Tweet

Court lifts interim stay after rejecting challenge to Authority to Proceed issued in response to United States extradition request

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago — July 29, 2026: The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has unanimously dismissed an appeal brought by Guyana’s Opposition Leader, Azruddin Mohamed, and his father, Nazar Mohamed, clearing the way for extradition proceedings connected to a request from the United States to continue.

The ruling was delivered on Wednesday, July 29, with the CCJ also lifting an interim stay that had temporarily halted the extradition proceedings while the appeal was being considered.

Importantly, the judgment does not amount to an order extraditing the two men to the United States. Instead, it means the legal process initiated under Guyana’s Fugitive Offenders Act can now resume.

The dispute centred on an Authority to Proceed (ATP) issued by Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs following an extradition request received from the United States on October 28, 2025.

Two days later, the Minister issued the ATP, formally allowing the extradition proceedings to move forward before the courts.

The Mohameds challenged the validity of that decision through judicial review, arguing that the ATP had been affected by actual or apparent bias arising from public statements reportedly made by senior government officials during Guyana’s 2025 election campaign.

They also argued that the Minister had improperly consulted the Attorney General, who they alleged was himself affected by bias.

Both Guyana’s High Court and Court of Appeal rejected the challenge before the matter reached the CCJ.

The regional court granted the applicants special leave to appeal, but ultimately dismissed the substantive case.

CCJ President Justice Winston Anderson and Justice Denys Barrow held that while legal rules against bias can apply to a minister’s decision to issue an ATP, allegations of political bias by themselves were insufficient to invalidate the decision.

They stressed that an Authority to Proceed is a preliminary administrative step in the wider extradition process and found that the applicants had not shown that the Minister failed to consider relevant matters or relied on improper considerations.

Justices Maureen Rajnauth-Lee, Peter Jamadar and Chantal Ononaiwu Bulkan agreed that the appeal should be dismissed, although their reasoning differed on aspects of when an ATP can be challenged.

That group found no appearance of bias by the Minister but concluded there was a real possibility of apparent bias involving the Attorney General. They nevertheless determined that this did not contaminate the Minister’s decision or invalidate the ATP.

Justices Chantal Ononaiwu and Chile Eboe-Osuji, in further separate reasons, also agreed that the appeal should fail, stressing that allegations of bias must be assessed through the eyes of a fair-minded and informed observer considering all the circumstances.

The Court also highlighted the importance of judicial independence and cautioned public officials against commenting on matters that remain before the courts.

Each party was ordered to bear its own costs before the CCJ, while the Court reserved its decision on costs incurred in the lower courts.

The case was heard by the CCJ’s full seven-member bench comprising President Justice Winston Anderson and Justices Rajnauth-Lee, Barrow, Jamadar, Ononaiwu, Eboe-Osuji and Bulkan.

The CCJ’s official notice confirms that its decision allows the extradition proceedings against Azruddin Mohamed and Nazar Mohamed to continue under Guyana’s legal process.

TIMES CARIBBEAN