St Mary boy to sue State for damage to his reputation
THE 16-year-old St Mary boy whose name was linked to terrorist group ISIS after he was refused landing in Suriname and sent home to Jamaica, in early April, is expected to file suit against the State this week.
The teen, whose father is Muslim, is expected to ask for several million dollars for damage to his reputation and over his detention, the
Jamaica Observer has been informed.
The youth made headlines when he was sent home from Suriname in early April, on allegations from law enforcement officials in that country that he was travelling to Turkey to join the Islamic terror group.
He was held in State care in Jamaica, while the police probed the ISIS allegations, before being released on April 22. The court, however, ordered that he be supervised over a two-year period.
His father told the
Observer in a subsequent interview that security minister Peter Bunting needed to apologise to his son for comments he made regarding him, and that the police needed to apologise as well.
He said his son had shunned Islam and that he was a Christian.
On April 27, the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Corporate Communication Unit issued a statement from the Counter Terrorism and Organised Crime Branch (C-TOC) detailing its investigation into the ISIS allegations.
The release said that the interest the Jamaican police had in the matter “was initially triggered by a number of peculiarities” concerning the teen’s travel arrangements.
“Of foremost concern was the fact that the student, a first-time traveller, was travelling as an unaccompanied minor on a trip that would require several international connections, using a route that has become the focus of security concerns throughout the region.
“The route booked for the minor would see him travelling from Jamaica with connections in Trinidad, Suriname, and The Netherlands, culminating in Istanbul, Turkey. This route has been under international scrutiny as it is a known route for persons travelling to join the terrorist organisation, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS),” the release pointed out.
The release also listed a number of factors that caught the attention of the police, but it concluded:
“To date, our investigations have not confirmed that ISIS was recruiting the student or that he was providing any material support to any fundamentalist group associated with ISIS. However, the anomalies that emerged during the initial checks had to be verified to protect the interest of the child and safeguard legitimate national security interests.”