Court strikes out 11 deportees’ case against Ghana after their removal
The group, comprising four Nigerians, three Togolese, two Malians, one Gambian, and one Liberian, had sought to challenge what they described as unlawful detention in Ghana.
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An Accra High Court has struck out a human rights suit filed by eleven West African nationals after it emerged that the applicants had already been deported over the weekend.
The group, comprising four Nigerians, three Togolese, two Malians, one Gambian, and one Liberian, had sought to challenge what they described as unlawful detention in Ghana. They had also filed:
an injunction to halt their repatriation, and
a habeas corpus application compelling the state to produce them before the court.
When the case was called on Tuesday, September 23, the presiding judge, Justice Priscilla Ofori, directed that the Attorney General, the Chief of Defence Staff, and the Comptroller-General of Immigration be placed on notice, given the national and international implications.
But lead counsel Oliver Barker-Vormawor informed the court that both applications had become moot since the deportations had already taken place.
Justice Ofori expressed displeasure that the deportations proceeded while the case was pending. She, however, granted the request to withdraw the motions and formally struck out the case.
Barker-Vormawor further urged the judiciary to treat similar urgent cases with greater sensitivity, warning that delayed action risks undermining justice, especially with more refugee seekers expected under an agreement between Ghana and the United States.
