Trinidad and Tobago lifts state of emergency amid mass arrest controversy
T&T ended its prolonged state of emergency on Thursday, with over 2,250 detainees still uncharged. Lawyers and activists have condemned the mass arrests and detention conditions.
State of emergency lifted in Trinidad and Tobago after months of mass detentions
Trinidad and Tobago brought its extended state of emergency to a close on Thursday, hindustantimes.com reports, as lawyers and human rights activists raised sharp objections over the mass arrests carried out under the measure and the conditions in which detainees were held.
The emergency declaration, first approved in December 2024, was extended several times — most recently in early March. In the period following that extension alone, more than 5,800 people were arrested. As of the latest figures cited by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, 2,250 suspects had yet to be charged. Whether those individuals would be released remained unclear.
Persad-Bissessar told Parliament on Wednesday that credible threats against law enforcement — the primary justification for the emergency — had been "substantially reduced."
Plot against the prime minister and security concerns
Among those detained under the measure was a well-known businessman and his wife, accused of involvement in a plot to kill the prime minister. Neither was ever charged, and both were subsequently released.
The country has now spent roughly 16 of the last 20 months under a state of emergency. In 2024, police recorded a record 624 killings in the nation of approximately 1.4 million people. That figure fell to 369 last year, though authorities warned in early 2025 of an uncovered plot targeting key government officials and public institutions. The latest police statistics recorded 255 killings so far this year, compared with 268 over the same period last year.
Lawyers call for human rights investigation
Port of Spain attorney Criston J. Williams said he expected a number of those detained to pursue legal action against the government. He also called on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to visit Trinidad and Tobago and investigate what he described as infringements upon people's rights "under the guise of a state of emergency."
Williams detailed the conditions under which he said his clients were brought to meetings with legal counsel. "They are transported to us blindfolded, shackled, hands behind their backs, a gray knapsack over their heads," he said. He added that consultations typically took place in the presence of five armed officers who identified themselves only as "operator one, two, three, four, five," and that a camera was positioned above the meeting area. "There's nothing like attorney-client privilege," he said.
Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander did not respond to a request for comment.
Opposition and U.S. concerns
The main opposition party declared the state of emergency a failure. "Having spent months oppressing the freedoms of our people and exercising extraordinary powers in the name of national security, we have yet to see any clear evidence that it has helped with the detection or fighting of crime," said opposition leader Pennelope Beckles.
U.S. ambassador nominee Jennifer Johnson-Carroll, speaking at her Senate confirmation hearing in Washington D.C. in July, also raised concern. "They have had several emergency orders, which doesn't bode well with regards to the criminal activities that's been occurring for a number of years, and that is something that needs to be addressed," she said.
Family members await word on detained relatives
Tricia Richards, wife of Earl Richards — one of 11 people charged in the May 2014 killing of prominent attorney Dana Seetahal — said she has had no contact with her husband since July 2025. "Nothing, no visit, no call," she said in a phone interview.
Earl Richards, a father of five, had already been in detention when he was transferred from a maximum-security facility to a makeshift prison established by the government on a military base in western Trinidad. Earlier this year, a video of him circulated on social media, apparently recorded during a virtual meeting with his attorneys. It gave Tricia Richards what she described as her only recent glimpse of him.
"I'm really disappointed because in the space of three months, my husband deteriorated rapidly," she said.
Responding to questions about potential legal challenges from detainees who were held but never charged, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar said, "We still live in a democracy," and indicated she was leaving the matter to the courts to decide.
Source: Google News TT — Crime