An Accra legal practitioner has filed a writ of habeas corpus at the High Court in Accra against the continued incarceration of Albert Hamid Odinga, a Belize national and close ally of former President Jerry Rawlings, who was arrested in June for alleged counter-intelligence activities.
Police arrested Odinga, 59, in a house close to that of former President Rawlings in a special operation. The arrest hit the headlines when reports swept the capital that police had surrounded the house of the ex-president. Officials of the Ministry of the Interior later said the operation was to arrest Odinga.
The writ filed by Mr Wahid Bompuori-Iddrisu on behalf of Mr Theophilus Hiametu of Accra against the Director of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to produce Odinga, said his continued incarceration is unlawful. He has been in BNI cells since his arrest on June 9.
In an affidavit in support of the writ, Mr Hiametu said Odinga was arraigned before the Osu Community Tribunal on June 10 and remanded in the custody of the BNI adding: "The numerous applications for bail have been refused by the honourable tribunal."
He was charged with communicating false reports meant to injure the reputation of the state.
The affidavit said the last time the applicant was produced in court was on June 14 and the applicant has not been tried for the offence. Mr Hiametu said numerous attempts by counsel for Odinga to get the record of proceedings in the case have proved futile.
He added that the offence under which Odinga has been charged has been repealed and he is innocent. "It is the contention that the continued detention of the applicant without trial is unlawful and constitutes a gross violation of civilised concepts of human rights including those embodied in the Ghana constitution and UN human rights."
Odinga came to Ghana in 1979 when former President Rawlings first came to power, but he was deported by the Limann administration. He returned to Ghana when former President Rawlings returned to power and has remained in Ghana since then.
