Suriname military fails to return all items seized from Dr Bari, despite court order
Stabroek News
July 1, 2002
Local physician and surgeon, Dr Abubakar Bari whose personal belongings were confiscated in April by the Suriname military police after he was held on concerns that he had terrorist connections has had some items returned.
Dr Bari was held by the Suriname military police on April 23 in Paramaribo while in transit to China via Holland. He was incarcerated for over a week on claims that he was a member of the terrorist network, Al Qaeda before he was released into the custody of the local police on May 1.
Dr Bari is a Sudan-born naturalised Guyanese and his identity had been questioned by the Surinamese authorities. This had led to them accusing him of being a member of Al Qaeda.
Contacted for an update on the case, Dr Bari told Stabroek News that he has had five finger rings, a sample of diamonds and the sum of US$2,800 returned to him.
However, the Surinamese military police had confiscated the sum of US$12,700 which Dr Bari had said he was going to use to buy a chemical analyser and Chinese acupuncture equipment; a sample of diamonds weighing a quarter of a carat, five personal gold rings and five others which were gifts; two semi-precious brown stones and a national identification card, among other documentation.
He has not had his national identification card returned. Also missing, he said, was his Florida identification card, which he had in his possession (being the owner of a house in Florida, USA) and an address book in which he has recorded the names and telephone numbers of friends and family members "all over the world" over the years. He has no duplicate of those names and addresses.
While the Surinamese authorities have sent back some items and some money, Dr Bari said that to get the outstanding balance the prosecution was now requesting a statement from the bank with which he does business to verify that all the money came from Guyana and that no money was obtained in Suriname.
He said the lawyers for the prosecution feel that he could have obtained money after he arrived in the country through Nickerie and while he was on his way to Paramaribo. The bank has already provided a statement which the prosecution feels was not sufficient and has asked for original statements. The lawyer representing Dr Bari in Paramaribo was expected to return to court with the original statements with the hope that the balance of the money and missing items would be returned.
Dr Bari noted, too, that at the same time his attorneys-at-law were taking legal action for contempt of court. A court order of April 29 had instructed that he be given back his property and allowed to continue on his travel to China via Holland. Instead of obeying the court order, the Surinamese military police had turned him and another Guyanese, who was also held at the time, over to the Guyana Police Force. For every day that his belongings were held, the court had ordered that he be paid the sum of $10 million guilders per day since April 29, when the order was made.
He still feels strongly that his personal belongings should not have been confiscated and taking legal action was now costing him a lot of money and in addition it was time consuming. "It is not a pleasant situation," he said. (Miranda La Rose)