Former coup leader Imam Yasin Abu Bakr was yesterday slapped with a terrorism charge that could put him behind bars for 25 years if convicted.
By Darren BahawUsing the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act for the first time since it became law on September 13, Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Henderson directed that the leader of the Jamaat al Muslimeen be charged with committing a terrorist act.
Abu Bakr, also known as Lennox Phillip, 64, was charged by Insp Christopher Holder shortly before he re-appeared before Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls on seven other criminal charges- one charge of sedition, three of incitement and three weapon related offences.
He is charged with two of his followers, Tahir Ali and Oluyemi Abdul Basit, for possession of a sniper's rifle, 596 rounds of 5.56 ammunition and a hand grenade.
The new charge alleges that Abu Bakr, during his November 4 Eid-ul-Fitr sermon at the Mucurapo Road mosque directed his followers to engage in a war in which lives may be lost over the nonpayment of zakat from members of the Muslim community who are not members of the Jamaat al Muslimeen.
Since his arrest on November 7, Abu Bakr has remained in custody without bail and in addition to the eight recent charges, he is awaiting a retrial in the High Court on a charge of conspiracy to murder two expelled members of his organisation.
No other reference was made to the new charge as McNicolls continued to hear legal arguments on whether one of the prosecutors in the case should be removed on the basis of her impartiality to Abu Bakr.
At the end of the proceedings, McNicolls said he needed time to consider the arguments and adjourned all the matters to December 1 when he will give his decision.
Lead prosecutor Douglas Mendes SC said he was flabbergasted at the defence for suggesting that his assistant Dana Seetahal has a "deliberate and sinister" motive for being involved in the prosecution of Abu Bakr.
He urged McNicolls to reject Elder's arguments for the removal of Seetahal as "preposterous" and noted that he was "flabbergasted" by some of the comments Elder had made to support her claim of bias.
Mendes said the defence should be "happy" that Seetahal was a member of the prosecution team since she was one of the few persons who speaks her mind.
He said if the argument was that Seetahal had a view about the guilt of Abu Bakr, she as any prosecutor was entitled to such a view since it was "ridiculous to assume that prosecutors think accused people are innocent" or hold no view altogether.
Mendes admitted that Seetahal had expressed views about the Jamaat al Muslimeen in two of her weekly newspaper columns but none were made about Abu Bakr himself. He said no allegation had been made that Seetahal was trying to obtain a conviction at all costs.
The attorney told McNicolls that he was being asked to say who should be a member of the prosecution team, something he had no power to do. He noted that there may be times when prosecutors misbehave in court and the presiding officer, the judge or magistrate, had the authority to take steps to prevent such conduct.
Mendes said he was the person in charge of the prosecution team and noted that Seetahal will be guided by the Code of Ethics which governs all lawyers.
On another issue, Mendes admitted that there were defects to one of the charges which accuses Abu Bakr of incitement to commit a breach of the peace and made an application to amend the wording of the charge.
In her response, Elder said the charge was one not known to law and it could not be cured by an amendment.
She maintained her arguments relating to Seetahal being a member of the prosecution team accusing the attorney of having a biased and prejudiced mind.
"Once your are biased and prejudiced your mind is diseased. You lose your objectivity," Elder charged.
Turning her guns on Mendes, she told the lead prosecutor to heed the words of Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma, who advised that senior attorneys should practise in the fields there are accustomed to, clearly referring to Mendes' field of civil litigation.
