Extradition hearings proceed against accused drug dealer
This morning a crowd gathered at Belize City’s Magistrate Court as an accused drug dealer prepared to defend himself against extradition to the United States. Family and friends of thirty-seven year old Mark Seawell held up placards to show their support for their loved one and called for his release. Appearing on behalf of the United States government was Solicitor General Edwin Flowers and crown counsel Bryan Neal. The attorneys are using ten allegations of drug trafficking, money laundering, and intent to import drugs into the United States between 1997 and 1998 as grounds for the extradition. After citing those reasons, this morning Flowers asked for an adjournment so as to review the evidence contained in the sizeable file. Seawell’s attorney Dickie Bradley agreed but made known his concern that his client might be kidnapped from the country in the same fashion as George Herbert and Liston McCord in 2003. To that the Solicitor General responded that there was no move to “spirit Mr. Seawell out of the country.” But outside, Seawell’s relatives weren’t convinced.
Eleanor Enriquez, Cousin of Mark Seawell
“Today is the second week that he was in jail and just until yesterday we had formal visits. The visits are arranged at three times a week and we believe that is unfair to us. If they want to extradite him, we won’t be able to see him anymore. So at least while he is in the country we want to see him and I think that is his right and our right. … They don’t say anything to us, they just tell us that he cannot have visits and he is in sanction and I don’t understand why as he went to prison he was placed in sanction.”
“We don’t want anybody to believe that Mark is going to America willingly, it has to take its course through the court. So we don’t want anybody at the end of that day to saw that Mark was taken from the prison and sent to the United States and he agreed and so on. I want you to know that he is not agreeing to this at all, he wants to take his proper course through the court.”
Chief Magistrate Margaret Gabb has set the next court date for April third. When we contacted prison C.E.O. Marlon Skeen this afternoon, he told News Five that Seawell is incarcerated in the Super Max section of the prison because that’s where high risk persons are housed. Skeen went on to say that super max has its own set of rules and regulations, which are very restrictive, but if officials determine a lessening in the risk factor, those measures are relaxed and in time the prisoner may even be transferred to another area of the facility. Regardless of the restrictions for family members, Skeen maintained that as is his constitutional right, Seawell’s lawyer always has access to his client.
