00:00 33-year-old Aziza Mohammed is heartbroken after her sons Redwan and Ishak Williams,
00:08 aged 14 and 13, were ripped away from her arms last Thursday.
00:14 They come maybe two hours ago, two and a half hours ago, they come and they take the boys
00:18 and them.
00:19 I don't know how it is, I come from 10 years ago, I'm these boys, the boys when they reach
00:22 10 years ago, I'm there, they need to go in the next place, they carry them in the next
00:24 place, orphanage, I don't know where the hell they carry them.
00:27 The boys stayed with their mother, Aziza, in a cell at the Baghdad Roussafa 6B Women's
00:32 Prison where she's serving a 20-year sentence for terrorism, although she had no legal representation
00:40 at court.
00:41 How far will it have to go?
00:42 All they want to do is come and collect 100 women, all they want to come and collect 50,
00:43 all they want to come and collect 30 women, no children, how far it needs to go?
00:53 Aziza, the granddaughter of Imam Nazim Mohammed, the chief imam of the Riyadh Qalra Masjid,
01:00 was among 15 members of her family to leave Trinidad between 2015 and 2018 to join the
01:07 Islamic State.
01:08 Of the 15 adults, the only survivors are Aziza's 59-year-old mother, Anisa Mohammed Wahid,
01:16 Aziza's sisters, Aida, 24, and Sabira, 30.
01:22 Aziza, her mother, Anisa, sisters Aida and Sabira are four Trinidadian female prisoners
01:28 of war in Iraq.
01:30 The seven children belonging to the three sisters have been allowed to stay with their
01:35 imprisoned mothers in jail.
01:37 What are these Muslims in Trinidad and them doing?
01:40 What are these Muslims and all of them doing?
01:41 What are the Muslims and them, what are they doing?
01:42 What are the government doing?
01:43 They're going and going and going and they're not even coming and seeing we.
01:47 How far, how far?
01:48 How far?
01:49 How far we need, how far we need to go?
01:50 They can walk for Palestine.
01:51 People can walk for Palestine, they won't go and walk for Riyadh.
01:52 Why are they going to walk for these children and these orphans?
01:58 Ishak, the younger of the brothers, is anemic, suffers from asthma and is severely malnourished.
02:07 Aziza fears that was the last time she would have seen her boys.
02:11 The inconsolable mother says she does not know if her sons will be indoctrinated, made
02:16 into child soldiers or even be put up for adoption.
02:21 Daily, as they pray, they wait to hear news from the government of Trinidad and Tobago
02:28 about their repatriation.
02:29 Everybody, oh, everybody shut up.
02:30 They have nothing to say.
02:31 Nobody has nothing to say.
02:32 Everybody just hush them out.
02:33 Every now and again, every three months, four months, five months, the government has to
02:34 come and lie.
02:35 The women are frustrated, unsure about their own future.
02:46 They are willing to just send the children back home.
02:50 I don't know if I'm going to come out of this prison.
02:51 Because I go in, I don't know if it is unravelling.
02:52 I mean, I ask them every day to take me home.
02:53 Because I'm not that passionate to be dealing with it.
03:00 Rachel Becker, advocacy director of the Children's Rights Division of the Human Rights Watch,
03:05 says her group continues to be seriously concerned about Trinidadians in Syria and Iraq.
03:11 She notes that TNT is not among the 39 governments who have repatriated over 8,000 of their nationals
03:19 caught in war.
03:21 Becker says she does not know what is taking the Trinidad and Tobago government so long,
03:26 saying the establishment of a repatriation committee was a step in the right direction.
03:32 She tells TV6, "From the information we have, the committee has not been given the resources
03:38 or backing to make any progress.
03:40 The U.S. government has offered technical support to help bring them home, so the assistance
03:45 is there."
03:47 She says while the TNT government keeps referencing legal framework, other countries have repatriated
03:53 citizens without special legislation.
03:57 Becker says, "Legislation is not the problem here.
04:01 There are many ways to monitor returnees, and from our conversations with detainees,
04:06 they would be more than happy to be monitored if that means they can return home with their
04:11 children.
04:12 It's time for government to step up."
04:16 Nizam Mohammed, lead of the three-man repatriation committee formed by the prime minister in
04:22 March last year, when contacted, directed us to team Nightingale, as highlighted by
04:27 the PM, as the entity responsible for repatriations.
04:32 Mohammed said his committee is charged with assisting in repatriation and tries its best
04:37 to partner with Nightingale.
04:40 He notes the process has been rather slow and hopes for something more definite sooner
04:46 rather than later.
04:48 Still commenting on the matter of the repatriation of TNT citizens as recently as April this
04:54 year, when contacted, Dr. Amory Brown, Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister, told TV6, "Our
05:01 questions are better directed at the National Security Ministry."
05:06 The Minister of National Security did not respond to our queries.
05:10 Arvishi Tiwari, Rupnur Ryan, TV6 News.
05:12 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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