Court of Appeal grants bail to jailed NDC Organiser
The Court of Appeal has granted bail to Mohammed Ibrahim, the Sowutuom Branch Organiser of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), who was sentenced to four years in prison for threatening to kill citizens during the December 7, 2024 elections.
A three-member panel, presided over by Justice Senyo Dzamefe, granted Ibrahim bail in the sum of GH¢100,000 with one surety pending appeal.
The court held that there was an error on the face of the record, leading to the decision to grant bail.
The court ordered the appellant to report to the Regional Crime Officer every two weeks. Ibrahim’s appeal was earlier turned down at the High Court when he filed for bail pending appeal.
The appellant’s lawyer, Nii Kpakpo Samuah Addo, proceeded to the Court of Appeal to appeal against the sentence.
Ibrahim was sentenced last year to four years imprisonment by an Accra Circuit Court after he was found guilty on the charges of publication of false news with an intent to cause fear and alarm, threat of harm and offensive conduct to breach the peace.
He was sentenced to three years imprisonment on the charge of publication of false news with an intent to cause harm, four years on the charge of threat of harm and three years for offensive conduct.
Sentences were to run concurrently.
Brief facts
The prosecution’s case was that Ibrahim identified himself as the leader of a revolutionary group known as Ka na wu, literally meaning “Speak and die” in the Twi language.
On September 3, 2024, the Ghana Police Service’s attention was drawn to a video of Ibrahim on social media platforms: Facebook, X and Tik Tok in which Ibrahim was wearing a red military beret.
He was saying that the Ghana Police Service in the Ashanti Region, under the direction of the Inspector General of Police, Dr George Akuffo Dampare and the then Minister of the Interior,
Henry Quartey, were recruiting fake police personnel to kill citizens during the December 7 elections.
Ibrahim stated that he and his cohorts knew where the minister lived and that in the outbreak of war in Ghana, “they will shoot him.”
Ibrahim also threatened to unleash violence during the elections.
On September 10, 2024, the police declared Ibrahim wanted leading to his arrest.
A search was conducted in his residence at Sowutuom which led to the retrieval of the red beret he wore in the viral video. — GNA
