Locked Up at the Government’s Pleasure? Guyana’s Opposition Leader Is in Prison Without a Trial

Azruddin Mohamed has been convicted of nothing. Yet when Guyana’s Parliament sits this week, the man elected to hold the government to account will be in a cell at Lusignan, held on the least of the three cases against him while the State asks the High Court for more time.

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, —Wiredja Commentary|  When Guyana’s National Assembly sits on Wednesday, the seat of the Leader of the Opposition will be empty. Its occupant, Azruddin Mohamed, has been in Lusignan Prison since October 30. He has not been tried. He has not been convicted. He leads We Invest in Nationhood, the party that holds 16 of the opposition’s 29 seats in a 65-seat House, and he cannot cross the threshold of the chamber Guyanese voters sent him to.

Full coverageGuyana Human Rights Association Accuses US, Government Over Mohamed Extradition Case33 reports

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That is the dilemma, and it is not his alone. It belongs to every Guyanese who did not vote for the governing People’s Progressive Party/Civic, and to a region that likes to lecture the world about democracy.