Former insurrectionist and leader of the 1990 attempted coup Imam Yasin Abu Bakr is dead.
“To Allah we belong and to him is our eventual return. ALLAHU AKBAR” Bakr’s son Fuad Abu Bakr posted on Facebook tonight.
The Trinidad Express reports that Bakr fell at home and was taken to the hospital where he died.
Doctors tried to resuscitate him in vain. Cause of death has not yet been disclosed.
Bakr celebrated his 80th birthday on October 19.
In 1990, 100 of Bakr’s armed followers stormed the Red House, taking the prime minister hostage and declaring the overthrow of the Government.
It was the only Islamist coup ever attempted in the Western hemisphere. He surrendered six days later after being offered amnesty, and spent two years in jail.
Just last month in September, Bakr issued a “warning” to the Government and all arms of the State to stop “oppressing” citizens of this country.
Abu Bakr went live on the Jamaat’s Facebook page and spoke for over an hour, highlighting the issues he viewed as “oppression” to people of Afro-Trinidadian descent.
“I warning the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, I (am) warning the police, I warning the Coast Guard, I warning everybody who is involved in the repression, the oppression of African people, I warning you today, this is your last day warning. Because it is coming on you,” he said.
Abu Bakr said the Government had been struggling to deal with Covid-19, and its impact on society, and therefore they should heed his words.
He blamed the State for not “helping poor people” during the pandemic, noting that with businesses closed, and people not being allowed to move freely, the ability to generate income had been greatly affected and the poorest in society felt it the most.
“Covid-19 is killing persons. It affects the weakest among us. But we have people in our communities who are not eating because they cannot afford to eat. So give them food to eat. Why are they not doing that?
“I will tell you why. There is money in the virus. There is money in the vaccine. So they are putting the money elsewhere and they are starving you, and the more they starve you, the easier it is (for the virus) to kill you as the body can’t resist. So they keep being starved. (Trinidad Express)
