She said the extraditions were “a tremendous injustice that our press and other leaders have not addressed.”
Ms Russell runs a marketing firm named Island Promotions International, and writes frequent letters to the newspapers. She was protesting “the illegality and the manner in which citizens are being held, without charges that exist in our law. Without any time limits.”
She was apparently referring to the ongoing extradition cases for several Bahamians who are wanted by the United States, including five men currently being heard by Magistrate Carolita Bethel on drug charges.
The accused are Austin Knowles Jr, 39; Edson Watson, 35; Shawn Corey Saunders, 33; Nathaniel Knowles, 28; and police constable Ian Bethel, 34.
They have been held at Fox Hill Prison since December 2001.
Ms. Russell said she had no direct connection to any of the men, but was lobbying because she feels they have been unjustly treated. She described her protest as a “contribution to the community.”
She said it was against the law to hold people indefinitely, charging that Americans “have extended their jurisdiction without the protection of their constitution.”
She referred to attorney Nigel Bowe, who unsuccessfully fought extradition proceedings for years, but was finally imprisoned in the United States on drug conspiracy charges.
“I want to see the justice system do what it is fully equipped to do. We are protected by a constitution. We are a sovereign nation and not a satellite state of America.”
Article 19 (1) of the Bahamas constitution states that “no person shall be deprived of his personal liberty save as may be authorised by law…for the purpose of preventing the unlawful entry of that person into The Bahamas or for the purpose of effecting the expulsion, extradition or other lawful removal from The Bahamas of that person or the taking of proceedings relating thereto.”
By Jimenita Swain, The Nassau Guardian
