Convicted drug kingpin Samuel “Ninety” Knowles is suing the Bahamian government for $70 million in damages.
Knowles in a pro se motion, made without a lawyer, claimed that he experienced “emotional, mental torture” as a result of his early extradition to the United States almost ten years ago. The claims which were filed on December 28, 2015, were filed in a court in Miami, Florida.
Knowles who is currently being held at the Federal Correctional Institution in North Carolina claims there was “abuse of authority, political interference and abandonment” by
Prime Minister Perry Christie, former and then National Security Minister Cynthia “Mother” Pratt, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson, Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell, then Prison Superintendent Elliston Rahming and then Deputy Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson.
According to Knowles, Mr. Mitchell and Mrs. Maynard-Gibson “evaded the Constitution and bypassed the court” by surrendering him to US authorities for extradition early on August 28th, 2006 despite the fact that he was scheduled to appear for habeas corpus hearing one month later.
Knowles claimed that as a result of his time in the United States he has gone blind in his right eye and claims it may not have happened if he had been kept in The Bahamas.
“So everything that has happened to me after the Bahamas; the Bahamian government is responsible for my pain and suffering in this jurisdiction by surrendering me prematurely to the United States jurisdiction,” Knowles said.
He went on to say that his constitutional rights under the Treaties and International Law and Universal Declaration of Human Rights Freedom and Liberty Provision were violated.
The government surrendered Knowles to US authorities on August 28th,2006. According to the United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, Knowles is alleged to have been a participant from 1995 to 1996 in a conspiracy to import several thousand kilograms of cocaine into the United States, using go-fast boats.
