*$kїđž!™ wrote:el socorro My son is not a terrorist.Shamoon Mohammed, 69, father of 29-year-old Tariq Mohammed, yesterday called for the release of his son, saying if Tariq is detained throughout the Carnival period, this would amount to a fundamental abuse of human rights and warrant legal action.Mohammed spoke to the Express at his family home in Mohammedville, El Socorro, where he recounted the events that unfolded when police “stormed” their house at 3.30 a.m. on Thursday. Tariq and three other men have been in police custody from Thursday morning, in connection with an alleged plot to disrupt Carnival. Mohammed said he intends to personally write to the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) and the Commissioner of Police (CoP), complaining of the police behaviour and action.
Tariq was also arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2015 for terrorism .
Trinidad Guardian ,Sept 3 . 2015.
Relatives of a 30-year-old student being detained in Saudi Arabia under suspicion of being a terrorist are calling on the Foreign Affairs Ministry for urgent assistance in securing his release. Tariq Shamoon Mohammed, a final year student at the University of Medinah, was detained by Saudi national security officials as he returned to that country on August 21 after vacationing in T&T.
On Monday, Mohammed’s father, Shamoon, wrote to Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran seeking diplomatic intervention as he claimed his son was being unlawfully detained. The plight comes on the heels of reports of several T&T nationals travelling through Turkey to join foreign fighters supporting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis).
In his letter, which was obtained by the T&T Guardian, Trinidad Broadcasting Corporation 106.1 FM radio network host Shamoon Mohammed pleaded his son’s innocence as he said:
“Our son has diligently pursued his course of studies receiving good grades along with his wife, Saudah. He has never left Saudi Arabia to go to any Middle Eastern country during his stay there. He is not involved in any negative activities there. He has been a law-abiding citizen throughout his life.”
Shamoon, of Mohammedville, El Socorro, claimed since his son’s detention, he and his wife were contacted by representatives of T&T’s Ministry of National Security, who questioned them on their son’s possible terrorism link. “We are unaware of how this misinformation reached our Ministry of National Security. When we saw the photograph of the alleged activist, it was clear it was not our son Tariq.
“It seems some person or agent in Medinah sent information to our Ministry of National Security which is a clear case of mistaken identity and/or misinformation,” Shamoon said. In a brief telephone interview yesterday afternoon, Dookeran said he was yet to receive the letter. “I haven’t seen it but I will check into the issue as I am sure it is being addressed by the permanent secretary,” Dookeran said.
Contacted yesterday permanent secretary Frances Seignoret said she was in fact in receipt of the letter and that the issue was being urgently addressed. Attached to the request to the ministry was a first hand account of the family’s ongoing experience from Mohammed’s wife Saudah Ali. In her detailed statement on the issue, Ali claimed she and her husband first encountered problems when they arrived in the United Kingdom and attempted to board a connecting flight to their usual intransit in Turkey.
Ali said she and their 16-month-old son, Sulaimaan, were separated from Mohammed for three hours as he was being questioned by British intelligence officers before they were eventually allowed to catch a later flight. “Tariq told me that they asked him about the Arabic books he had with him which were his university school books and also details of where we lived in Medinah and about his car licence and so on,” Ali said.
She claimed they were stopped again as soon as they arrived in Turkey. “After a few hours they told Tariq he could not enter Istanbul, as we were planning on staying there for two nights and then going on to Medinah. They wanted him to go back to London,” Ali said.
She said after being held back for almost 12 hours they were finially allowed to board a flight to Saudi Arabia. Although the couple thought their woes were over as they never had issues with travelling to and from the country they have called home for over five years, their worst fears were realised as they were greeted by Saudi officials upon arrival.
Ali said their belongings, including a large amount of cash, used to pay the living expenses for the rest of the year were seized and she was separated from her husband and was transported to their apartment. “On arriving at the apartment I could tell that it was searched as things were turned upside down and my laptop and old phones were missing,” she said.
She claimed that since then she had not been able to see her husband, who was being held at Buraidah Central Prison, and was only able to speak with him over the phone on one brief occasion. “Everyday I continued calling the office asking about him and to talk to him and they told me he was only allowed to talk to me once which he did and so I couldn't speak to him again.
“Today is day 11 that my husband, Tariq Shamoon Mohammed, has been detained and I still have not been informed as to the reason of his detention. All I have been told thus far is that he is currently under investigation,” she said as she claimed she and her son were virtually under house arrest as they were constantly monitored by Saudi officials.
She also claimed she and her son were surviving on the goodwill of their neighbours as the family’s money was yet to be returned.
Not the first time.
