AG: We can’t do anything

JENSEN LA VENDE

ATTORNEY General Faris Al Rawi said the State has received no report from Keegan Roopchan regarding torture allegations made against the Jordanian government and therefore is unable to assist in writing to the country seeking answers.

Al-Rawi spoke with the media during the tea-break at Parliament yesterday during the Anti-Terrorism Bill. Asked whether the State will be seeking to clarify the concerns raised by Roopchan, Al Rawi said he was not a “busy body” and would not make any official requests based on newspaper articles.

“An Attorney General for a republic does not find himself reading a newspaper article and just writing. There must be a recipe for orderly conduct. If the State of TT writes another State and says we hear you abusing our citizens we want to know why and the citizens hasn’t made a report to the State itself, how do I find myself there? Do I just start an international incident with Jordan just so, why, because I read it in the newspaper?” Al Rawi said.

He added that he was served with a pre-action protocol letter by those held by police in relation to the Carnival terror plot, which he will respond to “fulsomely” in court but received no other correspondence from anyone concerning torture by a foreign state.

Roopchan’s claim of being tortured by Jordanian officials and forced to confess a Carnival terror plot emerged last week, which Government has countered as questionable. In his initial claim, Roopchan made no mention of being physically harmed but said he was placed in a cell with about 20 men and they were fed like animals with Jordanian officials throwing food at them.

Comments

"AG: We can’t do anything"

More in this section