SHAL­IZA HAS­SANALI

Se­nior Re­porter

shal­iza.has­sanali@guardian.co.tt

The At­tor­ney Gen­er­al’s of­fice has briefed at­tor­neys, which in­clude Gilbert Pe­ter­son SC, to ad­vise on the case of the re­turn of ISIS con­vict, Sabi­rah Khal­i­dah Wa­heed.

And yes­ter­day, the of­fice of the Chief State So­lic­i­tor wrote to Wa­heed’s at­tor­ney Criston J Williams ask­ing him to hold his hand in pur­su­ing le­gal ac­tion, as they are cur­rent­ly work­ing to pro­vide a sub­stan­tive re­sponse on the mat­ter.

The let­ter came af­ter Guardian Me­dia re­port­ed yes­ter­day that the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty and For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs have been point­ing fin­gers at each oth­er as to who has ju­ris­dic­tion in the case of Wa­heed for her af­fil­i­a­tion with ISIS.

In the let­ter to Williams dat­ed Ju­ly 26, 2023, signed by Sara Mus­lim, she not­ed that at­tor­neys Nisa Sim­mons and her­self have been as­signed to in­struct Pe­ter­son SC, and Vanes­sa Gopaul “who were re­cent­ly re­tained to act on be­half of the pro­posed de­fen­dant”.

Mus­lim al­so ref­er­enced Williams’ Ju­ly 3 and 14, 2023, let­ters that were ad­dressed to the Min­is­ter of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty which she ac­knowl­edged.

“The con­tents of the afore­men­tioned let­ters are du­ly not­ed and we are work­ing as­sid­u­ous­ly to ob­tain the in­struc­tions to re­spond to your let­ters. In the cir­cum­stances, we are kind­ly re­quest­ing that you hold your hands here­in as we are cur­rent­ly work­ing to pro­vide a sub­stan­tive re­sponse in the short­est pos­si­ble time,” she said.

The Chief State So­lic­i­tor falls un­der the am­bit of the Of­fice of the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al and Min­istry of Le­gal Af­fairs.

But Williams has re­fused to back down.

He told Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day that he in­tends to file a con­sti­tu­tion­al mo­tion against the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty and the of­fice of the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al for in­fring­ing on Wa­heed’s con­sti­tu­tion­al rights.

“Where it is we have the For­eign Af­fairs Min­istry and Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­istry throw­ing blame on each oth­er. I re­al­ly don’t need to talk to them again be­cause my case is set up per­fect­ly. We are start­ing a war.”

He said both the AG and Hinds will re­ceive cor­re­spon­dence in­di­cat­ing their in­tent “to file a con­sti­tu­tion­al mo­tion be­cause of the re­stric­tion of the free­dom of move­ment of Ms Wa­heed”.

Williams said Mus­lim’s let­ter did not give a time in which they will re­spond.

“That re­sponse is in­ad­e­quate. They had so many days to re­spond. That let­ter came a lit­tle too late in the over­all con­tent of things and the du­ty of the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al’s of­fice to pro­tect the pop­u­la­tion. But I hope they will not en­gage in a court of ac­tion that is just to de­lay or to cre­ate grounds for fur­ther hu­man rights abus­es for Wa­heed and her mi­nor chil­dren,” he said.

Once the mo­tion has been filed, Williams said he ex­pects the mat­ter to move swift­ly.

Williams said he will be work­ing with a Se­nior Coun­sel on this case.

Wa­heed, whose six-year jail term in Iraq end­ed yes­ter­day, is fight­ing to come back home.

Up to yes­ter­day, she re­mained in­car­cer­at­ed with her two chil­dren, as no trav­el doc­u­ments were is­sued to them.

Ear­li­er this month, at­tor­ney Shiv­anand Mo­han of Quan­tum Le­gal wrote Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Fitzger­ald Hinds re­quest­ing that they grant Wa­heed and her two chil­dren, one of whom was born in Iraq, trav­el doc­u­ments to fa­cil­i­tate their safe de­por­ta­tion from the Mid­dle East.

The let­ters were al­so copied to At­tor­ney Gen­er­al Regi­nald Ar­mour and For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs Min­is­ter Dr Amery Browne.

If Wa­heed, 33, is grant­ed per­mis­sion, she will be the first Trinida­di­an to be de­port­ed from the con­flict zone.