Lawyers criticised mass arrests under emergency powers that allowed authorities to detain people without charge.
Published On ۱۷ Sep ۲۰۲۶
The Caribbean country of Trinidad and Tobago has ended a state of emergency that granted the government extraordinary powers to combat crime, including the ability to imprison people without charge.
The country’s prime minister told parliament on Wednesday that the government would not extend the state of emergency. One was issued in ۲۰۲۴ and another in ۲۰۲۵, with extensions lengthening both. Instead, the government would seek a “permanent legal framework”.
Recommended Stories
list of ۳ itemsend of list
“The proposed legislation will establish a permanent legal framework for targeted operations against violent crime, gangs, illegal weapons and the criminal networks that finance them, while providing safeguards for law-abiding citizens, judicial oversight and parliamentary accountability,” Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said in a social media post.
The government had faced criticism for a campaign of mass arrests that suspended key civil liberties in what it said was in the name of cracking down on crime and those the government deemed threats to security. A prominent businessman and his wife were among those arrested over alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate the prime minister, but were never charged and later released.
The measures were last extended in June, with the prime minister stating that more than ۵,۸۰۰ people have been arrested since a March extension. About ۲,۲۵۰ of those have yet to be charged, and it remains to be seen whether they will be released now that the state of emergency has ended.
Lawyer Criston Williams told The Associated Press news agency that he expects some of those detained without charge to bring lawsuits against the government and called for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate possible abuses by the government.
“They are transported to us blindfolded, shackled, hands behind their backs, a gray knapsack over their heads,” he said, adding that meetings with lawyers took place in the presence of five armed men from law enforcement, “who refer to themselves as operator one, two, three, four, five. There’s a camera above, so guess what, there’s nothing like attorney-client privilege.”
Police reported a record ۶۲۴ killings in the country of about ۱.۴ million people in ۲۰۲۴, a figure that police say dropped to ۳۶۹ in ۲۰۲۵. Police state that ۲۵۵ killings have been recorded this year, compared with ۲۶۸ over the same period in ۲۰۲۵.
