KHRYSTAL RAWLINS Friday, December 30 2005

“This is a fanciful apprehension because it is the Jamaat. This is a fanciful apprehension because it is Abu Bakr.” These words of attorney Pamela Elder SC rang through the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court yesterday as she made her closing submissions at the preliminary inquiry into charges laid against Jamaat leader, Yasin Abu Bakr, who is charged with sedition and terrorism. Bakr is before the court charged with sedition, terrorism and three counts of inciting the demand of money and property and the breach of the peace. The offences are alleged to have taken place during Eid celebrations at the Jamaat’s Mosque in Mucurapo on November 4. The matter is being heard in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrates’ Court before Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls.

According to Elder, the prosecution, led by attorney Douglas Mendes SC, failed in its bid to convince the court that her client had breached the peace and incited violence. “Where is the evidence that on the day of the speech that the members of the congregation were provoked to immediate violence? What he in fact did was urge them to desist from committing crime. He urged them to put down the guns. At the end of the sermon he urged them to have peace in their hearts. The entire text of the sermon goes against any notion that the intention was for them to engage in acts of violence,” submitted Elder. Elder went further to deem the charge of breaching the peace as one that “does not make sense” and quoted from the text of Bakr’s Eid speech to support her argument.

“Anybody who have in their heart to kill anybody, drop it now. Anybody who want to war, leave it here. We hope next year we have more people paying the zakaat so that we may be able to help more people,” Elder read from Bakr’s speech. “The accused said there was no one in the community authorised to collect zakaat. There was no system in place to collect zakaat. The accused said they were to have meetings to come up with a consensus of how to collect the zakaat. The prosecution failed to prove that the collection of zakaat would have included violence,” said Elder.

With reference to Bakr’s terrorism charge, Elder argued that as in other religions, the members of the Islamic community are urged to follow their religious laws. Elder said the collection of zakaat was a fundamental principle of Islam and it is a belief that is established and entrenched in the community. “A man is passionately speaking on his religious beliefs. This does not establish a promotion of war. Words must be taken in their context. The entire meaning of the sermon is calling on the members to abide by their faith which also calls for the collection of zakaat,” ended Elder. Prosecution attorney Douglas Mendez SC reserved his response to Elder’s closing arguments, saying he needed time to go through detailed authorities used by Elder during her submission. Hearing resumes on January 4, 2006.