Document #1311025
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
1) Sources consulted do not refer to Law
401. Numerous sources do refer to PNDC (Provisional National
Defence Council) -Law 4, which "provides for indefinite detention
without trial if the PNDC determines it is in the interest of
national security." [ U.S. Department of State, Country Reports
on Human Rights Practices for 1988 (Washington: U.S. Government
Printing Office, 1989), p. 135; see also Amnesty International,
Urgent Action, AI Index: Afr 28/04/89; 14 June 1989.] 2)
After the military coup that brought Jerry Rawlings to power in
Ghana in June 1979, nine senior government officials of the
previous government were executed for economic mismanagement and
corruption. [ Cees Flinterman, Human Rights in Ghana: Report of
a Mission by Professor Cees Flinterman for the International
Commission of Jurists and Netherlands Committee for Human
Rights, (Utrecht: SIM, 1984), p. 7.] In February 1982, the
National Investigation Committee (NIC) (PNDC Law No.2), was
established to investigate corruption in public office. [ Louise
Gore, The Rawlings' Regimes in Ghana 1979-1983: The Political
Economy of Military Intervention, (Kingston: Queen's
University, SNID Occasional Papers No. 84-102, 1984), p.24; Donald
I. Ray, Ghana: Politics, Economics and Society, (London:
Frances Printer, 1986), p. 59.]
In January 1982, the ruling PNDC
established the Public Tribunals. They operate in addition to the
regular court system, and reportedly have jurisdiction of a wide
range of offences, including charges of sabotaging the economy.
Many of the crimes handled by the Public Tribunals now carry the
death penalty. The Public Tribunal Law was amended in August 1984
to create a National Public Tribunal which acts as an appeal court.
[ Gore, pp. 23-4; Amnesty International, "Ghana: Three sentenced to
death for murder," AI Index: Afr 28/03/89, 12 June 1989;
Flinterman, p. 15.]
A human rights survey done by The
Economist, states that the charge economic sabotage carries a
possible death sentence with it. [ Charles Humana, The World
Human Rights Guide (London: Economist Publications Ltd., 1986),
p. 105.] On 31 May 1985, three people were executed for "conspiring
to commit crime and committing an act with intent to sabotage the
Ghanean economy." They had been involved in the fraudulent
withdrawal of over 37 million cédis from the Bank of Ghana.
Their case was handled by a Public Tribunal in Accra. [ British
Broadcasting Corporation, "Three more Ghanains executed for
economic crimes," BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, 1 June
1985.]
3) The IRBDC does not have at its disposal
at this time, published and publicly available information on
The Police Gazette.