challenges US congresswoman to consider full story behind arrest

ATTORNEY GENERAL and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall has sharply condemned comments made by United States Congresswoman, Yvette Clarke.
This comes as Clarke reportedly appeared on a show hosted by government critic Mark Benschop and discussed the recent arrest of social media personality, Melissa Atwell, by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

It was there that the AG noted that Clarke was critical of the government of Guyana without being equipped with the material facts and without offering the government of Guyana the facility of a response.
Atwell was arrested some weeks ago by the ICE and was later held at a detention centre in Louisiana. It is worth noting that ICE is the agency that enforces immigration laws and prosecutes persons for immigration violations or violations of immigration law.

During Tuesday’s broadcast of his show, Issues in the News, the Attorney General stated that while Clarke spoke on the issue, she indicated that she met with Atwell and acknowledged her “fears of persecution” if deported to Guyana.

Quoting Clarke, Nandlall stated that she remarked that the situation is a “travesty” and goes on to say that the woman will face political persecution if she returns to Guyana.

To this end, the Attorney General questioned how the congresswoman came to this conclusion as she only spoke to Benschop and Atwell, who are both known critics of the government.
“Listening to two critical voices without even expressing any doubt, without extending the facility of a hearing to the government, she has come to the conclusion that it is a travesty. What is a travesty is the way that she has concluded a particular matter and has arrived at a judgement call by only hearing one side,” he said.

Further to this, he questioned whether outside of that one side which the congresswoman heard of she was briefed about the hundreds if not thousands of Guyanese unconnected to the government including women whose characters, reputations and careers were irreparably damaged by Atwell via her social media platform.

The AG further retorted, “Does she know about the dozens of persons who had to pay money to persons here so that Atwell would stop publishing malicious and destructive materials, false materials about them and their families?”
He went on to add that Atwell enjoyed freedom of speech and freedom to publish whatever claims she desired about the government without interference and subsequently had legal proceedings filed against her for salacious and unfounded posts she made.

Even so, he stated that no court order was sought to restrain her from publishing her posts.
He indicated that Clarke did not take the time to find out about these things.

“Miss Clarke did not take time to find out about these things but listened to one side and concluded that it is a travesty. What is a travesty Miss Clarke is your approach to this whole matter,” he concluded.