Ninety’s Extradition Wrong:
By TOSHEENA ROBINSON-BLAIR -
Nassau, Bahamas:
More than a year after alleged drug kingpin Samuel "Ninety" Knowles was extradited to the United States, the Bahamas’ Court of Appeal on Thursday suggested that Fred Mitchell, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, erred when he signed off on the extradition warrant.
"This must not happen again," President of the Court of Appeal Dame Joan Sawyer said.
"It is clear in my mind that the executives must never do what they did in this case again, or a minister may find himself in contempt."
Knowles’ attorney, Roger Minnis, was seeking to have the high court direct Superintendent of Her Majesty’s Prisons Dr. Elliston Rahming to show cause why Knowles should not be released immediately.
At the start of the proceedings, the court’s president said she did not understand what was being appealed, nor did she understand the basis for such an appeal.
"You can’t be asking the superintendent to release somebody who is no longer there," Justice Emmanuel Osadebay said.
Dame Joan added, "The superintendent’s reach doesn’t extend beyond the Bahamas."
The justices walked the counsel through the case he could have made.
Dame Joan suggested that the route the attorney should have pursued was a judicial review proceeding.
She said after the accused was extradited, Mr. Minnis should have asked the courts for a declaration that Knowles’ constitutional rights were infringed upon.
The court president told Mr. Minnis that he could have complained that the executive branch subverted the administration of justice when it caused Knowles to be extradited.
"It’s always a serious thing when executives act while a matter is pending in the courts," she said.
However, Mr. Minnis said he wanted the superintendent to appear before the court and explain why Knowles wasn’t there.
Knowles – who was charged in the United States with conspiracy to possess cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute – had a pending application before Justice John Lyons.
His attorney had argued that he could not receive a fair trial in the United States because President George W. Bush named and shamed him as a "narcotics kingpin."
Knowles was extradited on August 28, 2006, 10 days after Justice Lyons scheduled a Supreme Court hearing for the habeas corpus application to be heard.
According to Dame Joan, then Foreign Affairs Minister Mitchell at the time signed the extradition warrant.
She said Mr. Mitchell had denied doing so in the press.
Following the extradition, Mr. Minnis had asked the Supreme Court to issue an order requesting that his client be brought back to The Bahamas, in order to receive due process.
Justice Lyons denied his request.
"The minister should be in contempt of court, not the superintendent [of prisons]," Dame Joan said.
"The superintendent can’t be in contempt because he was acting in accordance with the law. There is no application to cite the minister for moving the appellant from the jurisdiction while a habeas corpus was before the court."
She said the real issue is whether the government acted "in the gambit of the law, which they purported to act."
"This court neither the Supreme Court should be seen to be rubber stamping anything the executive branch has done," Dame Joan said.
Justice Milton Ganpatsingh was of the view that Knowles had been "denied his protection of the law."
During the proceedings, the Court of Appeal president stressed that she had no sympathy "personally or otherwise" for Knowles. However, she was concerned by the administration of justice and the judiciary.
Although Mr. Minnis moved to amend his grounds of appeal before the court, Garvin Gaskin of the Office of the Attorney General objected on the basis that the court should not be leading counsel on how to proceed with his arguments.
Justices agreed and said they could not allow Mr. Minnis to amend the grounds of appeal at this late date.
Justice Osadebay said it’s now for counsel to consider his next move.
Mr. Minnis told The Bahama Journal that he must first consult with his client.
14 September 2007
