The arrest and detention of Fadi Daboussi, the Ghanaian-Lebanese pilot, author and journalist, by the BNI has been explained by his Lawyer as an attempt for the prolific writer to be cowed.
According to him, there were no charges preferred against his client, disclosing that the only thing that he was alleged to have done was the article he published about the President which he insists was typical of him[President].
Mr. Tampuli said the basis for the arrest of his client was wrong, he noted, adding “there is no law in Ghana that criminalizes free speech.”
He argued: “There are remedies available in this case and it does not include the BNI arresting him. If you feel defamed by the article, I think there are recourse to a rejoinder, you can as well report to the National Media Commission to take actions, or you go to court.”
“However, if it is established that the basis of Daboussi’s article is inaccurate, we’ll retract and apologize to President Mahama,” his Lawyer, Hassan Tampuli said.
But he said although the author made reference to sources on the facts he’d published, his article was not emphatic.
“Fadi didn’t say the President has HIV/AIDS. If you read the article you’ll see that he posed a question(does the President have HIV/AIDS?). Now if there are answers to that question that the President doesn’t have HIV/AIDS we’ll move on.
The Bureau of National investigations (BNI) released the Ghanaian-Lebanese Pilot and Author Fadi Daboussie, on self-recognizance bail Monday.
Mr Daboussi, a known critic of President John Mahama and a perceived supporter of Ghana’s main opposition New Patriotic Party and its flag bearer Nana Akufo-Addo was picked up on Friday, 23 September, at the Kotoka International Airport right after disembarking from an Egypt Air flight from Lebanon.
Mr Daboussi is the author of ‘59 years of Ghana to Nowhere: The Future is Now,’ a book that pushes for change in leadership in Ghana.
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