Some Civil Society Organizations have expressed concern about the apparent resurrection of the criminal libel regime, through a series of recent arrests and prosecution for statements made in the media.
According to them, they are deeply troubled by the growing use of
judicial power of to punish speech that allegedly damages the reputation of persons.
In a statement, the CSO’s which include Ghana Center for Democratic
Development (CDD-Ghana), IMANI
Africa and Africa Center for International Law & Accountability (ACILA) noted that the case of Mr. Mensah Thompson exemplifies the use of criminal libel law.
The Executive Director of the Alliance For Social Equity and Public Accountability
(ASEPA), Mr. Mensah Thompson, is
being prosecuted on a charge of
publication of false news for making a Facebook post.
He alleged that certain relatives of the President traveled to UK on the official presidential jet for shopping during the
Christmas season.
He was later arrested for his comments.
The CSO’s came to Mr. Mensah’s defence saying that ” Mr. Thompson publicly
retracted the allegation and
apologized to the Ghana Armed
Forces”.
They suggested that instead of the current arrests and prosecutions, “our legal system provides noncriminal or civil avenues for dealing with uses of free speech that injure or infringe on the rights of others.”
“The law provides offending parties the prospect of avoiding even civil liability by retracting the offending publication and
rendering appropriate apology to the
injured or offended party”, they added.
ACILA, CDD-Ghana and Imani Africa concluded that “the criminal law is fraught with the danger of politicization and selective prosecution”
They further implored the Attorney-General to discontinue the prosecution of Mr.
Thompson and take steps to stop all
persons acting under his authority
from re-introducing in another guise
the long-discredited and abolished
criminal libel regime.
