PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley will meet with attorney Nizam Mohammed later on Monday to discuss the situation related to Trinidad and Tobago nationals stranded in countries such as Syria and deemed as conflict zones.
A statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister said that Mohammed, a former speaker of the Parliament here, has been advising the government on the issue and “will be accompanied to the meeting by other persons who have been contributing to this effort.”
The brief statement said that “some members of the National Security Council would also attend the meeting.”
Last month, the international non-government organization Human Rights Watch said that over 90 nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, including at least 56 children, are unlawfully detained in life-threatening conditions as Islamic State (ISIS) members.
The organization has accused the government f taking almost no action to help the detainees return to Port of Spain.
“Trinidad and Tobago is turning its back on its nationals unlawfully held in horrific conditions in northeast Syria,” said Letta Tayler, associate crisis and conflict director at Human Rights Watch.
“The government should bring home its citizens, help victims of ISIS rebuild their lives, and fairly prosecute any adults linked to serious crimes,” she added.
The ‘Trinidad and Tobago: Bring Home Nationals from Northeast Syria’ report indicated that approximately 90 to 100 Trinidad and Tobago nationals are detained in northeast Syria by US-backed, Kurdish-led regional forces.
However, Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Amery Browne said the government seeks to bring home nationals detained in Syria, but it must be settled after some time.
“The government is treating with the severe national security implications of persons of any category who would be returning or potentially returning from conflict zones,” he told a news conference recently.
“That is not going to be an overnight development. It is a multi-ministry, multi-disciplinary team that is hard at work in such regard,” Browne said as he responded to the questions from the media about the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar says if her United National Congress (UNC) forms the next government here, it will bring back the Trinidad and Tobago women and children in Syria.
Addressing a Muslim event last weekend, Persad-Bissessar, who headed a government here between 2010-15, said that the UNC would form a working group to meet with stakeholders in the Muslim community to address the issue.
“As soon as Ramadan is over, we will begin these meetings. It is time for cliched rhetoric to cease and for us to work together to protect our Muslim community.
“At the end of the day, these are our citizens, and we must bring them home. These are women and children, and they should not be left to suffer in unlivable conditions,” she said. She added that it was difficult not to see the hypocrisy when Muslims are persecuted and condemned because they went to Syria. At the same time, people are being celebrated and encouraged to go to Ukraine to fight.
“This hypocrisy is also seen in the grave concern shown for Ukraine, which I have no issue with, but the total disregard for the people and state of Palestine.
“Since May 2021, I spoke about the horrific treatment of the Palestinian people, and I call on Muslims to let their voices be heard…that Palestine must be freed from illegal occupation.”
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