A local lawyer and human rights activist is calling for the resignation of Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson and Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell in view of what he describes as “a breach of law at the highest level” in the Samuel Knowles extradition case.
Paul Moss Jr, co-chairman of BARF (Bahamians Agitating for the Referendum on the FTAA ), yesterday hit out at Mr Mitchell, Mrs Maynard-Gibson and all those involved with the extradition of Mr Knowles two weeks ago.
“I I believe that the matter is so grave that they should have resigned, both of them. Heads should be rolling, more than just those two,” he said.
Speaking as a guest on yesterday’s edition of Parliament Street on Island FM, Mr Moss said that due to the fact that Mr Knowles still has a matter pending before the Supreme Court – a court date had been scheduled for September 29 – the government of the Bahamas was in breach of law when it handed the suspected drug lord over to US authorities.
Mr Knowles still has a habeas corpus application pending. It stems from the judgment by Justice Hugh Small, who ruled that Mr Knowles could not receive a fair trial in the United States because US President George W Bush had named him as a “cocaine kingpin.”
“The ball is now in their court. We’re going to see what it is that they’re going to do when they must bring the body, habeas corpus,” he said.
Under the Extradition Act, Section 11, Mr Moss pointed out, it states that a person cannot be sent to a requesting state – in Mr Knowles’ case the US – as long as an application is still pending before the courts.
“This is a breach of the law. This (the law) is what Cabinet ministers swore to uphold,” he said.
Mr Moss said it does not matter to him if Mr Knowles is a drug lord, the law should still prevail.
“It does not matter to me whether he is Osama Bin Laden. The fact is we are a country of laws, the United States is a country of laws. Do not believe for one instant the United States would have surrendered their citizen in circumstances such as we have,” he said.
The lawyer claimed that a breach of law at this level sends the message to all criminals in the country that breaking the law has no real consequences.
“If I were prime minister and they (Ministers Maynard-Gibson and Mitchell) had not resigned, they would have been fired,” he said.
Mr Moss also criticised the fact that, in the Bahamas, the Attorney General’s Office represents the interests of the requesting states in extradition cases.
This is a state of affairs that the lawyers in this country have complained about for many years, he said.
“It is a most untenable situation, where the Attorney General is acting on behalf of the United States and at the same time acting as chief adviser to the government of the Bahamas. Francis Cumberbatch (prosecutor in the Attorney General’s Office) is acting in both capacities, so you have a situation where he is prosecuting Mr Knowles, as an example, and then advises the government,” he said.
Mr Moss said that this is a conflict that must be sorted out before the “erosion of the judiciary” occurs.
The human rights activist further said that he found it astounding that Mr Knowles was granted bail by a US magistrate within a week upon his arrival in that country, when he was refused it by every court here in the Bahamas.
Mr Moss claimed that this was due to the fact that the Attorney General’s Office was not acting on its own behalf, but on the behalf of the requesting state.
By KARIN HERIG Tribune Staff Reporter
