Controversy in The Bahamas
The Grand Bahama Human Rights Association (GBHRA) is calling for the immediate release two young singers it says have been detained in connection with a controversial song making the rounds on social media.
“We strongly urge the police to recognize that they should not interfere in matters of freedom of expression and that seeking to charge these men with criminal libel is an anti-democratic and reactionary response which has absolutely no place in a modern society,” the human rights group said in a statement.
The controversial expletive-filled song about Prime Minister Perry Christie went viral last week, and the police arrested the two singers last Thursday before releasing them 24 hours later “pending further investigation”.
The GBHRA acknowledges that while the lyrics of the song are “indeed shocking, offensive and derogatory…that is not enough to justify interference with the right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by the Bahamas Constitution – much less deprive the singers of their liberty.
“Once again, we warn the authorities that the world is watching. The Commissioner of Police must ask himself what sort of country The Bahamas would like to portray itself as to the international community.”
The GBHRA warned the authorities against having the Bahamas classified with “those dictatorships and authoritarian regimes that prosecute singers for their lyrics, writers for the words they use, or artists for the content of their work.“
