The Accra High Court will hear two ex parte applications filed by 11 West Africans deported to Ghana by the Trump Administration on Tuesday, September 23, 2025. The deportees are essentially challenging their detention in Ghana following their deportation from the United States.
The applicants are seeking an interim injunction from the court to halt their deportation to their home countries and a writ of Habeas Corpus, compelling the government of Ghana to present them before the court and justify the basis for their continued detention by Ghanaian authorities.
The eleven applicants include Daniel Osas Aigbosa, Ahmed Animashaun, Ifeanyi Okechukwu, and Taiwo K. Lawson, all of whom are Nigerian nationals, as well as Kalu John, a Liberian national.
The others are Togolese nationals Zito Yao Bruno and Agouda Richarla Oukpedzo Sikiratou. Sidiben Dawda, one of the deportees, is a Gambian national, and the remaining two, Toure Dianke and Boubou Gassama, are Malian nationals.
The Ghanaian government has agreed to accept West African nationals deported from the United States, and 14 have already arrived in the country. The deportations are part of the US government’s hard-line approach to immigration since President Donald Trump took office on January 20, 2017.
At a virtual sitting, the Presiding Judge, Justice Priscilla Darko, said she would require more time to examine the applications before making a ruling. Mr. Oliver Barker-Vormawor, Counsel for the applicants, stated that the matter was urgent, indicating that his clients had been unlawfully detained.
They have also sued the Attorney-General, the Chief of Defence Staff, and the Comptroller-General of the Ghana Immigration Service at the High Court, Human Rights Division, insisting their fundamental rights have been violated.
In their affidavits supporting their application, the applicants claim they were secretly removed from U.S. detention centres between September 5 and 6, 2025, shackled, and forcibly transported to Ghana without prior notice or explanation.
Upon arrival, they alleged that they were handed over to Ghanaian authorities and confined in what they believe to be a military facility without access to due process or judicial oversight.
The applicants argue that their detention breaches Article 14(1) of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution, which guarantees personal liberty, as well as Article 23, which protects the right to administrative justice.
They further contended that the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits sending refugees or asylum seekers back to countries where they risk persecution or torture, has been ignored.
Mr Barker-Vormawor said at least eight of the applicants had previously been granted “Withholding of Removal” or “Deferral of Removal” under the U.S. Convention Against Torture (CAT) proceedings, which forbids their deportation to their home countries due to the risk of torture, inhumane treatment, or persecution.
