Ferguson says arrest and questioning amounts to political harassment

Member of Parliament for the Opposition APNU+AFC Coalition Annette Ferguson has denied making a Facebook post that is part of a police investigation into an alleged cyber crime.

Ms. Ferguson was arrested and questioned by the Police this morning after a report was filed against her by a senior officer of the Guyana Defence Force, Colonel Omar Khan.

The GDF Officer is alleging that Ferguson shared a post about an alleged “killing squad” which linked him to the squad. The post, he complained caused him embarrassment.

Ferguson was released on self-bail after being questioned by the Police in the presence of her Attorney Lyndon Amsterdam and denying the allegations. The Police said the matter is still under probe.

In an interview this afternoon, the Opposition MP explained that she was first contacted through her lawyer and asked to visit the CID headquarters for questioning. She complied with the request today.

Ferguson said her arrest and questioning are clearly political.

She explained that the Police examined her phone and her Facebook account and could not find the post that was allegedly shared.

“I see this as harassment, victimization and most importantly political harassment. I am doing my doing my political activism and I try not to get in the way of people. My whole focus is to represent those who I have been placed to represent in the National Assembly…I see this whole action by the Guyana Police Force as one of political victimization”, Ferguson said.

The Opposition Member of Parliament who recently won a defamation suit against Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo believes that the Government is using the cyber crime legislation to go after its critics.

Her Attorney Lyndon Amsterdam told News Source that the arrest and questioning of the Opposition MP appears to be an ongoing cycle in the country.

Mr. Amsterdam said “Ms. Ferguson is a politician and you know in these parts when you are a politician in opposition, you get treated a certain way by the Police and when you go into a government, you get treated a different way, it is a cycle. I don’t think if Ms. Ferguson was still a Minister there would have been a complaint, let alone an arrest, but it seems as though this is what happens to Opposition politicians”, the Attorney said.

In a statement late this afternoon, Opposition Leader Joe Harmon condemned the arrest of the Member of Parliament.

He accused the government of using the Police Force to persecute its political opponents, while disregarding the law.

The Opposition Leader said all right thinking Guyanese, local and international human rights bodies and civil society groups should condemn what he considers “dictatorial and authoritarian acts of political persecution”.