The Attorney General’s Office has filed an appeal to block the release of a group of men from Her Majesty’s Prison after a controversial Supreme Court ruling relating to the country’s Extradition Treaty with the United States.
Director of Public Prosecutions Bernard Turner indicated on Tuesday that the appeal has been filed on “a number of grounds.”
The Court of Appeal has not yet set a date to hear the appeal of the recent ruling by Supreme Court Justice Jon Isaacs, who determined that the treaty is null and void because it was not properly laid before Parliament back on April 13, 1994.
The Treaty, which was signed back in March 1990, allows U.S. officials to seek the extradition of anyone in The Bahamas believed to be guilty of a crime in the U.S. or against the United States.
It also allows Bahamian officials to seek the extradition of suspects residing in the United States.
The incarcerated men who will be affected by a decision on the matter include, Brian and Lynden Deal; Thomas Roberts, Devroy Moss, Sheldon Moore, Shanto Curry and Gordon Newbold. They were arrested last summer as part of a major regional drug smuggling ring.
Their attorneys insist that they should be released.
According to Dr. Gilbert Morris, who worked closely on the case alongside attorney Maurice Glinton, this latest development has left his colleague scurrying to plan his next move, primarily because he was not informed of the AG’s decision.
“This is very unfortunate. We found out only lately that an appeal was filed between six and eight days ago. If that is so, it is a matter of discourtesy and it shows what is wrong with the legal profession and the judicial system in The Bahamas.
“-When an Attorney General’s office is minded to make an appeal and it acts as if the senior lawyers – who in fact are its brethren before the courts – are somehow enemies or behaves with an attitude of secrecy, this is an unfortunate thing and it undermines the dignity of the Court because it says, ‘I’m prepared to treat you in a trashy way and not treat you in a professional way,’ even though you have distinguished yourself before the courts and in that won an argument on the principle of the constitution,” Dr. Morris said during an interview with the Bahama Journal on Tuesday.
Mr. Turner declined to respond to Dr. Morris’ comments.
Dr. Morris has however further stressed that the fundamental issue is the fact that this is not a criminal matter (at this level).
“We must behave like a country. We cannot go around saying that the United States wants this and that. The United States is right to want what it wants because that is what countries do,” Dr Morris charged.
“But it our duty to ensure that what we give any other country is consistent with our Constitution-There is no law in The Bahamas by which these men are imprisoned. Obeying the law would be to release them. I understand the political implications of this. But again, you have to obey the law.”
The attorneys involved say they are prepared to take the case all the way to the Privy Council, the high court in London.
Meantime, government officials have said that the status quo remains regarding extradition cases.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
