Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, the religious leader who led the Jamaat al Muslimeen’s 1990 attempted coup in Trinidad and Tobago, died Thursday (October 21), two days after celebrating his 80th birthday.

“To Allah we belong and to him is our eventual return. ALLAHU AKBAR” Bakr’s son Fuad Abu Bakr posted on Facebook Thursday night.

According to reports in the Trinidad press, Abu Bakr, who was born Lennox Philip, suffered a fall at home and died after being taken to the hospital.

A cause of death was not immediately known.

In 1990, 100 of Abu Bakr’s armed followers stormed the Trinidad Parliament, known as Red House, taking then Prime Minister A.N.R. Robinson and others hostage and declaring the overthrow of the Government. Robinson was beaten and shot in the leg during the incident.

Abu Bakr and his Islamist group surrendered six days later after being offered amnesty, and he spent just two years in jail.

ABU BAKR ISSUED WARNING TO GOVERNMENT IN SEPTEMBER

According to the Trinidad Express, Abu Bakr last month issued a “warning” to the Government and all arms of the State to stop “oppressing” citizens of this country.

He had gone live on the Jamaat’s Facebook page and spoke for more than an hour, highlighting the issues he viewed as “oppression” to people of Afro-Trinidadian descent.

“I warning the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, I (am) warning the police, I warning the Coast Guard, I warning everybody who is involved in the repression, the oppression of African people, I warning you today, this is your last day warning. Because it is coming on you,” he had said.

The religious leader said the Government was struggling in its attempts to get the COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on society in Trinidad under control, and therefore they should heed his words.