State Silence Over Ashaiman Military Brutality Deafening; CHRI Says
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) is feeling the loud silence of the Ghanaian government over the physical and psychological abuses meted out to residents of Ashaiman last Tuesday by personnel of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).
It concluded that footage from the encounter with the military depicted a clear torture of civilians.
The international non-governmental organisation in a statement decried the action of the military and noted that it violates the African Charter, the Convention against Torture and several other treaties Ghana has signed onto.
“The brutality meted out to inhabitants of some communities in Ashaiman by some soldiers on March 7, 2023, in response to the killing of a soldier, Imoro Sherrif is just not acceptable in a democracy such as Ghana touts itself to be.”
The government is yet to make an official comment about the raid by the Military and their subsequent brutalisation of residents of Ashaiman.
On Wednesday, March 8 when the Commander of Ghana’s Armed Forces presented a statement on the State of the nation in Parliament, it was expected that he would comment on the incident, however, he didn’t.
In its statement, the NGO said the State’s silence was “deafening”.
Although the Deputy Defence Minister for Ghana has apologised to “innocent” civilians who were affected by the military operation and sought to justify the operation, CHRI has flawed it.
“The Minister’s apology was directed at people he described as ‘decent and innocent’ (one wonders how he determined who was decent and who was guilty) and this is unfortunate. It depicts how poor treatment and human rights abuse of accused persons is justified by duty bearers.”
It added, “we wish to remind the State of its obligation under the 1992 Constitution to protect and safeguard the dignity of all Ghanaians”.
It, therefore, called on the State to hold the military personnel accountable, upholding that the GAF is not above the law.
Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini
