Media Release: In Response to Senior Suprintendent Kenny Mc Intyre's denial of a “Hit List”,

Media Release:

Re: In Response to Senior Suprintendent Kenny Mc Intyre's denial of a “Hit List”,

Waajihatul Islaamiyyah (The Islamic Front) is shocked and surprised by the way Senior Supderintendant Kenny Mc Intyre has responded to questions posed to him on whether there is a "hit list" the police are targeting for execution from Enterprise area.

He is either naive or knowingly covering up for dirty cops. He says that police are not executioners and are there to "uphold the law." He says, “we don't execute people, we are not in the execution business. We are upholding the law and if one breaks the law we will issue a warrant for arrest and arrest that person.”

Waajihatul Islaamiyyah is saying the officer responsible for the killing of Jelani Martins has broken the law and should be called to account for his actions, as in the case of Govinda Morgan, the security guard who was charged for shooting to death ex-convict Vern Sambury.

We have evidence that some police officers have appointed themselves judge, jury and executioner in an alarming number of cases.

The following should be a lesson to Kenny Mc Intyre as to the reasons why he needs to be better informed before he opens his mouth:

- In August of 2016 National Security Minister Edmund Dillon said: "... They should not be allowed to live normal lives... We should harass them. Quite frankly we should make their lives untenable .. So, I have instructed my agencies within the National Security to identify and find out that 2% of individuals..."

Less than 3 months after on 19th Oct 2016 Adele Gilbert was unlawfully shot and killed by police.

- In 2004 Opposition Senator Roy Augustus asked then Minister of National Security Martin Joseph to respond to allegations that a police hit squad is in operation. following the death of 18-year-old Sherman Monsegue who, contrary to police reports, residents insist was unarmed. he said, “I hope the Minister of National Security will deny the existence of a death squad in the Police Service. There seems to be some evidence of it.”

- In July 2007, a parliamentary Joint Select Committee issued a report which was highly critical of the Police Service. The report highlighted a disturbingly high number of disciplinary charges against officers, a need to combat the increased levels of indiscipline within the Police Service and a "serious lack of accountability from top to bottom" in the police force.

- In July 2008, Acting Commissioner of Police James Philbert acknowledged that the Police Service owed the nation an apology for the poor quality of policing experienced by some sectors of society over the years.

- On January 3, 2010, an unarmed Tristan Cobbler was shot dead by police. Later in that same year the deputy commissioner of police acknowledged that it would be "a monumental task" to transform the Police Service."

- In 2011 there were the cold-blooded killings of Kerron Fernando Eccles, Abigail Johnson, and Alana Duncan in Barrackpore.

- Also in 2011, the Crime and Problem Analysis (CAPA) department of the Police Service, showed the number of extrajudicial killings increased consistently over the previous decade, adding that such cases were being cited by regional and international human rights organisations as a blot on the country. Amnesty International has also produced a report on the killings in Trinidad and Tobago, on the topic "Excessive use of force by the security forces and lack of independent investigations".

- On June 21, 2004, Keshorn Daniel was shot and killed by members of the Inter Agency Task Force. Later in that same year, The University of the West Indies professor of International Relations Andy Knight said - Trinidad and Tobago is not immune to extrajudicial killings by police. “Our young men are being mowed down on a too frequent basis. The underlying motive may not be racism. But there seems to be a tendency by some police to see some of these young men as less than human in many cases,” he said. 

- In 2013 while the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Trinidad and Tobago highlighted the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of Life, Christopher Greaves who was unarmed in that same year was shot and killed by police.

- On July 24th, 2015 security guard Anita Bartholomew told investigators that an unarmed Allan “Scanny” Martin was shot dead by police, seriously injuring her in the process to the point where she was almost killed.

- In December of 2016 the Police Service came under some harsh criticism, when the director of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) David West said more than 30 such police killings had taken place in this country since 2010, but no officer has yet to be held to account in any of those cases. “None of them have gone to court or been convicted,” he said. “The Police Service is the biggest gang in Trinidad and Tobago and they are left untouched,” he added. West said Trinidad and Tobago has become a lawless society and the country does not have the capabilities to deal with crime and corruption.

- On 18th Feb 2017, there was the questionable death of Mickel “Buckman” Lancaster.

- Jelani Martins' killing on 21st July 2017 at the hands of the police left a young wife and a five-month-old baby in mourning.

The executive director of The Caribbean Centre for Human Rights, Diana Mahabir-Wyatt, says it is relevant today as it was in 2011 when 29 people were killed by the police in Trinidad and Tobago. A report coming out of that organisation says: "The Caribbean Centre for Human Rights in Trinidad and Tobago has been counting, with mounting alarm, the number of such killings in Trinidad and Tobago as well.

It continues by saying "Anyone who contravenes the law, whether police or civilian, and, in so doing, ends the life of another person deserves to be justly punished. The principles of natural justice demand that the punishment be determined by due process of law, not by gang-inspired or police-inspired acts of extrajudicial vengeance.

We know that police officers are paid to protect communities against armed bandits and warring gangs, among other brutalities.

In the course of so doing, police sometimes do get fired on by desperate men and do have to fire back.

That is part of the price we pay for living in a society where guns are cheap and plentiful and where people are taught violence as a way of life in their own homes and communities from childhood.

We pay an even greater price when, for reasons of revenge and anger, we ignore the rules of natural justice and the human rights of other people, innocent or guilty, as they may be. In turn, they will soon be ignoring our human rights as well."

For Immediate Release:
Date: 27th July 2017

Umar Abdullah
Head of Waajihatul Islaamiyyah (The Islamic Front)
Tel: +18687870765 or +18683656253