Singer Anthony Seasoning said he intends to seek legal representation in the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) after allegedly being detained in Trinidad and kicked out two weeks ago. He was en route from Suriname to Jamaica.
“I wasn’t coming to their country. I was coming from Suriname to Jamaica when they detained me for about an hour, locked me in a room, and no one was communicating with me. They put a reject stamp in my book and they gave me a deportation order, but when I got someone to call them like a lawyer, they withdrew the deportation order. but I took a picture of the deportation order which I gave to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is investigating the case,” he said.
“I would like to know why that happened. I have rights to go to Trinidad and Tobago, I am legally married there. They have no rights to reject me. This is a clear case of discrimination. I didn’t disrespect anyone, I didn’t have any contraband, so why treat me that way — because my only crime is to be a Jamaican going through their country,” he continued.
Anthony Seasoning (given name Cecil Maize) hails from the Red Hills Road area in Kingston. He relocated to rural Jamaica where he attended Rusea’s High in Lucea, Hanover.
Checks with the Consular Affairs sections of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade confirmed the unit is aware of the case.
“We are aware of the case and it is being handled according to normal procedures governing such cases,” said a representative, who wished not to be identified.
In 2013, the Trinidad-based CCJ awarded Jamaican Shanique Myrie pecuniary damages to the sum of BDS$2,240 and non-pecuniary damages for BDS$75,000 after she had taken that country’s government to court. She alleged when she travelled to Barbados on March 14, 2011 she was discriminated against because of her nationality, subjected to a body cavity search, detained overnight in a cell, and deported to Jamaica the following day.
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