PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):
CHIEF MAGISTRATE Sherman McNichols will rule today whether Jamaat leader Yasin Abu Bakr should stand trial on charges of terrorism and sedition.
The chief magistrate reserved judgement after the state ended its closing arguments in the preliminary, month-long inquiry into the charges against the radical Muslim leader on Wednesday.
The charges arose from statements the Imam made in an address at Eid ul Fitr celebrations in November 2005.
Bakr is alleged to have said that there will be war and bloodshed this year if rich Muslims did not pay zakat or charity to the poor.
The state on Wednesday wrapped up its closing submissions in the case with senior counsel Douglas Mendes calling on the chief magistrate to reject all submissions by defence attorney senior counsel Pamela Elder.
Mendes told McNichols he must determine whether Bakr's statements constitutes a terrorist act according to the definition provided in the Anti Terrorism Act of 2005.
Mendes said McNichols must also determine whether Bakr's act was meant to intimidate a certain sector of the public, in this case the Muslim community, who are not members of the Jamaat Al Muslimeen.
According to Mendes the chief magistrate will also have to decide whether Bakr's act was for the purpose of carrying out an ideological or religious cause.
Mendes said under the Anti Terrorism Act all evidence has been established against Bakr.
He had earlier contended that Bakr was promoting the collection of zakat in a certain way, which would result in a war in which lives would be lost.
Mendes added that Bakr suggested that members of the Jamaat must commit larceny by taking the property of rich Muslims who fail to give him good reasons for not paying zakat.
But Bakr's attorney, Pamela Elder, lamented that Mendes is wrong in interpreting Bakr's speech without bringing in an Islamic scholar. She said he, instead, sought to put an entirely literal meaning to Bakr's speech placing the court at a disadvantage.
