{"id":9749,"date":"2016-10-12T21:27:51","date_gmt":"2016-10-13T01:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=9749"},"modified":"2016-10-14T04:25:04","modified_gmt":"2016-10-14T08:25:04","slug":"ag-leave-my-family-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/?p=9749","title":{"rendered":"AG: Leave My Family Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sean Douglas
\nOctober 12, 2016 – newsday.co.tt<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

PNM Senator Faris Al-Rawi<\/a>AMIDST Opposition claims that photos exist of persons resembling children of top Government officials holding firearms resembling those commonly used by the Defence Force, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi could not ascertain if those featured in these photos are his children, but admitted members of his family have undergone \u201cthreat assessment\u201d training at Cumuto Army Base as part of security protocols for families of State officials deemed to be at high risk.
\n
\nAl Rawi held a news briefing outside Parliament after Oropouche MP Dr Roodal Moonilal told the Lower House, during the Budget debate, that he possessed photographs that he would like to show to Al Rawi to see if he (the AG) recognised anyone. Al Rawi later told reporters Moonilal was \u201creprehensible\u201d for bringing youngsters into the political fray.<\/p>\n

The Attorney General said he had not seen the photos and had not been with his children at all times during the training session.<\/p>\n

In his contribution to the Budget debate, Moonilal had said, \u201cIt was shocking for me to receive photos of young children in this country with high-powered weapons training somewhere. I\u2019m told the weapon is the UMP nine millimetre calibre.\u201d He said these weapons are commonly used by the TT Defence Force. \u201cWhat is more frightening and I say this with trepidation, is that I am told these children bear a striking resemblance to the children of a senior Cabinet minister.\u201d House Leader Camille Robinson- Regis complained that Moonilal was imputing improper motives, with Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George agreeing that is was more than a pointed innuendo.<\/p>\n

Moonilal then said, \u201cI\u2019d say they are children with a striking resemblance to senior government officials. I will now ask the Attorney General – I\u2019ll pass it to him – if he recognises the children in this photo.\u201d He asked why children are posing for pictures with guns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m also informed that these children posed for these pictures around October 2015 in the western part of Trinidad and these weapons belong to the Defence Force, and they were playing with weapons and gallerying,\u201d Moonilal said. Moonilal said the pictures were posted onto a Facebook page named, \u2018Kick out the PNM\u2019. He asked if the Defence Force knew of this episode. \u201cIt is wrong to tell the children of Laventille, Beetham, Enterprise, Penal, Debe, Barrackpore that they should not take up guns, but then we have our own children taking up guns.\u201d \u201cIf what I am saying is correct it speaks to recklessness, it speaks to a breach of the criminal law, it speaks of an abuse of office, it speaks of an unfitness to hold public office,\u201d he hit. \u201cAnd if anyone is deemed to be responsible for these children, they ought to demit public office today.\u201d Later Moonilal urged several anti-crime measures, saying, \u201cYou need to take the guns off the hands of children.\u201d Bemoaning photos of children with guns, he emphasised, \u201cIt is wrong, wrong, wrong. We cannot build a society where we encourage children to take up guns. We cannot build a society where we encourage children to use nine millimetre UMP calibre weapons as if it is a game and a toy. This is where we have reached. We cannot build a society by transmitting those messages.\u201d Al Rawi, at his news briefing with Minister in the AG\u2019s Office Stuart Young, said he had not heard nor seen Moonilal\u2019s speech, nor seen the photos. He said the TT security agencies conducted a \u201cthreat assessment\u201d on him and his families and decided to instruct them in international protocols at the Cumuto Army Base, including how aggressors behave and what can be expected. The AG hit out at Moonilal calling him \u201cmost reprehensible\u201d.<\/p>\n

Asked if he was concerned about the photos online which may show members of his family with guns, AG Al Rawi said he had not and would reply to issues raised by the United National Congress (UNC).<\/p>\n

\u201cA person in public life lives with the understanding that everything you do in public life is in the public.\u201d He said he does not want to go \u201cdown the rabbit hole\u201d of exposing his family\u2019s security arrangements.<\/p>\n

Asked if he recalled whether his children would have been exposed to handling guns during the protocols training, he replied, \u201cMy children were separate from me on much of the day of training.<\/p>\n

Minister Young and I were in fact together. We were in a separate position.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t speak for the Army or for anything else, but can tell you that threat assessments have to be treated seriously. If the Army tells you they have done a threat assessment against you and your family and you have to come in and be informed about it, and if Special Branch tells you there are protocols, you don\u2019t take that lightly.<\/p>\n

Both of us have received umpteen death threats. We are engaged in very serious work against known criminals. <\/p>\n

Source: www.newsday.co.tt\/news\/0,234441.html<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

\"Images
Images which surfaced online allegedly showing a cabinet minister\u2019s relatives with high-tech weapons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TTDF: ‘Close protection’ offered to officials and their families<\/A>
\nThe Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force has confirmed that it offers close protection to this country\u2019s leaders, inclusive of \u201cexposing the principal and his\/her family to scenarios that may be encountered during the time that the principal is in office\u201d.
\nThe confirmation was made in a statement signed by Senior Public Affairs Officer of the Defence Force, Major Al Alexander on Wednesday.
\nThe response follows assertions by Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal that Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi committed a number of criminal offences in having his children undergo security training which involved them operating high-powered rifles.<\/p>\n

AG confirms family assessed by army after death threats<\/A>
\nAttorney General Faris Al-Rawi confirmed yesterday that his family had received a threat assessment and instruction from the army after he received several deaths threats since he assumed office last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sean Douglas October 12, 2016 – newsday.co.tt AMIDST Opposition claims that photos exist of persons resembling children of top Government officials holding firearms resembling those commonly used by the Defence Force, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi could not ascertain if those featured in these photos are his children, but admitted members of his family have … Continue reading AG: Leave My Family Alone<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,186,178,30,7],"tags":[393,922,359,1015,397,49],"class_list":["post-9749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-tt","category-law","category-media","category-pnm","category-politics","tag-attorney-general","tag-faris-al-rawi","tag-newsday","tag-politics","tag-sean-douglas","tag-tt-govt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9749"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9755,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9749\/revisions\/9755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.trinidadandtobagonews.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}