By P.J. Malone

The petition filed by the Save The Bays Five claiming that their lives are in danger, and that some of them had to flee The Bahamas, has spiraled into, it appears, another national crisis. This is evidently becoming a habit of Fred Smith (Save The Bays attorney and Director) and his cohorts.

This petition to the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) appears to have created a crisis because it puts the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and the country in a seemingly unfounded bad light. The environment that the Save The Bays Five (STB 5) have described as existing in The Bahamas is not recognizable and known to anyone else—at least no one has come forward and attested to this supposed dangerous environment for individuals that speak out in The Bahamas, as the STB 5 have alleged.

So how does one begin to describe the seeming lunacy of individuals—who show themselves not to be in danger and have presented no evidence of being in danger—who compare themselves to real human rights victims who are kidnapped, illegally held as prisoners, tortured, and sometimes murdered in some countries?

It is not that any Bahamians don’t want individuals in fear of their lives in The Bahamas to be protected; it’s simply that there doesn’t appear to be any evidence of that; and, it is not the nature of our fellow Bahamians to behave in such a manner as to threaten the lives of others who speak out. Bahamians jealously guard the right to protest and ‘carry on bad’.

So who are we to believe? A Government that has no history of or no hint of ever threatening the lives of Bahamians who speak out; or, an individual who is constantly attacking the Government, continuously creating havoc working on behalf of an individual with an apparent personal agenda, and has no problem violating the human rights of others? (More on this in the upcoming article.)

Now Fred Smith is attacking the Government of The Bahamas for defending itself against spurious claims. Smith is attacking the Government for questioning the IACHR who issued a resolution “without hearing any factual or legal submissions from the Bahamas, and based solely on the one-sided representations made by the named individuals” — Fred Smith QC, Francisco Nunez, Joseph Darville, Kirkland Bodie and Romauld Ferreria.

Should the Commonwealth of The Bahamas not defend itself from being put in a league alongside countries with Governments that kidnap, torture and murder citizens?

And so what has Fred Smith done in response to the Government’s defense of itself? Fred Smith has filed another report to the IACHR.

In his letter Fred Smith says the Government’s response has made them fearful:

“Unfortunately, the very surprising and most alarming response of the State to the issuance of MC-706-16 has once again raised serious anxiety and fear among human rights defenders in The Bahamas, most particularly the Beneficiaries.”

Fred Smith points to the following in the Government’s Statement as proof that the STB 5 have been “disparaged and condemned” as a result of their petition to the IACHR:

“The Ministry vows to reveal ‘that the allegations presented to the Commission by STB were misrepresented and sensationalized to garner international attention — and disguise the personal motivation behind several of the legal cases they are marshalling before the Bahamian courts.’”

Is Fred Smith suggesting that if the Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas has evidence that will reveal the true motivation of the STB 5, that it should not make that evidence public?

What is Fred Smith thinking?!

Fred Smith misleads the IACHR with this statement:

“The Beneficiaries were accused of ‘sedition’ for having the audacity to apply to the Commission for protection in the first place.”

No Fred Smith. You were not accused of sedition for “having the audacity to apply to the Commission for protection”. People have labeled your act of falsely accusing the Government to achieve your own agenda as possibly seditious. And there is a difference.

Is it not seditious if one is in fact working to destabilize the Government of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas? Is it not seditious if one seeks to embarrass the country without cause? Is it not seditious if one’s sole purpose is to malign the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas with the international bodies?

Bahamians are simply wondering.

Remember, “A ‘seditious intention’ is an intention — (i) to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the person of Her Majesty, Her Heirs or successors, or the Government of The Bahamas as by law established.”

So, Bahamians have a right to think what they like. And, without the evidence of true fear on the part of the STB 5, without a history of such behavior by the Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, without actual evidence of such threats, one can’t help but wonder if these threats claimed by the STB 5 are in fact real.