Trinidad judge refuses request to produce alleged gang leader
(Trinidad Express) In a rare late-night sitting, High Court Justice Frank Seepersad on Friday, dismissed a habeas corpus application filed by the wife of alleged gang leader Rajaee Ali.
The judicial intervention came less than 24 hours after a State of Emergency (SoE) was declared across the country, a move the court indicated weighed heavily in its decision.
Ali, a First Division Prisoner awaiting trial for the murder of former independent senator Dana Seetahal, SC.
He and nine other men are accused of the assassination, which occurred around midnight on May 4, 2014, while Seetahal was driving along Hamilton Holder Street, Woodbrook.
Ali was among several inmates removed and relocated to an undisclosed location on Friday. This action followed the declaration of the SoE by the President Christine Kangaloo which was prompted by critical intelligence regarding incarcerated individuals allegedly planning attacks on national security and justice sector figures.
The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) had publicly announced that prisoners were being removed as part of an emergency response.
Ali’s wife, Stacy Griffith, initiated the legal challenge, seeking to ascertain her husband’s location after attempts by her and his attorney to find him proved unsuccessful.
A scheduled family visit was abruptly cancelled without any reason or disclosure of his whereabouts, Griffith stated in her application.
A pre-action protocol letter sent to the Commissioner of Prisons and Commissioner of Police demanding his return to Maximum Security Prison or disclosure of his location received a response from the Police Service’s Legal Unit, confirming Ali’s movement was due to an intelligence-based national security threat.
In delivering his ruling at 11.30 p.m. Justice Seepersad underscored that Legal Notices 240 and 241 had effectively declared other places as designated prisons under the Prison Act. More significantly, the judge emphasised the critical balance between individual rights and national security in extraordinary circumstances, stating that “less than 24 hours into a State of Emergency, the rights of one citizen cannot trump the rights of a nation as a whole.”
Attorney Keron Ramkhalwan appeared for Ali, while Kiel Taklalsingh represented the Office of the Attorney General. Attorney Gideon McMaster appeared for the Ministry of National Security.
