Yasin Abut Bakr
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — The Trinidad and Tobago Government Wednesday night said the decision by Jamaican immigration authorities to deny the leader of the Jamaat al Muslimeen group, Yasin Abut Bakr, entry into that country should not be questioned.
National Security Minister Gary Griffith in a statement said the decision by Kingston “should be respected as it shows a firm stand by that country’s national security to ensure that stringent measures are exercised to protect that country’s borders”.
Bakr, accompanied by his wife and son, had arrived in Jamaica to attend the 18th anniversary of the Million Man March to be held in that country over the weekend.
Bakr is reported to have been invited by the US-based leader Louis Farakhan, who is expected to be the main speaker at the anniversary celebrations.
But Bakr, 73, who staged an unsuccessful coup against the then ANR Robinson administration in Trinidad and Tobago in 1990, was denied entry and media reports in Jamaica said he had been placed on a list by the International Police (INTERPOL).
The Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) said the decision to refuse leave to land “is in the interest of national security, given the present threat posed to public safety”.
A passenger on the Caribbean Airlines flight returning to the Piarco International Airport told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that Bakr, who had been placed in handcuffs, was refusing to sit at the back of the airline.
“He refuses to sit in the back. The security officials are all huddled debating what to do. He wants a seat in first class,” said the passenger.
