The Labour Division of the High Court in Accra has fixed Tuesday, September 23, 2025, to hear two ex-parte applications filed by eleven West African nationals challenging their detention in Ghana following deportation from the United States.
The applicants are seeking two key reliefs: an interim injunction to halt their deportation to their home countries and a writ of Habeas Corpus, compelling the government to present them before the court and justify the basis for their detention.
At a virtual sitting on Thursday, September 18, Justice Priscilla Dikro said she would require more time to examine the applications before making a ruling. Counsel for the applicants, Oliver Barker-Vormawor, argued that the matter was urgent, stressing that his clients had been unlawfully detained.
According to the defense, President John Dramani Mahama has already announced plans for the detainees’ deportation, a statement confirmed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The interim injunction seeks to restrain that process, while the Habeas Corpus writ requests a formal order directing the government to produce the applicants in court.
The eleven individuals include Nigerians Daniel Osas Aigbosa, Ahmed Animashaun, Ifeanyi Okechukwu, and Taiwo K. Lawson; Liberian national Kalu John; Togolese nationals Zito Yao Bruno and Agouda Richarla Oukpedzo Sikiratou; Gambian national Sidiben Dawda; and Malians Toure Dianke and Boubou Gassama.
They have sued the Attorney-General, the Chief of Defence Staff, and the Comptroller-General of the Ghana Immigration Service at the Human Rights Division of the High Court, insisting their fundamental rights have been violated.
In affidavits supporting their case, the applicants claim they were secretly removed from U.S. detention centers between September 5 and 6, 2025, shackled, and forcibly transported to Ghana without prior notice or explanation.
Upon arrival, they allege, they were handed over to Ghanaian authorities and confined in what they believe to be a military facility without access to due process or judicial oversight.
The applicants argue that their detention breaches Article 14(1) of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, which guarantees personal liberty, as well as Article 23, which protects the right to administrative justice. They further contend that the principle of non-refoulement—which prohibits sending refugees or asylum seekers back to countries where they risk persecution or torture—has been ignored.
Their lawyers noted that at least eight of the applicants had previously been granted “Withholding of Removal” or “Deferral of Removal” under the U.S. Convention Against Torture (CAT) proceedings, which forbids their deportation to their home countries due to the risk of torture, inhumane treatment, or persecution.
The group is therefore asking the High Court to enforce their rights under Article 33(1) of the Constitution and to grant them immediate protection consistent with Ghana’s constitutional and international human rights obligations.
The court will hear the interim applications on September 23, after which the substantive case on the enforcement of their fundamental rights will be considered.
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