‘The New Force’ spokesperson re-arrested

Belgian and spokesperson for “The New Force,” was yesterday re-arrested on the premises of the Kaneshie District Court. 

Shalimar Abbiusi was on Monday, December 11, granted bail in the sum of GH¢20,000 with two sureties after pleading not guilty to obtaining a student permit by false declaration.

Charges withdrawn

However, when the case was called for hearing yesterday at the court presided over by Nana Abena Asor Owusu Amenyo, the prosecution led by Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (CI), Adolf Aboagye Asenso, withdrew the charges filed against the spokesperson of the new political group that had started advertising itself with billboards and social media messages.

The court, therefore, struck out the case as withdrawn. 

Re-arrest

However, shortly after she was discharged by the court, Abbiusi was re-arrested and whisked away in an immigration-branded van, with armed security officers, causing her mother to break down in uncontrollable tears.

Meanwhile counsel for the spokesperson, Francis-Xavier Sosu, told journalists after the proceedings that they had filed applications at the Human Rights Division of the High Court against the state for violating his client’s rights.

“This should not be tolerated in any democracy,” Mr Sosu said in his reaction to the re-arrest.

He added that the personal belongings of his clients were still with the National Investigation Bureau.

Abbiusi was first arraigned in December this year. 

According to the prosecution, Abbiusi was arrested upon an invitation by the Head of the National Enforcement Section of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) concerning her immigration status in the country.

The prosecution said the GIS’s attention was drawn to the activities of the accused on social media.

It added that Abbiusi was found in some short video in circulation introducing the emergence of a new political grouping described as “The New Force”.

The prosecution said Abbiusi introduced herself as a spokesperson for the group.

Prosecutors told the court that investigations revealed that the accused person first came to Ghana on September 4, 2017, through the Kotoka International Airport and had since been a regular visitor to the country until 2018 when she became a resident following her supposed admission to the Ghana University College.

According to them, they said checks from the college revealed that she had never been a student, adding that documents purportedly issued by the college to support her application for a residence permit were allegedly forged.