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 Rights groups demand truth
AT LEAST two human-rights organisations and a fringe political party have demanded a full enquiry into the ongoing operations of the security forces in west Kingston.
Police yesterday confirmed that at least 73 people have been killed by a police-military team mainly in Tivoli Gardens following gunfights between criminals and the lawmen.
However, with only six guns recovered and the security forces appearing to have been secretly attempting to bury bodies, questions have been raised about the level of deadly force and the legitimacy of aspects of the operation
TAmnesty International yesterday called for a thorough investigation into the operations, noting that "while the Jamaican police have a duty to maintain law and order, the attribution of extraordinary powers to the security forces may lead to human-rights violations".
"The human-rights record of the police force in Jamaica is dire. Every year the police are responsible for a high number of killings. Evidence indicates that many of these killings are unlawful," said Kerrie Howard, deputy director of Amnesty International's Americas programme.
Amnesty International said that "only an impartial and thorough investigation of every death or injury caused by the use of force will enable the facts to be established regarding possible unlawful killings or extrajudiciary executions".
Similarly, Yvonne McCalla Sobers of rights group Families Against State Terrorism said it was incumbent on Prime Minister Bruce Golding to ensure that absence of transparency does not fuel concerns of a cover-up.
Meanwhile, the National Democratic Movement (NDM) said the incursion into Tivoli Gardens "seems to be now emerging as a massacre".
In a statement yesterday, the NDM said it was "concerned that the military operation carried out from Sunday night to now may have been inappropriately executed and should have been done in a more precise and surgical manner".
The party, of which Golding was its first leader, said, "(He should) break his silence and account personally to the people of his constituency, the country and to those who are paying keen attention both locally and international."
Tom Tavares-Finson, a government senator and former counsel for Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, who the security forces were seeking to capture, had warned more than a week ago that extradition proceedings against Coke should not be used as "an excuse to go into Tivoli Gardens and murder innocent people".
(2010-05-28/Jamaica Gleaner )
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