Woman charged with making threats against President of Guyana

Police in Guyana said a woman has been arrested in connection with a threat made on the life of President Dr. Irfaan Ali.

Head of the Criminal Investigations Department, Assistant Police Commissioner Wendell Blanhum confirmed that the unidentified woman had been arrested in connection with the threat made in a post on social media that is in contradiction with the Racial Hostility Act.

“The president needs to be assassinated,” the woman says when asked by an unseen and unidentified person to repeat what she said.

In the same video on the social media site, TikTok, the Indo-Guyanese woman is heard hurling racial slurs against an Afro-Guyanese man.

The video was posted on TikTok on April 9, 2023, and up to Monday night had attracted more than 98,000 views.

Police are also investigating a report posted on social media where an Indo-Guyanese man is urging that Afro-Guyanese be severely harmed.

Earlier this month, the executive chairman of the opposition Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Tacuma Ogunseye, was released on GUY$100,00 (One Guyana dollar=US$0.004 cents) bail on a charge of attempting to excite racial hostility.

Ogunseye, 71, who had surrendered to police pleaded not guilty to the charge.

CMC/