-challenges claims that police, government deactivated Facebook page
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW Selwyn Pieters has denied any involvement in the deactivation of the Facebook page belonging to opposition leader Azzrudin Mohamed.
Pieters was responding to a recent statement by Mohamed, the leader of the We Invest Nationhood (WIN) Party.
He said assertions that he caused, requested or was otherwise responsible for the temporary unavailability of the “Team Mohamed” Facebook page were false.
He challenged Mohamed to make public any evidence supporting the allegation. He also urged disclosure of communications with Meta about the suspension and its restoration.
“There have been different and different explanations advanced by Mr. Mohamed concerning the temporary unavailability of his team, Mohamed Page,” he said.
He recounted that Mohammed had initially blamed the Guyana Police Force, following his detention on September 3, 2026, in connection with allegations concerning the operation of an unlicensed fastboat and the absence of a valid captain’s licence.
Pieters said Mohamed later blamed the governing People’s Progressive Party, and subsequently said Meta had deactivated the page over alleged copyright infringement. He said the page was restored after Mohamed’s US-based attorneys contacted Meta.
Pieters said that because the page had been restored after lawyers engaged Meta, Mohamed should be able to publish the correspondence explaining the platform’s reasons. He called on the opposition leader and his legal representatives to disclose publicly any explanation they received.
Separately, Pieters described his actions over a post Mohamed published on October 3, 2026, concerning a Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) operation and referring to the President.
Pieters said he considered its contents defamatory and beyond legitimate political criticism.
He said he was authorised to represent the President in social-media matters and acted independently, using his professional judgement.
Pieters said he first contacted Mohamed directly at approximately 15:50hrs and requested that the publication be removed.
Mohamed referred him to his attorney, Siand Dhurjon, after which Pieters said he contacted Dhurjon around 18:45hrs. 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.
Pieters said he then submitted the matter to Meta, which independently considered it under its policies and decided what action to take. He denied controlling Meta’s decision and said his report about that post had no connection to the earlier page deactivation, nor was it made on behalf of a political party.
Meta is the technology company that owns and operates Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
The attorney argued that freedom of expression does not exempt people from defamation law and said he was entitled and professionally obliged to pursue lawful steps to protect his client.
