Prime Minister Patrick Manning should apologise to the Trinidad and Tobago Muslim Organisation and the government of Saudi Arabia.

This was the call made by Opposition leader Basdeo Panday after a meeting with chairman of the group Imitiaz Mohammed.

In a release to the press, Panday stated that Mohammed reported to him how insensitive the National Security Ministry had been to Saudi Arabian diplomat Fawaz Abdul Rahman Alshubaili on his short visit to Trinidad and Tobago.

’I call on the Prime Minister to issue an apology to the Saudi Arabian government, Mr Rahaman Alshubaili and to the people of this country who have been hurt by the actions of top ranking persons of the National Security Ministry

’Clearly their intelligence should have indicated who the diplomat was,’ Panday stated.

On Tuesday, Alshubaili was interrogated, searched and humiliated for almost an hour at the Hyatt Regency hotel, according to the Muslim T&T Organisation, where he had been conducting business on behalf of the Saudi Arabian government for persons wanting access to that country to make the holy pilgrimage to Mecca this year.

’Furthermore, this type of action contradicts the United Nations Vienna Convention. This is clearly an infringement on the right of a diplomat to conduct business or move freely in our country,’ said Panday.

’The Opposition condemns, in no uncertain terms, the insult meted out to this diplomat and hope the incident does not reoccur’ he added.

Meanwhile, Sheik Munaf Mohammed, one of the people who helped organise Alshbaili’s visit, said a public apology from National Security Minister Martin Joseph would suffice.

Mohammed believes since the Ministry of National Security was instrumental in the ’humiliation and mockery’ that was meted out to the Saudi diplomat, they should be the one to formally apologise, not only to the Muslim community, but the Saudi government as well. ’The relationship that we are trying to build with the two countries is what really matters here, and I think that needs to be sorted out before it gets too late,’ he said.

On the other hand, the People’s Democracy, a network of labour and civic society groups, condemned ’the irresponsible and cavalier behaviour’ of the police, who indicated, at a news conference last Wednesday, that since Alshubaili was not accredited to Trinidad and Tobago, he was reduced to the status of an ordinary person and therefore subject to the due process of law.

’This position is inconsistent with the provisions of the Geneva Convention on Diplomatic Relations to which Trinidad and Tobago is party. If there were reasonable bases for suspecting that the diplomat in question had violated or was likely to infringe the laws of Trinidad and Tobago, ACP (Raymond) Craig should have consulted immediately the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the status of Mr Alshubaili,’ the organisation said.