Trinidad and Tobago ends state of emergency amid pushback over mass arrests

Lawyers criticised mass arrests under emergency powers that allowed authorities to detain people without charge.

Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar stands at the State Department in Washington, DC, on September 30, 2025 [File: Mark Schiefelbein/AP]

The Caribbean country of Trinidad and Tobago has ended a state of emergency that granted the government extraordinary powers to combat crime, including the ability to imprison people without charge.

The country’s prime minister told parliament on Wednesday that the government would not extend the state of emergency. One was issued in 2024 and another in 2025, with extensions lengthening both. Instead, the government would seek a “permanent legal framework”.

list 1 of 3 Trinidad and Tobago extends state of emergency for another three months

list 2 of 3 Trinidad and Tobago police uncover 56 bodies, mostly children, at cemetery

list 3 of 3 Venezuela hits out at Trinidad and Tobago in oil spill spat

“The proposed legislation will establish a permanent legal framework for targeted operations against violent crime, gangs, illegal weapons and the criminal networks that finance them, while providing safeguards for law-abiding citizens, judicial oversight and parliamentary accountability,” Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said in a social media post.

The government had faced criticism for a campaign of mass arrests that suspended key civil liberties in what it said was in the name of cracking down on crime and those the government deemed threats to security. A prominent businessman and his wife were among those arrested over alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate the prime minister, but were never charged and later released.

The measures were last extended in June, with the prime minister stating that more than 5,800 people have been arrested since a March extension. About 2,250 of those have yet to be charged, and it remains to be seen whether they will be released now that the state of emergency has ended.

Lawyer Criston Williams told The Associated Press news agency that he expects some of those detained without charge to bring lawsuits against the government and called for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to investigate possible abuses by the government.

“They are transported to us blindfolded, shackled, hands behind their backs, a gray knapsack over their heads,” he said, adding that meetings with lawyers took place in the presence of five armed men from law enforcement, “who refer to themselves as operator one, two, three, four, five. There’s a camera above, so guess what, there’s nothing like attorney-client privilege.”

Police reported a record 624 killings in the country of about 1.4 million people in 2024, a figure that police say dropped to 369 in 2025. Police state that 255 killings have been recorded this year, compared with 268 over the same period in 2025.

律师们批评了根据紧急权力进行的大规模逮捕，这些权力允许当局在不提出指控的情况下拘留民众。

2025年9月30日，特立尼达和多巴哥总理卡姆拉·珀萨德-比塞萨尔在华盛顿特区的国务院发表讲话。[图片：Mark Schiefelbein/AP]

加勒比海国家特立尼达和多巴哥结束了紧急状态，该状态曾赋予政府打击犯罪的特殊权力，包括不经指控即可监禁人员的权力。

该国总理周三向议会表示，政府不会延长紧急状态。此前，该国分别于2024年和2025年发布了紧急状态令，并多次延期。政府将寻求建立“永久性法律框架”。

特立尼达和多巴哥将紧急状态延长三个月（共 3 条记录，第 1 条）

特立尼达和多巴哥警方在墓地发现56具尸体，其中大部分是儿童（共3条记录中的第2条）

委内瑞拉就石油泄漏争端抨击特立尼达和多巴哥（共3条，此为第3条）

“拟议的立法将为打击暴力犯罪、团伙、非法武器及其资助的犯罪网络建立永久性的法律框架，同时为守法公民提供保障，并加强司法监督和议会问责制，”总理卡姆拉·珀萨德-比塞萨尔在社交媒体上发帖称。

政府曾因开展大规模逮捕行动而饱受批评，该行动暂停了多项关键公民自由，政府声称此举是为了打击犯罪和那些被政府视为安全威胁的人。一位知名商人及其妻子因涉嫌参与刺杀总理的阴谋而被捕，但最终未被起诉并获释。

这些措施上次延期是在6月份，首相表示，自3月份延期以来，已有超过5800人被捕。其中约2250人尚未被起诉，随着紧急状态的结束，他们是否会被释放还有待观察。

律师克里斯顿·威廉姆斯告诉美联社，他预计一些未经指控就被拘留的人将对政府提起诉讼，并呼吁美洲人权委员会调查政府可能存在的侵犯人权行为。

他说：“他们被蒙着眼睛，戴着镣铐，双手反绑在背后，头上套着灰色背包，押送到我们这里。”他还补充说，与律师的会面是在五名武装执法人员在场的情况下进行的，“他们自称是1号、2号、3号、4号、5号操作员。上面还有摄像头，所以你猜怎么着，什么律师-客户保密特权都没有。”

警方报告称，2024年该国（人口约140万）的凶杀案数量创下624起的纪录，警方表示，2025年这一数字将下降至369起。警方称，今年已记录在案的凶杀案为255起，而2025年同期则为268起。