|
Mauritius Hizbullah Leader Rejects All Charges
by Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA (IslamOnline) - A Hizbullah leader still incarcerated in Mauritius has rejected with force all accusations laid against him by members of the Squadron of Death this Wednesday.
With his lawyers by his side, and in a statement to police, Cehl Meeah Fakeermeah said he has nothing to do with the series of murders and other crimes attributed to an underworld organization that reigned terror on the Indian Ocean island south of Madagascar.
A series of robberies and murders committed since 1996, which have remained unsolved, has been elucidated with revelations by ex-members of the infamous Squadron. The Squadron is said to have at least 45 members and has infiltrated the police and other high level sectors in the country.
Toorab Bissessur, an ex-Hizbullah member, linked Fakeermeah to the Squadron of Death, saying that the Hizbullah leader was the head of the underground organization. His sensational revelations caused authorities to arrest Fakeermeah and place him in temporary detention.
He has been accused of having given instructions to commit a crime: murder. Orders supposedly carried out by the Squadron and which resulted in the killing of three political activists of the then ruling Movement Militant Mauricien (MMM) and Labor Party (LP) coalition in 1996. Charges he denied yesterday.
Even though police now have another member of the Squadron who corroborated Bissessur’s deposition, they still lack concrete evidence they hope would nail Fakeermeah to 45 years of imprisonment.
Police officer Afzal Chummun, former Squadron member arrested on Saturday and sole survivor of the triple suicide that shocked the island, said Fakeermeah benefited from the robberies.
He also said and identified members of the police force whom he pointed out were Hizbullah members. The police believe these officers were also either supporters or members of the Squadron as well.
Police suspect the Hizbullah created the Squadron in a bid to eliminate drug proliferation in Plaine Verte, a majority Muslim area in Port Louis.
The Squadron assassinated some drug peddlers, and is also accused of having staged several robberies in Mauritius, going so far as to even possibly attack and rob rich drug lords.
Fakeermeah was interrogated Tuesday and Wednesday by a team of investigators, which included assistant commissioner of police Roger Lebon. Fakeermeah said to the officers that he never gave orders to murder the three activists - Babal Joomun, Zulfikar Beekhy and Yousouf Moorad - in 1996.
Swaleha Joomun, the wife of Babal Joomun, urged the new Movemement Socialist (MSM) and MMM coalition in power to force the reopening of the murder case, which was closed after the 1999 judgment giving the three Hizbullah members the benefit of the doubt and clearing them of charges.
Swaleha revealed in 1997 that there existed a Squadron of Death linked to the Hizbullah that was training its members in Afghanistan and in Pakistan. She said members of the Squadron had access to security in the island nation, which allowed her to leave Mauritius without having her passport stamped.
She argued that non-stamping of passports were common for Squadron members as this did not allow police or security personnel to know which country they visited.
On the other hand, the Mauritian leader of the local branch of the U.K. based al-Mujahiroun movement, classified as terrorist in the United States, has given full support to Fakeermeah.
Faizal Boodhoo, leader of Mauritius’s al-Mujahiroun said Fakeermeah could not be considered guilty even if Mauritian courts found him guilty. He added that Mauritian courts did not conform to Islam.
Condemning the alleged brutal assault the Hizbullah leader was subjected to in police custody two weeks ago, Boodhoo said there was injustice done and that he believed Fakeermeah was sexually abused as well.
Fakeermeah said that police who beat him also toyed with his private parts. He did not give further details on the issue.
Two members of the Squadron are still at large, escaping arrest for more than three weeks. One of them is considered the most dangerous man in Mauritius. Bissessur has denounced Ibrahim Sheriff (aka Bahim Coco), 57, as the mastermind of the Squadron.
Chummun said Coco, a prominent member of the Five Star gang that terrorized drug dealers in the early ‘70s, was the brain of the Squadron and that all decision making were his and could not be reversed.
Fakeermeah’s lawyers could possibly use the detained Chummun’s statement to the police as evidence that the Hizbullah leader had nothing to do with the Squadron built and managed by Coco, sources said.
|
