Anas Did The Work of BNI; Placing Injunction On Video Is Unlawful…Will Amount to Censorship – Law Prof.

U.S based Ghanaian Law Professor, Stephen Kwaku Asare has noted that – Ace investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas did the work of the Bureau of National Investigations [BNI] to fish out some corrupt judges in Ghana’s judicial service.

According to him, the journalist must rather be applauded for his “tremendous” effort to bring to the public, concrete evidence of corrupt practices at the judicial service – years without evidence.

Speaking on NEAT FM morning show ‘Ghana Montie’, Prof. Kwaku Asare maintained that – attempts by any person to restrain Anas from publicly screening the video of the alleged corrupt judges will amount to “censorship”.

“Our laws prohibit censorship, in my view, restraining the airing of the video will amount to the highest order of censorship. Article 162(2) expressly states that ‘Subject to this Constitution and any other law not inconsistent with this Constitution, there shall be no censorship in Ghana,’” he said.

His comment comes after one of the High Court judges cited in the judicial bribery scandal fired the first salvo demanding a litany of reliefs.

Justice Paul Uuter Dery was captured on video allegedly receiving bribes from undercover journalists posing as family and friends of suspects.

In a writ filed at the Fast Track division of the High Court, Justice Dery is seeking a total of 17 reliefs, topmost being “A declaration that the 1st Defendant (Tiger Eye PI) obtained the contents of the audio-visual recording unlawfully.”

Adding – “An order restraining the 1st Defendant, its privies and assigns from carrying out their intended public screening of the said illegally and unlawfully procured audio visual recordings at the Accra International Conference Centre on the 22nd and 23rd of September, 2015”.

But the law professor described Justice Paul Uuter Dery’s claims as “laughable” – he further insisted that the video must be aired.

“No court should grant this wish. Even in the unlikely situation that the screening is outlawed here in Ghana, I’m sure by now a copy of this video is in the possession of someone outside Ghana. That person can easily put it on youtube and that individual cannot be stopped,” he said.