Belmopan, Belize 29 October (Belizean.com) Rapper Jamal "Shyne" Barrow arrived in Belize at 2:40 pm local time Thursday evening October 28 on a Continental flight from Houston escorted by a U.S. Marshall following his deportation from the U.S. after serving almost nine years in a New York penitentiary for his role in a nightclub shooting in New York city.The rapper was processed by local police authorities at the airport's V.I.P. lounge after which he was welcomed by his father Dean Barrow, Prime Minister of Belize, his mother Imeon Myvett and other members of his family and well wishers.
Shyne arrived wearing a Harvard Law School sweatshirt, a full head of hair, headphones wrapped around his neck and sporting tzitzis reflecting his conversion to Judaism while in jail. The Rapper born Jamal Barrow has relayed through his handlers that while Shyne is his stage name he would like to be called Moses Michael Leviy to reflect his conversion to Judaism..
The government closed down the airport's public waving gallery and attempted to prevent the local media from covering his arrival but enterprising T.V. cameramen managed to get some footage through a chain link fence of Shyne entering the V.I.P. lounge and later exiting the airport.
The rapper, contrary to previous reports, was not accompanied on the trip by Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree who is trying to obtain a pardon to allow Shyne to get back to the U.S.A. One local radio stattion reported that Ogletree will visit Belize on Saturday and make a statement to the media.
Shyne's uncle Michael Finnegan current Minister of Housing, told reporters that:
"Shyne is home. He wants to say how happy he is to be home and to be a free man. He would love to have a conversation with the media but because he was legally advised by Professor Ogletree, he must not speak to the media because he doesn't want to prejudice his situation with the US government or with the Belize government. So he asked me to ask you that he does not want to disrespect you the media, but please to understand what is going on. You could see the tears in his eyes as they hugged and the romantic situation in there especially with his Grandmother and with his father, with his younger brother Anwar, they hugged and did not want to let go of each other."
Shyne's uncle added:
"His residence at my place is two weeks away from completion so he has rented a complete floor at the Radisson Fort George Hotel. So every room on a floor was taken by him whether he will use it or not. He said that after going through the eight and a half years he has gone through, he needs some privacy, he needs not to be around anybody, he needs just to sit down in isolation and contemplate his life. And I think that we need to respect that. If you notice, he has lost an extreme amount of weight."
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