Lockdown: Sue if security officers torture you - CHRAJ Boss to exempted persons

The Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Joseph Whittal has urged citizens not to be reluctant in suing the government if their rights are violated by security agencies amid the COVID-19 partial lockdown.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Thursday, Mr. Whittal said: “If I am an exempted person and security forces subject me to torture and I can show evidence of it, I should be able to sue the state for breaches of human rights violations…The officers who have gone into those excesses are deemed to be knowledgeable of the law and ought to be brought to book because you’re not curtailing rights in order to trade off those rights to torture people within the lockdown areas.”

 

He further urged the security services to follow due processes in charging a person of a crime and adhere to the directives of the President to ensure a smooth operation during the lockdown.

“Even the position of the law is that you are deemed to be innocent until proven guilty by the court of law. If you think the person is in breach of the law, arrest them and let them know why they are arrested and put them before a court of competent jurisdiction. But to torture the people? That is not done in the republic in which we are living in,” the CHRAJ Commissioner said.

As part of efforts to curb the spread of the Coronavirus, President Nana Akufo-Addo imposed a partial lockdown on Accra, Kasoa, Tema and Kumasi.

Five days into the lockdown, security agencies have been accused of torturing citizens who try to breach the directive as well as restricting the movement of those exempted from the lockdown.

There was an instance where dispatch riders of a food delivery company were delayed several hours by security officials at the Ashaiman Underbridge area while they were on their way to make deliveries.

Such services are exempted from the partial lockdown.

Violators of COVID-19 lockdown must be treated with dignity – CHRAJ to Security officials

CHRAJ had earlier cautioned security agencies against using unjustified force or torture citizens while enforcing the law amid the partial lockdown.

CHRAJ in a statement signed by its Commissioner admitted that the emergency situation has led to the curtailing of certain fundamental rights and freedoms, but argued that “human dignity cannot be curtailed or traded off” even in the event of an “emergency situation like what persists in Ghana”.

Ghana’s COVID-19 case count hits 204

Ghana’s COVID-19 cases currently stand at 204 with five deaths.

Three people have however recovered from the disease.

In an attempt to curtail the further spread of the disease, the President imposed certain measures including the closure of the country’s borders as well as a two-week lockdown of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area and parts of the Greater Kumasi Metropolitan Area.

The Commission, however, urged Ghanaians in locked-down areas to desist from breaching the directive.