…Muslim leader urges support

AS government takes steps to seize the assets of convicted terrorism plotter, Abdul Kadir, Linden Muslim leader and businessman Dennis Mohammed is urging support for the man’s family saying that the former mayor’s relatives should be given a reprieve.

It is unclear what are the assets owned by Kadir. His family resides in Watooka, Linden. Government recently ordered that the assets of the former Member of Parliament (MP) and his accomplice Abdel Nur be frozen years after they were found guilty of terrorism-related charges. Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma, acting on behalf of the substantive Finance Minister Winston Jordan, on August 29, 2017, issued a Targeted Financial Sanctions Order against Kadir and Nur in keeping with the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act.

The minister, in issuing the order, explained that the sanctions are also in keeping with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 referred to in section 2(2)(1)(A) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act. The UN Security Resolution calls for the freezing without delay, of funds and other financial assets or economic resources belonging to persons who commit or attempt to commit terrorist acts or participate in or facilitate the commission of terrorist acts, of entities owned or controlled directly or indirectly by such persons.

In December 2010, Kadir, who is also known as Aubrey Michael Seaforth, was sentenced to life in prison for plotting to blow up fuel tanks at the John F. Kennedy International Airport back in 2007. He was sentenced to life at a time when he continuously pleaded his innocence. “At no time did I have any intention or believe in bringing any harm to the people of this country by the terrorist acts I happened to be identified with,” Kadir told a judge in federal court in Brooklyn.

But the U.S. District Court Judge Dora Irizarry, in response, told Kadir that there was ample evidence to suggest that he was a key player in “a plan that would have caused devastation unimaginable.” Kadir and Russell Defreitas, a former JFK cargo handler, were arrested and charged with multiple counts of conspiracy in 2007 after an informant infiltrated the plot and recorded them discussing it.

Meanwhile, contacted on the new developments, Kadir’s wife Isha Kadir said, “I don’t know anything. I heard about it, but I don’t know anything about that.” “My husband is gone 10 years and I have no comment.” His son Kareen Kadir had a similar position. “I don’t know.” Asked whether his father had any assets including a bank account, he noted that if he did, the money has been exhausted. He would not say if his father has any properties in Guyana. Kadir and Nur would be the first Guyanese whose assets will be seized under the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act.

The United States Government had said that Kadir and Nur were associated with the Trinidad-based Jamaat al Muslimeen, a militant Muslim group. Kadir was arrested in Trinidad and Tobago and was extradited to the U.S. On August 2, 2010, Kadir – along with Russell Defreitas – was convicted in a jury trial for the JFK airport bomb plot. According to U.S. court documents, Kadir was the disciple of Mohsen Rabbani, an Iranian diplomat accused of being one of the masterminds behind the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires. Nur had pleaded guilty before the trial and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Nation of Islam
Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Monday, Mohammed said that the Nation of Islam will be giving full support to the family of Mr. Kadir in this time of trial and is calling on the People’s National Congress (PNC) in which Kadir was a long-standing member to do the same. “On behalf of the Nation of Islam, we are here to give you 100% support in this trying time, but I would also like to say that this is a trying time for the entire Muslim community, regardless of what kind of Muslim you may be…” Mohammed said.

He said too that the PNC has been silent on the matter. When this newspaper contacted Chairman of the PNC Region 10 arm,Sandra Adams, who also served the party for many years, she said that she cannot definitively comment on the matter since she did not discuss it with those in higher authority. “I haven’t been able to talk with anybody on the national level on it on what is the party’s position on that, so I wouldn’t be able to comment fairly,” Adams said.

Mohammed, when asked to condemn Kadir’s actions of plotting terror, said the man is not guilty. “Definitely not…I do not trust America at all for those of us who know brother Kadir, we know his intentions and we know exactly what happened on that day that he was arrested and he was put on trial, many of us know in our hearts…but as it is right now the most we can do right now as conscious people, exactly what it is we think of this situation.”
The businessman promised to give the Kadirs whatever support they need in regaining their assets if they are taken away from them, whether it is to rebuild a home and he encouraged all Muslims to do the same.