GEORGETOWN (Reuters) -Azruddin Mohamed, the leader of Guyana’s top opposition party, and his father, the gold magnate Nazar Mohamed, both wanted by the United States on charges of fraud and corruption, were arrested on Friday, the country’s attorney general said.
The government of Guyana had received a request for the extradition on Thursday, according to a statement shared on Friday. The attorney general previously said both men would be extradited to face the charges once U.S. authorities made the request.
Videos posted by local media showed the younger Mohamed’s arrest, as well as the men’s arrival – handcuffed together – to Georgetown’s magistrates’ court, accompanied by masked police officers.
The Mohamed family denounced the manner of the arrest. “Leader of Opposition Azruddin Mohamed and his father was just arrested. We have witnesses who claim police brutality not only to Azruddin but also his guard and nearby innocent civilians!” Hadiyyah Mohamed, Nazar’s daughter and Azruddin’s sister said in a post on Facebook.
Reuters has not been able to independently verify the claims of police brutality.
A letter to Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs sent by the men’s lawyers earlier this month expressed the pair’s intention to “surrender to the authorities” once presented with the necessary warrants.
Azruddin has accused the ruling People’s Progressive Party of persecuting him due to his foray into politics.
His new We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party won 16 seats in parliament, nearly a quarter of the chamber, in its maiden election in September. It is unclear who could replace him as the new opposition leader in the body.
WIN’s general secretary, Odessa Primus, also complained about the manner of the arrest, saying it was meant to embarrass the Mohameds.
President Irfaan Ali, who won reelection for a second term in the election, said last week parliament would reopen on November 3.
If an extradition request is granted, the businessmen would have the right to challenge it in Guyanese courts. For Guyana and some of its neighbors, the court of last resort is the Caribbean Court of Justice.
The businessmen, who own the gold-exporting firm Mohamed’s Enterprise, were indicted in a Florida court on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering to enrich themselves and defraud the government of Guyana.
(Reporting by Kemol King; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb and Iñigo Alexander; Editing by David Holmes)
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