Faced with financial ruin, businessman Ashmead Mohammed says he will now have to flee T&T after being labelled an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) terrorist fighter by some of the local media. Yesterday, Mohammed, who says he now has no choice but to migrate from his homeland, declined to say where he was heading, but confirmed he and a team of 12 attorneys were filing legal action against the Express and TV6 over erroneous reports about him.
In a telephone interview, Mohammed, of Rio Claro, said, “A lot of people don’t want to do business with me any longer. People believe I have a link with Isis and I am a terrorist. “My family is not comfortable here. Some of my relatives don’t want to make phone calls to me because my phone is tapped.”
He blamed the Government for destroying his life, saying all his troubles started in 2011 when he was accused of being involved in a plot to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and members of her government and arrested during the state of emergency. This was exacerbated when he was wrongly named as an Isis terrorist fighter.
Saying he was interrogated for three hours at Piarco International Airport after he returned from Morocco on October 26, Mohammed said he was humiliated and astonished that the police had compiled a file on him. “They had a complete biography on me. They knew where I was born, where I lived, which school I attended, all the places that I worked.
“We came in the country from 5 am and we did not leave until 8 am. My wife Hakima Mohammed and our two children, Salahuddin, 23 months, and daughter Salabila (seven months) were with me.”
He said he lived in Canada with his first wife, Anisa Mohammed, but migrated to Trinidad in 2005 because the weather in Canada was too cold. Later he married a woman in China and had a daughter, but because she did not like living in Trinidad, the marriage was dissolved and he later married Hakima, who is from Morocco.
He denied that he had ever worked for terrorists, saying he was a businessman who brought in goods from China for wholesale and retail and was a frequent flyer, travelling to Canada, Morocco and China two or three times a year. “I put my goods in a van and I sell throughout the country. If I had left Morocco to go to Syria, how will I come back? “I think they knew that I am not what they say I am, but they went ahead and framed me,” Mohammed said.
He said certain journalists in T&T were also engaging in “Muslim-bashing.” “They don’t seem to understand how dangerous it is and how they can destroy people’s lives. I am now being targeted, and when I travel my boarding pass has the letters FSSS, which means that I must be searched.” He said he had been trying to build a house in Rio Claro, but now he does not think it is worth living in T&T. In fact, he said he now regrets coming back to Trinidad.
“Muslims are the cockroaches in T&T. They treat us as if we don’t exist, so I don’t think we can make a life here anymore. I don’t want the Government searching for me and making things bad all over again,” he said.
Legal action in 2 weeks
Chairman of the Muslim Social and Cultural Foundation, Inshan Ishmael, said yesterday that a battery of 12 attorneys had been assembled to fight for Mohammed and other persecuted Muslims in T&T. Ishmael said too many Muslims were being stereotyped. “Isis is so serious, and labelling people wrongfully as Isis fighters has created one of the worst images of T&T that we can ever imagine. We have taken five steps forward but 50 steps backward,” he said.
He added, however, that if anyone had information on terrorism links in T&T then it should be highlighted. “I will personally report it to the US Embassy. But when you label people, moderate Muslims like me have problems when we travel,” Ishmael said. He said preliminary drafts will be prepared and legal action filed against two media houses in the next fortnight.
