When Douglas Payne of the US-based Center For Strategic International Studies, researched his Report into the Failings of Governance in Antigua and Barbuda as long ago as 1999, he must have wished like many of his readers that his genuine academic work would have raised awareness of the damage being done to the country's economy, standing and reputation.
His work was not malicious but educational, even hopeful.
The Report especially drew attention to three aspects of Antigua &Barbuda: press freedom, manipulation of the legal system and vote rigging.
Five years later we were encouraged to believe and support a new beginning for Antigua & Barbuda.
Hope beamed for the Government in the Sunshine.
Expectations were reasonable and feasible.
The World Bank and the IMF stood poised to properly help. Stanford could have been expelled and jailed before he caused misery to so many more people who lost their life savings. Half Moon Bay Resort could have been returned to its flagship status supported as it was by MIGA and the IFC, investment arms of the World Bank.
Sadly, though, for the people of Antigua & Barbuda, a few individuals who claimed supreme power chose not to embrace these new standards of transparency, integrity and, above all, honesty.
Others, quite simply, had finally reached their ambition of positioning their noses in the trough.
Coddled by the longstanding aura of malgovernance, some of which has been amplified from heritage elsewhere in the Caribbean, these new Pillars of the Community condemned Antigua & Barbuda back to the dark ages of press censorship, abuse of power and a dearth of inward investment.
Fast forward to 2012 and to Ian "Magic" Hughes.
Hughes is a reliable, competent investigative journalist, whose "mistake" was to speak openly on the corruption that dominates the scandal surrounding the "new" Wadidli Power Plant built by the Government of China.
Instead of a sound democratic government typically mobilising its PR machine, to expose the "real truth," worthy of Blair "dodgy dossier" status, Magic suddenly found himself monstrously vilified by a cooked-up allegation of "indecent assault" on a minor.
The fact that the teen is a Policewoman's daughter and a possible accomplice seems to have conveniently escaped the notice of the Authorities in their desperate clamour for "justice."
It is also known that the very same Policewoman has previously filed a similar action against another public figure.
Since the allegation was first made in mid-June 2012, Hughes has been incarcerated twice, once for 48 hours, and once for nine days.
The official charge levied against him has been changed from "indecent assault" to "serious indecency", elevating the alleged case against him from a civil to a criminal matter. However, neither of these charges has been brought, let alone substantiated, no evidence has been offered.
In fact, Magic has never officially been charged with any offence at all.
The very first step in the legal process, a committal hearing, was scheduled for earlier this month after being adjourned twice between June and December by request of the prosecutor in order to "give the Police more time to build the case against him," apparently quite literally so.
The latest outrage in this legal farce occurred last week when, after arriving in Court at the appointed time, Magic was told that the Magistrate's contract has not been renewed; that there was no indication as to who would be assigned to the position or when, and that all cases scheduled for hearing were now adjourned indefinitely.
Meanwhile, with the inevitable shrinking of earnings that accompany living on remand, a new order has been filed for Hughes' arrest and incarceration for failure to pay the full amount of child support levied against him,
One way or another, Magic has been placed in jeopardy by the Powers he spoke out against. And the status quo has now been established with no end in sight.
Returning to Payne almost 14 years on, Antigua & Barbuda today presents further evidence of persecution of journalists and a ubiquitous corruption within its legal system.
In the UK some media organisations, especially those led by the Murdoch regime, are rightly under extreme scrutiny because of phone hacking scandals, police bribery and unscrupulous, reckless journalism.
However, their treatment is likely to be lightweight.
Magic has already endured imprisonment, reputational damage, humiliation and severe personal financial and psychological harm.
The ongoing ordeal that is likely to escalate without public outcry can cause irreparable damage to this fine spirit and represents real, imminent danger to a brave man's life.
For a country trying to survive the expropriation of overseas private investors' property, the Stanford debacle, bank failures, the Chief Financial Regulator's corruption and with a history of money laundering, arms smuggling and narcotics trafficking, the Ian "Magic" Hughes persecution is A Bridge Too Far, even by Antigua & Barbuda's depraved standards.
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