Gerald Perreira plans to seek redress at the CCJ

The Guyanese man who was taken off a plane in Antigua, en route to Jamaica last week, plans to seek legal redress at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Gerald Perreira has declared his intention to take the matter to the CCJ, after he was denied entry into Jamaica on Friday to attend the function put on by Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan in Kingston on Sunday.

In an interview with the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday newspaper, Mr. Perreira, a Muslim, who is the chairperson of  the Black Consciousness Movement Guyana, disclosed that he was in discussions with his lawyers. He is demanding evidence as to why he could be perceived as posing a threat to Jamaica’s national security.

Mr. Perreira is of the view that he was taken off the Caribbean Airlines aircraft in Antigua because of  an order by the US State Department, with or without the knowledge of  Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller. He believes he was targeted because of his writings condemning the invasion of  Libya and in defence of  late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, as well as on issues affecting the Caribbean and Africa.

Mr. Perreira said his refusal of entry into Jamaica, and that of Trinidadian Yasin Abu Bakr was about trying to prevent them from coming together and joining with US Nation of  Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Mr. Abu Bakr has reportedly told the media in Trinidad & Tobago that he was not coming to Jamaica to attend Sunday's function, which marked the 19th anniversary of the 1995 "Million Man March" in Washington DC, but that he had intended to visit his daughter, who is a medical student at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies in Jamaica.