A private legal practitioner, Godwin Adjei-Gyamfi, has advised government to ensure rights of the two ex-detainees of Guantanamo Bay, who have been transferred to Ghana, are not infringed upon, since that may open the country up to legal suits.
The lawyer, who is also host of legal programme “Point of Law” on Class91.3fm cited Ghana’s constitution, saying the detainees are at liberty to enjoy the same human rights that every Ghanaian is entitled to.
“We should tread very carefully in relation to these two detainees. Our constitution talks about any persons, it does not matter if one is a Ghanaian citizen or not, to enjoy the protection of our laws and also under our constitution. Therefore, once on our soil, they enjoy the benefits of our human rights provisions and if we restrict or try to restrict their human rights, they will have legal rights to sue the government of Ghana, thereby using our own laws against us.”
According to the government of Ghana, the two Yemeni citizens: Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby, who have been temporarily relocated to Ghana, will have limited movements within the country and would be under surveillance at all times.
A section of Ghanaians, including opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo, have called on government to return them to their country because they pose a security threat, but government has allayed such fears, insisting they do not pose a security threat to the country.
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