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Melly Mel to appear before judge on March 28
Kaieteur News- Social media activist, Melissa ‘Melly Mel’ Atwell, will appear before a U.S. immigration judge on March 28, to have her case heard for the first time.
Social media activist Melissa ‘Melly Mel’ Atwell
According to information seen by this publication on acis.eoir.justice.gov, Atwell will be appearing before Judge Francis Mwangi virtually, at 8:30am.
It was previously reported in the local media that Atwell was scheduled to make a court appearance on June 25, but the records have revealed an updated date.
Atwell was taken into custody last week by Homeland Security. According to reports, she is allegedly being questioned in relation to her activities on social media, and complaints made against her by the Government of Guyana.
Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, on Tuesday evening, said that the government played no role whatsoever in the arrest of Melissa ‘Melly Mel’ Atwell in the United States. His comments came after there were protests held, encouraging Guyanese in the diaspora to lobby for her release. The government has been accused of lodging complaints about her social media criticism of them and alleged corruption. During his weekly programme, ‘Issues in the News’, Nandlall told his viewers that he had served Melly Mel a libel suit and, though he had some difficulty doing so, subsequent to that, she continued her work via her social media page.
He went on to say that he heard that she was arrested and detained sometime last week, and is currently being held in a federal facility in Louisiana. He said that it was also brought to his attention, that the arresting agency is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency, which is an organisation that primarily deals with the enforcement of immigration laws, investigating and prosecuting persons for violations of the said law. He further explained that while Atwell’s detention is in relation to her immigration status, “Lo and behold, a group of persons in Guyana is protesting- presumably, based upon the utterances I am hearing- the Government of Guyana, and calling for the release of this person. And for the avoidance of doubt, the Government of Guyana did not arrest Melissa Atwell, the Government of Guyana is not detaining Melissa Atwell, from all the information that is available, it is the US government that has arrested and is detaining Melissa Atwell.”
(Melly Mel to appear before judge on March 28)
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