Trinidad and Tobago senator, Hafeez Ali has resigned from office after a video of him performing a sexual act was leaked to the public through social media.

Ali, who was appointed as a government senator in September, 2015, was reported to have tendered his resignation on Friday 10th June, 2016, because he feared that his family would be adversely affected by scandal when news of his video reached the public domain.

Although members of the Trinidad and Tobago public have expressed mixed opinions concerning his resignation, the majority of persons are questioning whether the source of the leak is being investigated.

“Should a man be forced out of his job because he engaged in a legal, private action and it is illegally made public?” asked one commentator.

In late 2015, Ms. Therese Ho won in a civil suit against cricketer Lendl Simmons, after he leaked a video of her performing oral sex on him while they were together.

The Ho vs Simmons case was the first of its kind in Trinidad and Tobago and raised the issue of cyberbullying and cyber crime for the first time in the Caribbean nation. Several persons have questioned whether cyber crimes only matter when a woman is the victim and a man the perpetrator.

Ali has stated that the issue is being investigated by the Fraud Squad.

This issue brings into question the proposed amendment to the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) bill, discussed in the Trinidad and Tobago parliament in May 2016, which Ali himself had supported. The amendment sought to expand the role of the SSA, to include the collection of information on “serious crimes” that were not drug related.

During the SSA debate, Attorney General Faris Al Rawi had stated that privacy was not a guaranteed right that citizens had, after the Opposition raised the issue of potential spying, stating that it was against basic human rights.