Ahmad Family Recounts Predawn Police Raid

Fareed Ahmad

Members of the Ahmad family of Hattieville were detained by the police on Monday morning and kept incommunicado while they were in custody. The Muslim family says that the past forty-eight hours has been hellish. In the predawn operation police took their electronic devices, travel documents and licensed weapons. The family describes the incident at the hands of officers attached to the Special Branch of the Police Department early Monday morning as a frightening and shocking experience that has left them traumatized.

Fareed Ahmad, Claims Unlawfully Arrest

“With the invasion and raiding of six family homes and all our business establishments of hardworking and law-abiding Belizean families has paralyzed us with shock and disbelief. Not to mention the untold financial damages so far. We were subjected to ransack searches, seizures of our properties and intrusion of the most private, intimate areas…our bedrooms. This was all done in the presence of toddler and very young children, including of course our wives and our families. Their extreme and inhumane actions included false imprisonment, unlawful invasion of our homes, unlawful detention, kidnapping, invasion of our privacy, deprivation of our simple constitutional right to communicate with an attorney of our choice or any at all. And, very importantly, our religious liberty. Malicious and wrongful persecution, violation of our human dignity, unlawful seizures of our personal property, including devices like our cell phones, our tablets, our laptops, our computers…even books like the Koran and all means of identification…for example, our passports were taken, including some toys. These bizarre actions continues as our properties are still being withheld leaving us without an ability to communicate with each other even in the event of emergencies. I can’t reiterate how this has severely crippled the flow of business here and for the family on a whole. This harsh treatment was also extended to the children of tender ages by exposing them to these horrible actions and putting them in fear of their lives. Several of the minors were held in police detention for hours without the protection of their parents nor social services. Family members were fearful of their lives to the extent that they felt that the police were actually criminals disguised as officers. We are still reeling from this traumatic experience and the public embarrassment it has caused us so far.”