Protection Act, claiming it is sexist, therefore goes against the Human Rights Act and Constitution.

Mr. Delroy Duncan is representing Mr. Chester Aitken, a non-Bermudian, and his Bermudian wife Carla, who this week launched a lawsuit against a decision taken by Labour Minister the Hon. J. Irving Pearman.

They are protesting the Minister's refusal to renew Mr. Aitken's work permit after he was convicted of three criminal offences.

The Minister had ordered Mr. Aitken to leave the Island by December 31. But Mr. Duncan managed to get a judge to agree to a stay until the matter was resolved in Supreme Court later this year.

Mr. Duncan told The Royal Gazette that, under the current Immigration and Protection Act, had it been Mr. Aitken's wife who was non-Bermudian and had committed the offences, the Minister would not have had the power to kick her off the Island.

"It is a case of sexual discrimination,'' the lawyer claimed.

Under the Act, he said, greater protection was given to Bermudian men and their non-Bermudian spouses, than to non-Bermudian men and their Bermudian spouses.

Mr. Duncan said the offences his client committed were minor.

He added it may be the first time that section of the Act was being challenged on the grounds of sexual discrimination.

Mr. Delroy Duncan.