Six Ghanaians have been placed on death row by authorities in Libya for crimes that the police in that have failed to establish.
They were arrested at different locations in that country somewhere last year and were slated to visit the death chair last week.
Similarly, another Ghanaian was arrested in February this year and since then nothing has been heard about him, sparking speculation that he might have been executed by the Libyan authorities.
The latest arrest has caused panic among the Ghanaian community in that country as arbitrary arrest and prosecution is becoming too much for foreigners, especially Ghanaians and their Nigerian counterparts.
Those on the death row, The Enquirer gathered, are Alhaji Sulemana Mohammed, Mustapha Mohammed and Kofi Ntim.
The rest are Kofi Boateng, popularly known as ‘Obolo,’ a native of Konongo in the Ashanti Region, Kojo Monnie, a native of Takoradi in the Western Region and Kwabena Kankam, also known as Mustapha Mammoud Abubakar.
Another Ghanaian by name Obeng Essuman, a 53-year-old native of Tanobuase in the Brong Ahafo, was callously murdered on March 18, this year.
So far, three Libyans have been arrested by the authorities in connection with the killing of Essuman.
Information available to The Enquirer indicates that one Stanley Nai, also known as Babs Kassim, a native of La in Accra, was arrested on February 3, this year for allegedly spying for Israel, but this has been denied by the Ghanaian community who say he is just an ordinary construction supervisor. Babs, as he is popularly called in Libya, has lived in that country for 15 years and worked with a road construction company in Benghazi, the second largest city in Libya.
The Enquirer gathered that two Ghanaians were arrested whilst traveling by road to Israel. During a search conducted on them by Libyan police, a document bearing Babs’ name was found on them.
The Enquirer learnt that Libyan police stormed the offices of the construction company and arrested Babs and took him to an unknown place and charged for spying for Israel.
According to The Enquirer’s sources, the Ghanaian community in Libya, sensing danger, tried to locate his whereabouts, but to no avail.
The paper gathered that the matter was reported to the Ghana mission in Libya, but the authorities refused to answer questions on Babs.
However, Africa Migration and Research Foundation, a non-governmental organization has taken up the issue and is presently pursuing it.
As part of its plan, the foundation has fired a petition to the office of the Vice President, John Dramani Mahama to serve notice of the plight of Ghanaians in Libya.
The foundation stated in the petition, dated April 20, 2010, that Babs, who is based in Benghazi Libya worked with the Mediterranean Sea Engineering Company (MSEC), a German company, formerly called Bilfinger/Berger, had his ID number 04511 when he was arrested in the company premises, along with two other Ghanaians.
It said that Babs was in charge of recruitment in the company and he employed a lot of Ghanaians and Nigerians in the company.
According the foundation, two Ghanaians, who work in the company, left to travel to Israel by road through Egypt without Bab’s knowledge.
On their way, the two men were arrested and when questioned they confessed they were based in Israel and that they only came for a visit and were returning back.
The police were very anxious to know whom they visited in Libya. During during interrogation they mentioned Babs’ name. The police also saw the said company’s ID card with them and they concluded that Babs might be an informant for Israel and the two suspects work for him. They were accused of carrying information to Israel, since calls are not permitted from Libya to Israel.
It continued that Babs was tortured on many occasions just to confess, but he kept on telling them he knew nothing about incident. His company did not follow the case, but rather terminated his appointment.
A Nigerian pastor of a church where Babs is an elder called the Ghana embassy to inform them about the incident since the police do not allow anybody to know where they are keeping him and the others.
There are claims that the response from the embassy was not satisfactory, as it claimed the man in question is a criminal and therefore should leave him there. The Enquirer by press time was unable to reach the Ghana Embassy for comments. Since then, nobody heard from him and the other two Ghanaians until they were spotted at a hospital in a worsening health condition.
A week later, the police came asking for Babs’ family, something which has never happened before, thus raising eyebrows that he might be dead.
According to information, the 51-year old man was not fit before he was picked up as he was diagnosed of Diabetes recently.
The family here in Ghana is calling on the government to help bring him back to Ghana if he is alive for a better treatment or if they have killed him too, they want the mortal remains and his entitlement and personal belongings at the earliest convenience for a decent burial.
Meanwhile, the family assures of its preparedness to bear the entire cost.
“We are also calling on the government to prevail on the Libyan government to desist from such barbaric acts,” the petition said.
