Gitmo 2 living in Ghana illegally – Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has ruled that the two GITMO detainees accepted by the John Mahama led administration are living illegally in Ghana.

A seven-member Supreme Court panel presided over by Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo by six to one (6 -1) majority decision said the two in the country are illegal since the then government allowed them into the country without prior approval by Parliament.

Margaret Bamful and Henry Nana Boakye last year sued the Attorney General and Minister of Justice as well as the Minister of Interior, accusing government of illegally bringing in the two former Gitmo detainees, without recourse to the laws of the land.

The two plaintiffs were therefore seeking a true and proper interpretation of Article 75 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. The applicants claim that the President of the Republic of Ghana acted unconstitutionally by agreeing to the transfer of Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef and Khalid Muhammad Salih Al-Dhuby to Ghana.

Two Guantanamo bay detainees, Atef and Al-Dhuby had been in detention for 14 years by the United States after being linked with the terrorist group Al-Qaeda.

The Supreme court said the agreement reached by the government of Ghana and the United States was one that falls directly under the purview of the provisions of Article 75 of the 1992 constitution and the then government ought to have sought parliamentary approval before the two detainees were admitted into the country.