Mohammed’s residence around 3 a.m. on February 8, 2018. The police officers were investigating intelligence about an alleged plan to disrupt Carnival celebrations through the use of explosives.
Mohammed claimed officers forcibly entered his home, restrained him and his father with tie-straps, and began searching before showing them the warrants. No firearms or ammunition were found, although electronic devices were seized.
After the search, the police officers took Mohammed to Riverside Plaza for questioning. He was eventually moved between police stations and held at the Belmont Police Station until February 14, when he was released without charge.
The State, in defending the claim, maintained that the police had acted on credible intelligence from local and foreign security agencies about a potential threat to national security. The State also argued that Mohammed had voluntarily accompanied officers for questioning and that his detention was justified while investigations continued.
But Justice Mohammed found that the State had failed to produce adequate contemporaneous records showing what investigative steps justified keeping Mohammed in custody throughout the seven days.
The judge noted that Supt Denis Knutt, who was involved in the investigation, acknowledged under cross-examination that no such documents had been produced.
The Judge also found that the State had withheld critical video evidence of Mohammed’s interviews despite a Freedom of Information request.
Justice Mohammed said the case was not one in which police had acted in good faith on a mistaken identity. He continued, “The police executed a search that yielded no incriminating evidence yet proceeded to arrest and detain the claimant for seven days based solely on instructions from superiors.”
Mohammed was represented by attorneys Alvin Ramroop, Kingsley Walesby and Sarfraz Alsaran, while Sanjeev Lalla and Brent James appeared for the Office of the Attorney General.
“SON IS NO TERRORIST”
When Tariq was arrested, his father Shamoon said his son was no terrorist. He said, “It is a personal and psychological persecution of an individual who has not done anything wrong. They are trying to use my son as an example to others. We would be most angry if he is kept there for the entire Carnival period. This will constitute a supreme violation of human rights.”
Shamoon said in his 69 years (at that time), he had never been arrested by police, and when they tied his hands and those of his son behind their backs, they were left in a state of shock.
Shamoon said Tariq, who was a former student of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Medina in Saudi Arabia, was detained in Saudi Arabia in 2015 for one year because officials there felt he was another person who bore the same name and was red-flagged for terrorist activities.
He said Tariq studied in Saudi Arabia for six years without any issue, and when he visited Trinidad and then returned to complete his final year of studies in Saudi Arabia, he was detained.
Shamoon said Tariq was kept in different detention centres for the year and repeatedly questioned about terrorist cells and Islamic religious bodies in Trinidad.
He said it was only when the National Security Ministry sent a letter to Saudi Arabian officials saying Tariq was not a terrorist, then he was released and returned to Trinidad in December 2016.
