Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have said they have received no official complaints from two Guyanese who reported unfair treatment at the hands of Barbadian Immigration authorities.
Speaking with this newspaper last Monday, an official of the Foreign Affairs Ministry said that the Ministry noticed an article in this newspaper about the men’s plights.
“They have to lodge an official complaint before we can take up the matter officially,” a source at the Protocol office at the Ministry told this newspaper.
The two men, 36-year-old Deonarine Persaud, a Canadian citizen, and Bartica businessman Nizam Kassim, 49, were detained at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados two weeks ago, after they were accused of travelling with false documents.
The men were on their way to Canada to attend a funeral when they were intercepted by the Bajan authorities.
Jaipersaud was travelling on his Canadian passport while Kassim, who was on his third visit to Canada, was in possession of a valid 10-year Canadian visa.
Nazim kassim (left) and Deonarine Jaipersaud shortly after they returned to Guyana.
The men told this newspaper that, upon arrival in Barbados, they checked in and their passports were examined and found to be okay.
They were given a boarding pass and told to check back later with a view to boarding an Air Canada flight to their destination.
“We showed up at the gate to board the flight and the airline representative called us out of the line and took our passports and told us that we cannot go on the flight,” Jaipersaud told this newspaper.
The two men were then handed over to the Barbados Immigration officials at the Grantley Adams International Airport, who accused them of travelling on falsified travel documents.
“I told them that I am a Canadian citizen, and even produced my health card, social security card, and my driver’s licence, but they paid no mind,” the Canadian citizen said.
According to Jaipersaud, the Immigration officer enquired from him where he had bought his Canadian passport, since they believed that it was forged.
“They said that the jail term is 20 years, and if I tell them where I bought the passport from, they will only give me 10 years. I challenged them to jail me for 20 years, since I knew my passport was legal,” Jaipersaud declared.
He was, nevertheless, ordered to sit on a bench, while the Barbadian Immigration officials interviewed his colleague, Kassim.
He, too, was asked where he had bought his passport, and when he replied that it was a legitimate document, the Immigration officer told him, “Talk to me properly”.
After that, the two men claimed, additional harassment was meted out to them, after they were placed in a cell at the airport.
They were denied telephone calls, and the Barbadian officials even refused to secure meals and water for them, although they were willing to purchase things themselves.
“They didn’t even want us to bathe or brush or teeth. We told them about the kidnappings in Guyana and about the need to inform our families of our whereabouts and they refused to pay any attention to us,” Kassim told Kaieteur News.
When the men demanded to know what they were being held for, the Immigration officials did not bother to explain, despite the intervention of a Barbadian attorney.
“They treated us like real pigs. They really hate us (Guyanese),” Kassim said.
The men related that, to make matters worse, the Barbadian Immigration Authorities adopted a different approach to their nationals who were also in custody at the same location.
“One man who is a Barbadian told us that he had sold his passport in Guyana for $250,000 and he was afforded all the courtesies that a detained person should have. But they kept telling us that they did not want to hear anything. We were little dogs,” Kassim lamented.
Jaipersaud, who is scheduled to return to Canada soon, said he will lodge a formal complaint with the Canadian High Commission in Guyana.
They claimed that, apart from Guyanese, several other Caribbean nationals were harassed during the time they were in custody.
Kassim showed this newspaper signs of a rash on his abdomen, which he claimed came as a result of the deplorable conditions in which they were held.
The fact that the men were not charged indicates that their documents were eventually found to be legitimate.
An initial call was made by this newspaper to the Barbados Immigration Office, but no one could provide any information on the incident.
The person who answered the phone advised that this newspaper call back later in the day at a time when the office would have been closed.
A second call was made to the Chief Immigration Officer, Gilbert Greaves, but after waiting for close to 15 minutes, a person purporting to be his secretary related that he was busy and advised another effort be made today.
Barbadian Immigration has, over the years, been very harsh on especially Guyanese, most of whom travel to the island to escape economic hardship in their homeland.
And despite meetings between the Governments of the two CARICOM countries, the situation has reportedly worsened.
