Archer Jailed for Three Months for Libel

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Omar Archer, who served as the registrar of contractors under the Free National Movement, has been jailed for three months for intentional libel. 

Archer, 50, was convicted after a trial that was stalled for years while he argued that criminal libel laws violated the constitutional right to freedom of speech.

The Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal rejected the arguments. In August,  the Privy Council said his proposed appeal lacked merit  and no chance of success.

In 2015, Archer posted a woman’s photo on his Facebook page and falsely claimed that she had AIDS and was deliberately infecting others; and  that she had killed her baby and buried the child in a bucket.

Archer did not take the witness stand in his defense, neither did he call any witnesses at his trial before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle-Davis.

Archer had faced a potential maximum sentence of two years’ imprisonment.

He has a pending intentional libel case for claiming in a widely circulated WhatsApp message that National Security Minister Wayne Munroe had beaten his wife.