The Trinidad and Tobago High court in a historic ruling has declared Trinidadian Kareem Ibrahim a terrorist.
Ibrahim was convicted in the United States and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 for plotting to blow up the John F Kennedy Airport in New York.
The Office of the Attorney General had made an application under Section 22(b) of the Anti-Terrorism Act (205) to have Ibrahim, 70, listed as a terrorist and to put a freeze on his assets.
The order came days after the application was made last month at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain as the state seeks to implement existing legislation to combat the issue of terrorism given the increase in terrorist activities internationally.
In its application, which was filed on Nov. 24, the state included evidence which was used to convict Abrahim and two of his co-conspirators of plotting an attack in the airport in 2007. That information was provided by the United States Justice Department earlier this year.
Even though the judge ordered Ibrahim’s assets to be frozen, the state was unable to track or identify any assets owned by him.
However, if any assets are identified in the future, the order allows the state to put a freeze on it.
Following the court’s order, Attorney General Faris al Rawi said the court’s order was an important one for the country at this time.
He said the tracking of the assets was ongoing and was being handled by the Seize Assets Committee, a committee which was only operationalized by the government.
