Op­po­si­tion Leader Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar is call­ing for the sedi­tion law to be im­me­di­ate­ly re­pealed.

She made the call while speak­ing at a Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress Mon­day Night Fo­rum at the Preysal High School.

Last Thurs­day Mi­nor­i­ty Leader of the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly and PSA leader Wat­son Duke was charged with one count of sedi­tion for state­ments he made re­gard­ing any pro­posed re­trench­ment at WASA.

Ad­dress­ing the crowd Per­sad-Bisses­sar said free­dom of speech is one of the great­est free­doms we have as a peo­ple.

She said it is not that the law is old but it was cre­at­ed by colo­nial mas­ters to si­lence peo­ple of colour dur­ing slav­ery.

She said there is no place for such a law in this coun­try to­day and called on the gov­ern­ment to re­peal it.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar al­so ques­tioned what de­fines sedi­tion as she com­pared the state­ments made by Duke to words ut­tered by Laven­tille West MP Fit­ger­ald Hinds where he called on PNM sup­port­ers to “kill” the UNC dead.

She said the gov­ern­ment was mis­us­ing the sedi­tion act in an at­tempt to in­tim­i­date peo­ple who speak out against it.

The UNC leader al­so her urged sup­port­ers not to be afraid.