The Political Leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP) Harold Lovell is both alarmed and outraged by threats made against social media activist J-Truth yesterday, August 24.
Fans and others say they were shocked during Truth’s live feed, when a person calling himself “Jhon Jaider Almarales” accosted the host and made a reference to a “gun man” coming for him.
A second post was even more threatening and, as some describe it, “callous.” This time, the unknown person discredited the protection of God, stating, “The custom officer thought God had him [too] … we know how that went.”
“With an obvious reference to the murder of Nigel Christian, and considering the shooting of Cornell Benjamin before that, this is not something to be laughed off casually,” Lovell says.
He cites the amended Electronic Crimes Act, which makes it an offence to send “an electronic mail or an electronic message for the purpose of causing annoyance, insult, intimidation, enmity or hatred.”
“This needs to be taken seriously by the Police,” Lovell warns. “People are living in enough fear already.”
Some FaceBook users say the name used in the posts is a fake, while the person’s IP address is believed by some to originate in Colombia.
Others insist that the person issuing the threats is right here, on island, but that he has obscured his location electronically.
The “gun man” reference was described in political party terms, but readers suspect that was a deliberate tactic meant to stop Truth’s commentary.
Lovell calls the political reference a “low blow” and says it was meant to “colour the response to a totally disgraceful act.” He adds that the threat was also “very callous and showed no regard for Christian’s still-grieving family.”
The UPP Political leader has been a guest on Truth’s live show and has a word of advice for the influential young man: “Be careful, but don’t be fearful. Some people find truth, itself, to be threatening,” he says.
