Condemn Hinds for attack on judges

THE EDITOR: All lawyers must vehemently condemn Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds for his obnoxious attack on the impeccable character of the judges of our country.

The judges recently came under an unprecedented attack by Hinds, who stated publicly that criminals have friends in the judiciary: he inferred that in performing their duties there are corrupt judges who do the biddings of these criminals.

I congratulate the 15 sitting judges who sent a joint e-mail to the court administration registrar expressing their abhorrence of this attack: they called for an immediate retraction and apology to the judiciary. The Law Association of TT (LATT) did the same. The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) condemned the minister’s attack as vicious, sinister and wicked. We called for his removal from the Cabinet.

I thus make a clarion call to the other judges, outside the 15 who signed on, to get on board and demand that the Chief Justice, on his return from his holiday abroad, refutes this nasty opprobrium.

It is my sincere opinion that this unwarranted and baseless attack warrants the removal of the Minister of National Security from the Cabinet of this country. An apology and retraction of his attack is a slap on his wrist. I am of the view that he should be kicked out immediately from the Cabinet.

His attack on the impeccable character of our judges was deliberate, dangerous, wicked, nefarious, malicious, vicious, obnoxious and baseless. It was a nasty rant to distract from his own incompetence, ineptitude, weakness and inability to formulate and design a crime plan as envisaged under section 75 of the Constitution to stem the escalation of crime in the country.

In any other civilised country which adheres to the concept that men and institutions remain free only when freedom is founded upon respect for the rule of law, a minister making such an outrageous accusation as the Minister of National Security has, without any evidence whatsoever that judges are friends of criminals and inferring that they will do their illegal bidding, would never remain in a democratic cabinet.

I call upon all the lawyers in the country, especially all former attorneys general, to publicly call upon the Prime Minister to remove this irresponsible, wicked and obnoxious minister from the Cabinet.

I call upon the leading silks in this profession to support the judges in their quest for respect for the rule of law.

And this is in spite of the fact that it was revealed recently that seven of our very experienced and knowledgeable silks received for government briefs over $159.2 million between September 2015 to January 25, 2022.

Gentlemen and ladies of our legal profession, our democracy is in peril if Fitzgerald Hinds remains in the Cabinet. Put country first and not your personal self-interest. Country before allegiance to a political party. Country before monetary benefits from the Government.

For the sake of our children and grandchildren, unite with one voice and protect the judiciary from the likes of Hinds. The Fourth Estate must assist us in our quest for justice and an independent and impartial judiciary.

ISRAEL B RAJAH-KHAN SC

via e-mail