SHALIZA HASSANALI
Senior Reporter
Shaliza.hassanali@guardian.co.tt
The Ministry of National Security and Foreign and Caricom Affairs are pointing fingers at each other as to who has jurisdiction in the case of Sabirah Khalidah Waheed, a convicted terrorist for her affiliation with ISIS.
Waheed, whose six-year jail term in an Iraqi prison will come to an end today, is fighting to come back home. If she is granted permission, she will be the first Trinidadian to be deported from the conflict zone.
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 letter was also copied to Attorney General Reginald Armour and Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne.
Providing an update on Waheed’s matter which was published in the T&T Guardian yesterday, her attorney Criston Williams told Guardian Media that his client’s status remains uncertain, as the Ministries of National Security and Foreign and Caricom Affairs have been passing the buck.
This was after Williams received a letter on July 19 sent by the National Security Ministry’s Legal Unit which stated “Notwithstanding, upon a cursory glance of your correspondence of July 14, 2023, it appears that it would be pre-emptive and/or premature to address this matter to the Ministry of National Security. Further, it would seem that this matter requires the engagement of diplomatic discussions to be facilitated by virtue of the designated officers positioned within the Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs.”
Browne’s ministry and the AG’s office have also failed to respond to the legal letter, as well as questions sent by Guardian Media on July 20.
However, responding to a WhatsApp message sent by Guardian Media last Thursday, Browne said he was on travel duty “at this time” and asked that Guardian Media follow up with the National Security Ministry “on this matter, as it falls under their purview”.
Williams said he has come to the conclusion that Hinds and Browne have been “passing the buck.
“Nobody is answering. Nobody wants to deal with the issue.”
This, he said, was frustrating.
“Whenever it comes to issues of national security in the country the AG’s office and National Security Ministry do not answer us. They always say come to court basically which is against and inimical of the civil proceeding rules,” said Williams.
Williams said as it stands Waheed will have to play a waiting game.
“I will give you a proper status on Thursday because that is the next date, I expect correspondence from the Iraq officials as to what they wish to do next. They have been in contact with our people.”
Williams said there was no new legislation in the Anti-Terrorism Bill to debar Waheed and her children from entering T&T.
In 2018, this country passed the Anti-Terrorism Bill but then attorney general Faris Al-Rawi in 2020 indicated they were proposing the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment Bill) which would outline specific measures to treat nationals who are returning from conflict zones in the Middle East.
Williams said that was three years ago and no new “buffer zone” was created to accommodate such returnees.
Chaguanas West MP Dinesh Rambally also issued a statement on Waheed’s matter, insisting that as a citizen of T&T, she is entitled to return even with this conviction.
He said Waheed’s return was being hampered by the Government—mainly the AG and the Anti-Terrorism Unit who for six years made promises to introduce protective legislation but have failed to do so.
“Ms Waheed is certainly entitled to her constitutional rights and the Government should assist in the return of this family.”
Rambally said there were many unanswered questions with regard to what laws, policies, systems, or regulations have been put in place to integrate these people into our society while ensuring that national security concerns are addressed.
He said it was clear that the Government has failed to address this situation of repatriation in a timely manner.
In 2016, Waheed, along with her husband Umar Rabby Kumar and their daughter Ra’eesah, left Trinidad to join the Islamic State.
They were part of a group of 19 Trinidadian men, women and children who entered Iraq and Syria illegally as jihadists.
Waheed’s mother Aneesa Mohammed-Waheed and her sisters Aidah, 23, Azizah, 32 and their husbands, were part of that contingent.
While entering Iraq illegally, the group was caught by authorities and placed in Iraqi prisons.
Waheed who was pregnant at the time was separated from her husband, a Guyanese national, and was put in jail with her four-year-old daughter.