Responding to questions yesterday from Opposition MP Dr Peter Phillips about the slow pace of the extradition request for west Kingston strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, Golding charged that the press and the Opposition had the "privilege of disregarding the laws" of the land.

"The writers of editorials can be excused if they take positions in ignorance, and I assume that they would not have access to the facts, nor would they be intimately familiar with the procedures that must be followed," he said.

Continuing his broadside against the Opposition and the press, Golding said both groups could take positions "without being seized of the facts, and even if they are seized of the facts, they have the privilege of disregarding the laws of the country which we passed in Parliament", to resounding applause from Government members.

Contrasting Justice Minister Dorothy Lightbourne's duty with the two groups he criticised, Golding said: "The minister of justice enjoys no such privilege, she must uphold the laws of the country. The laws must be observed and that is all that the minister is seeking to do."

The press has written editorials addressing national issues as well as matters relating to the extradition request for Christopher Coke.