Is Abu Bakr Guilty Or Innocent?
At present the big court case in the country is Abu Bakr standing trial for murder. 1200 potential jurors turned up originally for the selection process. The State claims that he instigated the murder of one of his excommunicated followers and a by stander at the Movie Towne Cinema. What do you think - is he guilty or innocent?
I lived in Trinidad in 1990 when Abu Bakhr staged the coup, and while I am not familiar with the events that have led to his trial, I would certainly not be surprised that he was responsible for the deaths he is being charged with. It surprised and appalled me to no end the amount of amnesty he was given after the 1990 coup. I hope he is brought to justice for his actions.
So far in the court case it is twisting and turning with accusations being hurled on both sides. The defense is questioning how the police basically arrested him first and then tried to collect evidence based on several purported discussions he had openly with police without his lawyers present. I believe the general population thinks he is guilty not on merit of the case, but just because he instigated the Coup attempt that you (Malexander) mentioned.
I cannot say whether he is guilty or innocent but I can say that there are a lot of things he has done that he needs to give an explanation about. Trinidadians are following this case step by step and just before the case started, they put an ad asking for people who may be interested in being part of the jury...I do not know if they expected it or not but 1,200 aspirant jurors showed up!.
Well here is the news article from Feb. 3rd, 2005, Express that outlines the purpose of the central witness (Brent "Big Brent" Miller) that sold him (Bakr) out:
QUOTE |
Brent "Big Brent" Miller, 30, of Ariapita Road, St Ann's, the former third in command at the Jamaat who has been granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony against Abu Bakr, said he took the decision to talk to the police after he was wrongly identified as one of the gunmen in that incident. Miller told the jury that he was arrested on July 3, 2003 and charged the following day after he was pointed out on an identification parade by Salim "Small Salim" Rasheed, one of the victims of the MovieTowne shooting. He said he was no way involved in the shooting but was involved in events leading up to the shooting. Ref. Read More... |
A hung jury was the outcome for this case (6/3) and so the judge ordered a re-trial, but according to one news report this may be the opportunity for Bakr to avoid another trial through appeal. So we are back to square one... did he do it?
I have not updated this... basically sometime ago (a week or more) the police and army raided the Jamat on Mucurapo Rd. wherein they bulldozed the office of Bakr and supposedly found weapons and ammunition. This was done after a speech made by Bakr that is now considered being that of a terrorist influencing others to act out violence on others. Is this going to stand? How will they prove the guns belong to Bakr if he was taken into custody before they entered the Jamat compound? What are your thoughts?
I am not quiet sure if the charges are as serious as the police put it. All the charges he was charged with (except this last recent one) are charges that will allow him to pay bail and get out of there, yet the Judge denied him bail several times. I think he is guilty of a lot of crimes but his arrest is just a political maneuver to make people forget about the serious crime situation in this country.