Thursday, July 20, 2006

BROOKLYN, USA: The New York based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) has dismissed attempts by Guyana government officials to defend Guyanese alleged drug-baron and death squad master-mind, Roger Khan, as "desperate pandering to an alleged criminal financier so as to dissuade him from naming accomplices and beneficiaries in the government."

Khan is currently in the United States awaiting trial on conspiracy and drug exportation charges. He was arrested in Suriname two weeks ago but was deported to Guyana via Trinidad & Tobago where he was arrested by US DEA agents.

On Saturday, July 15, 2006 , Guyana 's President Bharrat Jagdeo suggested to an audience in New York that Khan was a victim of US rendition, and said he is entitled to due process. Further such comments came last week from Guyana 's Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon and former Guyanese President, Janet Jagan, who defended Khan and questioned the legitimacy of his arrest.

This series of statements from government and PPP officials came suddenly after days of protest by Khan's relatives and supporters in Georgetown. Luncheon also announced that the government "is seeking answers" on the process that led to Khan's arrest by US agents.

Janet Jagan, a US-born Caucasian who is the de facto leader of the PPP and former President of the Republic, whose 1997 election was nullified by the Guyanese Supreme Court, claimed that Khan was kidnapped. She further charged that the US, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago governments were guilty of grave offences. She also accused the Surinamese government of playing "stooge to the USA " for deporting Khan.

Jagan wrote in the PPP's publication "The Mirror" that the government of Suriname should have informed their Guyanese counterparts of their plan to deport Khan. She argued that Khan should have been handed over to Guyana police "who would have taken him under tight security to Georgetown where he would have been charged."

However, the CGID President, Rickford Burke, dismissed Jagan's comments as "fantasy babble" and said that anyone who assumes Khan would have been charged with a crime in Guyana is delusional. "He operated his alleged criminal enterprise in Guyana for years with impunity, in full view of and with the complicity of the government, whose political apparatus he financed. He was allowed to operate above the law," Burke fired back.

Burke chided Jagan for attempting to dictate how the Surinamese should exercise their national security options. He questioned: "When the Cabinet Secretary has already announced that the government has no evidence or probable cause to charge Roger Khan with a crime, how can Mrs Jagan credibly advocate that Khan would have been charged? Moreover, if Luncheon and the rest of the government are now seeking answers, then what is the basis for Mrs Jagan's conclusions?"

"Janet Jagan has no clue about what has transpired in the Khan case. Her comments are based entirely on rumors and innuendo in defense of a criminal alliance. Having no verifiable evidence to support her claims, it is grotesque for her to claim that the three governments acted illegally," the Institute's President said. "Only someone challenged by incipient dementia could have arrived at those grandiose conclusions."

Burke told Rennie Bishop of New York 's WWRL 1600 Radio, Caribbean Views: "The fact that the government and PPP officials are lining up to defend an alleged international crook - the Al Capone of Georgetown - casts an indignity on the state of Guyana ."

He said, "While they are demanding due process for Khan they are concurrently holding journalist Mark Benschop in prison without a trial substantially for the past four years. The Guyana Supreme Court has held that there is no evidence Benschop committed the crime of treason, yet the government continues to hold him in prison under inhumane conditions."

Pressed by Bishop about the government's obligation to ensure its citizens are treated humanely and fairly, the CGID President said, "Of course Khan has a right to due process under international law, as well as to a fair trial and other rights accorded to a criminal defendant by US constitution." He nevertheless stressed that "it is hypocritical and reprehensible for President Jagdeo and the PPP to attempt to lecture other governments about due process. They have no moral standing to do so, since they continue to deny Mark Benschop the most basic human rights."

Meanwhile US Ambassador to Guyana , Roland Bullen, last week disclosed that Khan was taken into US custody on a provisional arrest warrant and an extradition request to T&T, after he was refused entry into T&T and was in effect a "stateless" person. Bullen said once Khan was indicted in the US, an Interpol warrant for his arrest was sought. He observed that after the US government learnt of Khan's arrest in Suriname, a provisional warrant for his arrest was issued and an extradition request made to the Surinamese.

The US diplomat contended "When he was deported from Suriname, accompanied by Suriname law enforcement agents and when he was denied entry to Trinidad, given the arrest warrant we had for him and the extradition request made to Trinidad, he was then taken into US custody."

However, CGID President Rickford Burke said although he appreciates Ambassador Bullen's desire to provide clarity on the issue to debunk the nonsense being peddled by Khan's Attorneys and people like Janet Jagan, "his explanation was incomprehensible and did not comport with extant international law. If the Ambassador is unfamiliar with extradition procedures under international law, I think that this function could have been best exercised by an expert in the field," Burke observed.

Burke said an arrest made pursuant to an Interpol provisional arrest warrant or Red Notice is not a license for automatic arrest and cross-border transport of a wanted person. "These are merely law enforcement instruments that provide data and authority to seek the arrest of a wanted individual." He said "once a wanted person is found, Interpol and the requesting country are informed.

"In some jurisdictions, the police can arrest immediately on the authority of a Red Notice, however, an extradition order must then be first obtained before that fugitive can be transported outside of the jurisdiction. In other jurisdictions, the police will have to first obtain a warrant from a judge before an arrest can be made.

"Most important however, once a person is arrested, the police must seek and obtain an extradition order before cross-border transport."

The CGID Head nevertheless contended that "regardless of how inadequate Ambassador Bullen's explanation may seem, his labeling of Khan as a "stateless person," is a salient issue. Burke said that under international law a "stateless person" is someone who: has been denationalized or whose country of origin cannot be determined; is by national law of a claimed country not considered a national of the said country; or under some circumstances has been forced to flee from his/her country.

Burke said that it was Khan's attorneys who placed him in further legal jeopardy by publicly declaring that Khan was forced to flee Guyana for fear of persecution, allegedly for unlawfully wiretapping the Police Commissioner's telephone communications. "So there is a legitimate issue as to his fear of persecution in Guyana. Whether or not he can be properly classified as a "stateless person" is a matter for judicial determination.

"Let's be real - the US agents were presented with the situation where Khan was being deported from Suriname, he was refused entry by Trinidad, and his lawyers claimed that he had fled Guyana for fear of persecution by such a powerful person as the Police Commissioner. Given the totality of these circumstances, then there was only one option available to the US."

The CGID President suggested that although the totality of these circumstances constitute a "grey area", it is delusional to have expected the US agents to let Khan go. "While I would not comment on the legality of the action taken by US law enforcement, I certainly support the rationale to bring him to justice. President Jagdeo and others must stop defending the Guyana drug cartel. If they have a grievance or feel an injustice was committed against them or Khan, they should take up the matter with the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights," Burke said.

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