Persecution of Rastafari
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Persecution of members of the
The first Rastafari to appear in a court was
By the 1950s, Rastafari's message of pride and unity had unnerved the ruling class of Jamaica. In 1954, the Pinnacle commune was destroyed by Jamaican authorities.
In 1963, following a violent confrontation between Rastafarians and Jamaican police forces at a gas station, the Jamaican government issued the police and military an order to "bring in all Rastas, dead or alive", resulting in mass arrests, with many of those arrested tortured or killed in what would be known as the Coral Gardens incident.[2]
Attitudes began to change when
According to many Rastas, the
In 1998,
On January 2, 1991, at an international airport in his homeland of Guam, Ras Iyah Ben Makahna (Benny Guerrero) was arrested for possession and importation of marijuana and seeds. He was charged with importation of a controlled substance. The case was heard by the US 9th Circuit Court November 2001, and in May 2002 the court had decided that the practice of Rastafari sanctions the smoking of marijuana, but nowhere does the religion sanction the importation of marijuana. Guerrero's lawyer Graham Boyd pointed out that the court's ruling was "equivalent to saying wine is a necessary sacrament for some Christians but you have to grow your own grapes."[7]
In July 2008, however, the
In 2009, Rasta Doug Darrell was arrested after a National Guard helicopter flying over his New Hampshire home found he was growing 15 marijuana plants in his backyard. In a subsequent trial in September 2012, Darrell was found "not guilty" by twelve jurors exercising the right of jury nullification.[9]
Sacramental use of cannabis in celebration of the Rastafari faith became legal in Jamaica on April 15, 2015.
See also
References
- The Jamaica Observer. Archived from the originalon 16 March 2008. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
- ^ Campbell, Horace G. Coral Gardens 1963: The Rastafari and Jamaican Independence,Social and Economic Studies; Mona Vol. 63, Iss. 1, (2014): 197-214,234.
- ^ Edmonds, p. 61
- ^ Chanting Down Babylon, p. 354.
- ISBN 9781452266282.
- ^ [2002] Cr. App. R. 37
- ^ Case No. 00-71247 United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
- ^ Stewart, Phil (July 10, 2008). "Rasta pot smokers win legal leeway in Italy". Reuters. Retrieved 2010-02-01.
- ^ "Doug Darrell Acquitted of Marijuana Charges Through Jury Nullification in New Hampshire". The Huffington Post. September 17, 2012.