Trial date set for woman accused of using social media to threaten President

The trial date has been set for the East Bank Essequibo (EBE) woman, Bibi Safora Salim, who is being accused of using Facebook to issue threatening and derogatory statements against President David Granger.

The date was set by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan when Salim, who was charged for attempting to excite hostility on the grounds of race contrary to Section 2 (1) (C) of the Racial Hostility Act, Chapter 23:01 of the Criminal Offences Act, appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. The trial has been set for June 15, 2016.

In April 2016, Salim pleaded not guilty to the charge and was placed on $200,000 bail.

The 52-year-old mother of three, who hails from Vergenoegen, EBE, was taken into Police custody for questioning following her Facebook post about shooting the President.

She was represented by Attorney Euclin Gomes, who told the Court that his client was “technologically challenged”.

This claim was, however, challenged by Police Prosecutor Neville Jeffers who strongly objected to bail and told the Court that Salim admitted in a statement to the Police to being the owner of the laptop from which she used a password to access the said account.

He also objected to bail on the grounds of the serious nature of the offence, threats posed, and the racial remarks that were used on social media against the President.

Salim reportedly sent two photos via whatsapp messenger to her son, which shared similar sentiments.

According to Prosecutor Jeffers, the case files are completed and some 14 witnesses are slated to testify in the trial, which should have commenced since May 11.

The Parliamentary Opposition had accused the Government of targeting People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) supporters saying that when it was in power, serious threats were made against leaders and officials of the PPP/C Administration, but they did not pursue them in such a manner.