Bar Association warns against abuse of rights

The Jamaican Bar Association (JBA) has called on the Government to direct the security forces to show regard for the lives and freedom of all Jamaicans while carrying out their operations during the state of emergency.

The JBA also urged the Government to ensure that the unrest in sections of the Corporate Area is not used to permanently curtail the right of every Jamaican to individual liberty and to a fair hearing "as defined and stipulated in our Constitution".

In a statement issued by its president, Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, yesterday, the association warned that the state of emergency should not be extended to other areas without careful assessment and justification.

The Government imposed a state of emergency limited to Kingston and St Andrew on May 23 after unrest broke out in sections of the Corporate Area amid attempts by the police to capture alleged crime lord Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

South Central St Catherine Member of Parliament Sharon Hay-Webster has called for the state of emergency to be extended to blood-drenched St Catherine, but the Government has said it would be guided by the security forces.

Meanwhile, the JBA cautioned members of parliament not to rush through the six anti-crime bills now before Parliament.

According to the Bar Associa-tion, the proposed pieces of legislation "relate not only to the immediate and extraordinarily special circumstances we now face, but also impact on the consti-tutional rights of citizens and have possible long-term negative implications for our democracy".

"Additionally, any changes in the law affecting citizens' rights must be an integral part of the process of overhauling the legal/judicial system," the statement said.