Court throws out deportees’ rights case after removal from Ghana
An Accra High Court has struck out a human rights case filed by eleven West African nationals against the government after it emerged that the applicants had already been deported to their home countries.
The deportees, four Nigerians, three Togolese, two Malians, one Gambian and one Liberian, had sought to challenge what they described as unlawful detention in Ghana.
They also filed an injunction to prevent their repatriation and a habeas corpus application to compel the state to produce them before the court.
When the case was called on Tuesday, 23 September, presiding judge Justice Priscilla Ofori directed that the Attorney General, the Chief of Defence Staff and the Comptroller-General of Immigration be put on notice, citing the matter’s national and international implications.
However, lead counsel for the deportees, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, informed the court that both applications had become moot since his clients were deported over the weekend.
He said the urgency of the case was lost when the court declined to grant interim relief last week to stop their removal.
“We had before the court two applications, one for a writ of habeas corpus and the other for an interim injunction preventing repatriation. Unfortunately, the court adjourned the matter to this morning without granting interim relief. Over the weekend, the applicants were deported, and as such, our applications have become moot. This is precisely the injury we sought to prevent,” Mr Barker-Vormawor told the court.
He further urged the judiciary to treat such urgent applications with greater sensitivity, warning that failure to act decisively could undermine justice in similar cases, especially as more refugee seekers are expected in Ghana under an agreement with the United States.
Justice Ofori expressed dissatisfaction that the deportation took place while the case was pending but granted the request to withdraw the motions, subsequently striking out the suit.
