Former Member of Parliament and Linden Mayor Abdul Kadir, passed away in a US prison on Thursday where he was serving a life sentence for plotting to blow up the JFK Airport.
He was 65-years-old. Kadir was serving a life sentence for plotting to blow up fuel tanks at the John F Kennedy Airport back in 2007. Speaking with this newspaper on Thursday, his daughter Haajar Kadir said that her family had no knowledge of any prolonged sickness her father was suffering from and that his death was relayed to them around 9:15 on Thursday morning. She did not say who relayed the message to the family. Haajar said that the family will not be divulging any other information at this time to the media. “To God we belong and to God we return,” Haajar posited.

It has been 11 years since Kadir was arrested for the alleged act of terrorism. On June 2, 2007, he was arrested in Trinidad aboard a plane headed to Venezuela, en route to Iran. He was subsequently extradited to the United States where he was tried and sentenced.
Last year, the Government, under the Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act, set out to seize Kadir’s assets which remained in Guyana. The sanctions were also in keeping with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 referred to in sections 2(2) (1) (A) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act. Mr. Abdul Kadir and his accomplice, Mr. Abdel Nur were the first Guyanese whose assets were to be seized under the Act. Kadir pleaded not guilty to the charges while Nur pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment.

Kadir served as Mayor of Linden from 1994- 1996. Many Lindeners including former Mayor of Linden Carwyn Holland, in sending condolences to the bereaved family, posited the positive contributions he would have made to the development of the Linden town as a religious leader and a politician.