By: Barbara Kumah
The Labour Court division of the High Court, in Accra, has struck out two applications filed by lawyers for eleven West African Nationals, who were deported from the United States of America to Ghana as part of the U.S. deportation of undocumented immigrants.
The court presided over by justice Justice Pricilla Dikro Ofori, was however unhappy over the deportation of the deportees over the weekend. The deportees have sued government for what they claimed was unlawful detention and human rights violation.
The deportees through their lawyer Oliver Barker-Vormawor filed two applications for an interim injunction to stop their deportation to their respective countries by the government and a Habeas Corpus, to compel government to produce them before a court and justify their detention.
The said applications were to be heard at the Labour Court today but the lawyer informed the court that the applicants were deported over the weekend rendering the applications moot. He accordingly prayed the court to withdraw those applications. Mr Barker-Vormawor however submitted that the substantive matter, which bothers on the enforcement of the applicants’ fundamental human rights still stands.
The judge, Justice Pricilla Dikro Ofori said she was not happy with the news of the deportation of the persons on whose behalf the applications were before the Court. She held that the case is of national and international interest and was of the view that it would have been in the interest of justice if the applications were considered by the court.
The court agreed with the request to withdraw the applications in view of the deportation of the applicants and accordingly proceeded to struck them out.
