Accra, June 02, GNA—The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) has described the flogging of two young persons over a leaked sex video in Wa as “humiliating, dehumanizing, demeaning and degrading.”
The Association also said the act was a violation of their fundamental human rights, and an attack on their persons.
A statement signed by Mr Yaw Acheampong Boafo, National President, GBA, and Mr Kwaku Gyau Baffour, National Secretary, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the “barbaric act contravenes Articles 12 (2) and 15 (1) (2) (a) and (b) of the Constitution, 1992.”
The Articles state that: “12. (2) Every person in Ghana, whatever his race, place of origin, political opinion, colour, religion, creed or gender shall be entitled to the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the individual contained in this Chapter but subject to respect for the rights and freedoms of others and for the public interest.”
“15. (1) The dignity of all persons shall be inviolable. (2) No person shall, whether or not he is arrested, restricted, or detained, be subjected to (a) torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; (b) any other condition that detracts or is likely to detract from his dignity and worth as a human being.”
It said the attention of the Association had been drawn to a video in, which two young persons were tied to poles and flogged in the presence of onlookers.
The statement said according to the narrative accompanying the video, the two were being punished for allegedly indulging in sexual acts and recording the said acts on video.
It said the flogging of the young persons was “antiquated, backward, barbaric and abominable, and the GBA condemns same in no uncertain terms.”
The GBA had,therefore, called on the relevant security agencies to arrest all persons involved in the physical abuse of the two young persons, investigate the incident and ensure that the perpetrators were prosecuted in accordance with law.
The statement advised all citizens and persons living in Ghana to desist from taking the law into their own hands by meting out punishments to people they suspected to have contravened the law or of having broken any moral codes of any community.
It also urged the citizenry to respect the constitutionally guaranteed and fundamental human rights and freedoms of all persons as every individual’s right ended where that of another started.
The statement said GBA’s Women and Minors Rights Committee had been directed to take up the matter, by closely monitoring same and offering the necessary and required legal assistance to the unfortunate victims of the “lawless and barbaric act.”
GNA