By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

ALTHOUGH immigration officials are still examining Amnesty International’s 2015 report into the state of human rights in this country, Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell said the organisation appears to have uncritically accepted allegations of abuse.

In a report released on Wednesday, Amnesty International raised concern about “excessive force” and “killings” at the hands of police officers and highlighted problems in this country’s criminal justice and immigration systems.

The annual report also covers human rights injustices in countries around the world.

In a statement to The Tribune yesterday, however, Mr Mitchell said: “(The report) is being examined by the ministry’s officials and taken seriously. At first blush, however, with the one example that has been used of a migrant who was injured during an operation in Eleuthera, it sounds like the usual pablum spun by the detractors of the Immigration Department ... but it seems to have been accepted uncritically by Amnesty.

“Nevertheless, a studied effort will be made to have a look at what it says in its entirety and we will respond appropriately if warranted.”

The Eleuthera incident involved 27-year-old Jean-Mary Justilien being shot by an officer during an immigration exercise in early June of last year.

The man was later airlifted to Princess Margaret Hospital.

He was then taken into custody on suspicion of assaulting a police officer and an immigration officer as they executed their duties. He was later cleared of the charges, but was deported from the country.

Police have said the shooting was accidental.

Amnesty’s report came against the backdrop of questions once again being raised about detention practices of the Bahamian government, with controversy erupting after two Cuban prisoners were released last week on a judge’s order after they were unlawfully detained for three years.

In its report, Amnesty said that in 2015 there were “allegations of arbitrary arrests and abuses against migrants,” adding that “impunity for allegations of police abuses remained the norm”.