CANADA-BASED Guyanese attorney-at-law Selwyn Pieters has confirmed that he submitted a social media post by Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed to Meta after requesting that it be removed over defamation.
Meta is the technology company that owns and operates Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.
Pieters, who represents President Dr. Irfaan Ali in social media matters, said the action was taken separately from the early September deactivation of Mohamed’s “Team Mohamed’s” Facebook page.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Pieters said he observed a post published by Mohamed on October 3 concerning a Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) operation and referring to President Ali.
He said he also reviewed a CANU press release issued that afternoon and, based on his professional assessment, considered Mohamed’s post defamatory and beyond the bounds of legitimate political criticism or public commentary.
Pieters said he first contacted Mohamed directly at approximately 5:50 p.m. and requested that the publication be removed.
Mohamed referred him to his attorney, Siand Dhurjon, after which Pieters said he contacted Dhurjon around 6:45 p.m. and formally communicated his position that the post was defamatory and should be removed.
Pieters said Dhurjon indicated that he would raise the matter with Mohamed but could not guarantee that the request would be honoured. The post remained online.
The attorney said, “The longer the defamatory material remains online, the greater the harm to my client. At the point in time, I last reviewed the page, the offending post had 1.8K likes, 218 comments and 618 shares.”
Pieters said that, after giving Mohamed an opportunity to remove the publication, he submitted the matter to Meta under the social media company’s applicable processes and policies.
“Meta independently considered the submission and took whatever action it deemed appropriate based on its own assessment,” Pieters said.
“I did not determine Meta’s decision, nor did I have the power to do so.”
He stressed that his submission to Meta concerning the October 3 publication should not be confused with the September deactivation of Mohamed’s “Team Mohamed’s” Facebook page.
Pieters also rejected any suggestion that his actions were politically motivated or undertaken at the direction of a political party.
He said, “My actions were not political, nor were they undertaken at the direction of a political party.”
He said he acted in his capacity as an attorney and on the basis of his assessment of the publication and the authority granted to him to protect the President’s legal interests.
Pieters said freedom of expression and freedom of the press are fundamental rights that must be respected and protected, but argued that those freedoms do not place anyone beyond the ordinary application of defamation law.
He said, “Where I determine, in the proper exercise of my professional judgement, that my client’s legal rights have been infringed, I am entitled and professionally obligated to pursue the lawful remedies available to him.”
Pieters insisted: “I, Selwyn A. Pieters, Attorney-at-Law, wish to state unequivocally that I had no role, directly or indirectly, in the deactivation of the “Team Mohamed’s Facebook page”, owned and operated by Leader of the Opposition Mr. Azruddin Mohamed.”
“Any assertion by Mr. Mohamed that I caused, requested or was otherwise responsible for the deactivation of that page is false. No evidence has been produced to support such a claim, and I challenge Mr. Mohamed to make public any evidence upon which he relies.”
The statement comes amid a recent dispute over the alleged deactivation of Mohamed’s Facebook page, which Pieters has separately denied having any role in.
The controversy began on September 3, 2026, when Mohamed was arrested after police intercepted a vehicle near President Ali’s private residence at Leonora amid an investigation into alleged unauthorised drone activity.
Mohamed denied owning or operating the drone and was released after questioning.
On September 4, his lawyer raised concerns after Mohamed’s “Team Mohamed’s” Facebook page disappeared while his phones remained in police custody.
Mohamed later accused police and the PPP/C government of being responsible, before subsequently stating that Meta had deactivated that page and the allied, We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) page following false third-party complaints regarding trademark violations.
The “Team Mohamed’s” Facebook page was eventually restored on September 24.