Long-time death row inmate Yassin dies

After spending many years as a death row inmate in the Georgetown Prisons during which his lawyers waged numerous battles to save him from hanging, convicted murderer Abdool Salim Yassin succumbed after a prolonged illness at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) on Saturday.

Contacted yesterday the man’s family declined to say anything on his passing stating that enough has been said about him over the past years.

Yassin, who hails from the Essequibo Coast, had been convicted twice along with Noel Thomas for murdering Yassin’s younger brother, Abdool Kaleem Yassin, who was shot in his bed at his Riverstown, Essequibo Coast home on the night of March 18, 1987.

The motive apparently stemmed from Yassin’s discontent that his father had bequeathed the bulk of his wealth to the 27-year-old Kaleem, who was the first of two sons from his father’s second marriage. Yassin had retained Thomas as the hit-man paying him $700 as a downpayment on $20,000.

However, when Thomas approached him for the remainder of the money after the deed was done Yassin told him he had no money and it was after this that their collusion in the murder was brought to light.

Since being convicted and sentenced to hang, the two men spent years in legal battles to avoid the death penalty arguing that they should be sentenced to life imprisonment instead considering the conditions under which they were incarcerated for many years.

The men came close to being hanged in February of 1996 but they managed to win a reprieve.

Their most recent court action was an application for a writ of certiorari to quash the decision of President Bharrat Jagdeo to appoint several Justices of Appeal in a manner not in keeping with the advice of the Judicial Service Commission.