The High Court of Guyana has ordered the government to pay Canada-based Guyanese Phillip Simon $250, 000 for wrongful arrest and detention.
Simon had been held in May 2011, when he went to the Police Headquarters, at Eve Leary, to check on Nation of Islam aide Akbar Muhammad, who had earlier been arrested at the Princess Hotel on suspicion that he was involved in drug trafficking and terrorism in Guyana.
Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang in handing down his decision also ordered that Simon be paid $40,000 in costs. His written decision said the wrongful arrest and detention were “unconstitutional and aggravated.”
Simon’s lawyer, attorney Nigel Hughes, who was seemingly unhappy with the amount in damages awarded, has since said that he would be appealing the court’s decision.
Stabroek News has been told that during the matter, which was first heard on February 5th this year, the Attorney General who is named as the defendant in the court documents, and the police led no evidence.
Muhammad was arrested around 1:30 am on May 19, 2011 at the Princess Hotel, where he was staying.
His friend Simon, called Phillip Muhammad, of Ontario, Canada was detained just after lunch, when he went to CID Headquarters to check on Muhammad. Later that same day, investigators had detained Simon’s barber, 27-year-old Tyrone Seymour of Cove and John, East Coast Demerara, when he turned up at the station with water and a book for the two men.
Muhammad had visited Guyana on several occasions before.
The main opposition at the time, PNCR had dubbed the men’s detention and imprisonment “arbitrary,” and it demanded a full public explanation from both the government and the Guyana Police Force.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had explained that Muhammad was arrested after police got wind of a discussion between the man who brought Muhammad to Guyana and another person.
Persaud said the police had suspected at first that the discussion had taken place between Philip Simon and Muhammad, hence Muhammad’s arrest and detention, but it was later established that it was not him.
Both men had demanded an apology from the Guyana Police Force and government. While expressing his belief that his detention and that of his friends was politically-motivated, Muhammad had stressed that the incident could tarnish his good name in the international community which he has been serving for the last five decades. “My pain is that I know people all over the world and for my picture to be on CNN early this morning all over the world… is painful,” he said.
Then president Bharrat Jagdeo had made it clear that this will not be done since the police was acting on intelligence.
Like Simon, Muhammad who had served as the top aide of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, also filed a lawsuit. His matter is yet to begin.
