“Ninety” Appeals To Gov’t:
By Candia Dames -
Nassau, Bahamas:
In a letter to the media delivered on Monday, accused drug kingpin Samuel "Ninety" Knowles appealed to the Bahamian government to protect his constitutional rights, but stopped short of asking for an outright push by officials to have him returned to The Bahamas.
"I am asking for the lawful Bahamian government to provide me with the assistance, concern and intervention that is due to all Bahamians under the mighty and upright constitutional law of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, as well as also under all the international treaties that The Bahamas [has] with all respected countries," Knowles says in the letter, which was sent in care of his attorney, Roger Minnis.
Mr. Minnis’ office confirmed Monday afternoon that the letter, which was typewritten and signed "Samuel Knowles", was authentic.
After fighting extradition for six years, Knowles was flown to the United in August 2006 to face drug-related charges.
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 is presently being detained at the Federal Detention Center in Miami, Florida.
"I was extradited to the United States from the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to face specific drug charges in respect to alleged dates, times, places and people involved," his letter says.
"And, this specific information and allegations presented to the governmental officials of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas did cause me to be extradited."
But he claimed U.S. officials "deceived" the Bahamian government into extraditing him.
"Therefore, in the process, my constitutional rights were violated, and continue to be violated for as long as I remain in the custody of the United States of America," Knowles says.
"And, my rights as a citizen of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas were violated under the Treaty, the Extradition Act between the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and the United States. Now, I remain in the United States where my constitutional and citizen rights continue to be violated each and every day that I am allowed, by the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, to remain in this onerous, afflictive and violative custody."
Knowles continues: "I have reached the point where I am compelled to ask and request the Bahamian government to act decisively after inquiring into the cause and validity of my unconstitutional confinement within the United States."
Knowles said he was humbly asking for "the full respect and protection of my inherent and precious rights as a Bahamian citizen."
He insisted that the Extradition Treaty between The Bahamas and the United States was violated "not accidentally, but in a deliberate, cunning and deceptive way that amounts to an unquestionable abuse of the legal processes which act to render that process null and void."
"Therefore, I, and my family…are humbly asking, beseeching the Bahamian authorities to immediately look into my present violative demise and situation while being now held illegally within the violative grasp of the United States," Knowles continues.
In September, the Court of Appeal suggested that Fred Mitchell, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, erred when he signed off on Knowles’ extradition warrant.
"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," Court President Dame Joan Sawyer said at the time.
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.
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.
According to Justice Lyons, even if Knowles were allowed to return to The Bahamas, his application would have failed.
"Were I to accede to this application, it would allow Knowles to carry on with this impossible task. After perhaps another two or three years’ delay, he would have ended up in the same place. I could order his return to the jurisdiction, but in three years after the appeals have been done, he would be back in Miami," the Supreme Court Justice said.
Knowles had been fighting two extradition requests.
The first was made on March 26, 2001 months after a federal grand jury in the United States indicted him and others on counts of conspiracy to possess cocaine and marijuana with the intent to distribute and conspiracy to import the same drugs in the United States between November 11, 1997 and December 8, 2000.
The second request was made on February 6, 2002. It charged Knowles and others with counts of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the United States between June 1995 and 1997.
9 October 2007
