Attorney at Law Dexter Todd has been retained to represent local singer, Daniel Wharton who was remanded to prison last week on a single charge of blasphemous libel by Magistrate Judy Latchman.
Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton confirmed this, saying that the attorney has already started working on the case.
A Partnership for National Unity in a press statement on Sunday said it was outraged over the court’s decision to remand Wharton, whose stage name is “Baby Skello” to prison.
The Partnership said in the interest of justice and democracy it called for Wharton’s immediate release. The APNU has said it does not condone or encourage acts of expression that willfully offend or insult any group of Guyanese based on their religious belief.
Further, the Partnership said the singer has since apoloigsed but the decision to remand him to prison is disproportionate and threatens basic freedoms as it encouraged Guyanese to raise their voices in condemnation.
Meanwhile, the Alliance for Change (AFC) has called for the National Assembly to repeal the archaic and incompatible offence of blasphemous libel from the country’s law books.
The party said the colonial-era law stands in direct contradiction to Article 146 of the Constitution, International human rights obligations, including Guyana’s commitments under the international convention on Civil and political rights obligations, including Guyana’s commitments under the international Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Guyana is a state party.
The AFC said blasphemous libel laws, by their very nature, criminalize expressions of religious critique or dissent and pose a chilling effect on free speech and open discourse in a democratic society.
The statement said countries around the Commonwealth and beyond – such as the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland – have recognized the untenability of blasphemy laws in modern democracies and have acted decisively to abolish them. Guyana the AFC says must do the same.