Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:10 AM
Sep 21, 2014 News
…Placed in solitary confinement where he can’t see what he eats after complaining of meals
By Rabindra Rooplall
After spending 20 years in jail Hafiz Hussain, called ‘Papo’, is seeking parole. He is calling on the Ministry of Home
Affairs to intervene. He has been in solitary confinement since April last after complaining about inhumane conditions and unsavory meals he was receiving.
The former death row inmate is currently a prisoner at the Mazaruni Prisons. Requests are being made for a transfer.
According to his wife, a ‘Miss Khan’, when she visited Hussain she said that the inmate lamented the unbearable and inhumane treatment meted out to him. He feels that he is being victimized for highlighting issues that included wrongdoings against a former Officer in Charge of Prisons.
“He said that in one instance, he didn’t eat anything for six days and the officer of the Mazaruni Prison placed him into a solitary confinement where he was told that there is no light to see what he was eating, so there should be no more complaints about meals.”
In a letter dispatched to Director of Prisons Weldon Trotz, Minister of Home Affairs Mr. Clement Rohee and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, the prisoner’s lawyer K A Juman-Yassin underscored that his client’s sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and that he should have been released from prison along with several others.
However, a reply from the Ministry of Home Affairs dated July 24, 2014 stated that the prisoner’s application for parole will be processed imminently.
The lawyer in the letter stated, “I have been instructed that my client is being discriminated by the current officer in charge at the Mazaruni Prison, Mr. Pilgrim. My instructions are that shortly after Mr. Pilgrim assumed duty at the Mazaruni Prison, my client was placed in solitary confinement and remains so.
“This has been now for several months and my client has recently been transferred to another section of the prison in which his cell is dark, small, without light and is infested with mosquitoes. My client has also complained that his meals for the week consist of boiled boulanger or boiled cabbage or boiled pumpkin and water. My further instructions are that Mr. Pilgrim has said that as long as he is at the Mazaruni Prison that my client will remain in solitary confinement and will die there.”
Attorney Juman-Yassin had also made a formal complaint as to the manner in which his client is being treated and respectfully asks that an investigation be held to ascertain the aforementioned complaint.
In September 1993, Hafeez Hussain, Vivakanand Singh, Tola Persaud and Hasrat Hussain were charged with murder. In October 1994, they were committed to stand trial at the High Court. Two years later, on March 26, 1996, Hafiz Hussain and Singh were sentenced to death.
The two other accused, Hasrat Hussain and Persaud, were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to two and three years’ imprisonment respectively.
The four accused appealed their convictions in the Court of Appeal. The grounds of appeal were that the trial judge omitted to direct the jury adequately on the law relating to identification, and that he did not adequately deal with the effects of the evidentiary statements said to be inconsistent.
The four men also claimed that the trial in a Corentyne District Court, following which they were automatically sentenced to death, was unfair.
They argued that the police daily-record book which contained entries about the “real” authors of the crime was lost during the trial.
According to the appeal records, the testimonies of several witnesses were not taken into account, a police officer gave contradictory testimony, and other testimonies which proved to contain “significant discrepancies” were used against the accused.
The quartet further argued that the trial judge did not direct the jury how to approach such issues, in particular, the reliability of testimonies.
Also of significance was the fact that the officer-in-charge of the investigation was related to the deceased, presenting a conflict of interest.
The appeal was denied.
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