Chaining 104 deportees 'like animals' despicable - Lawyer

The chaining of 104 deportees from the US to Accra “like animals” is condemnable, human rights lawyer Francis-Xavier Sosu has said.

“You can’t treat human beings as animal. … It is completely wrong and must be condemned in no uncertain terms,” Mr. Sosu told Emefa Apawu on Class91.3FM’s 505 news programme on Wednesay, 2 October.

“ … Clearly they were violated. … People alleged to have infringed on immigration laws have a right to be heard in an immigration court and they have a right to be represented by a lawyer … and they are brought back as regular people. …The deportation order does not include chaining people and treated them like animals,” he said.

The 104 deportees refused to disembark from the plane that transported them to Accra describing as inhumane, the treatment meted out to them by US authorities.

The deportees, made up of 54 Ghanaians and 50 Liberians, embarked on the action to express their displeasure over the treatment.

They claimed the US officials were being hypocritical in their deportation as they were not treated with dignity while on board the plane en route to Accra.

Some of them, who spoke to Class 91.3FM’s Atiewin Mbillah in an interview at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra said although their deportation had nothing to do with criminal issues but immigration challenges, they were handcuffed and treated as criminals by the US authorities in the US state of Louisiana and even while on board the plane.

According to them, when they reached the airport, the authorities attempted to take off the handcuffs to create the impression that they were treated with respect, an act they thought was hypocritical.

One of the deportees said: “They (US authorities) handcuffed us, they handcuffed us before we boarded the plane. That is why we say we are not getting down unless they allow us to get down with the handcuffs for everybody to see how they have been treating us. That is why we said no, we are not getting down… They called some immigration officers (at the airport) to come and talk to us but we said no we want to come down with the handcuffs on and so they said we should come down. They handcuffed us in the United States. My waist, hands and my legs were all cuffed. Both legs [were cuffed], so you cannot even walk, you cannot eat, you cannot do anything.”

Another deportee narrated: “We have been handcuffed from Monday to today, a lot of people here (Kotoka Airport) today saw it. If you think I am lying you can ask the people around. If you want to urinate you struggle in the handcuff before passing urine.”

Another disgruntled deportee indicated: “We all left Ghana to America to go and better our future, so we passed through Brazil to Colombia and some of us even died on the way… Now the people handcuffed us, they only gave us bread and water from morning till evening, so when we came here (Kotoka) a lot of the people were fighting them that: ‘You cannot deport us empty-handed; we need money to go home [with].’”