Albert Dwumfour, journalist with The Independent, a privately-owned newspaper based in Accra, was on May 14, 2008, arrested and detained on the orders of Justice Gyinae of the High Court in Cape Coast; a city situated 165 km west of Accra.
According to The Independent the journalist’s wrong-doing was to have forgotten his identity card in Accra. The arrest took place in the High Court of Cape Coast where the journalist was covering a case of chieftaincy dispute with Justice Gyinae presiding.
Dwumfour was investigating the case which had been pending for two and a half years, and had the previous day interviewed Gyinae on the matter.
In the interview Dwumfour asked Gyinae if he would “still try the case since there was a petition on it” to which the Justice allegedly replied: “I don’t know, if you want to know, come to the court tomorrow”.
When Dwumfour appeared at the court the following day, Gyinae gave the order for his arrest. The reason for the arrest was the journalist’s inability to produce his ID-card.
The reporter was detained for six hours before being released on bail.
