The situationof Shalimar Abbiussi, spokesperson for the New Force Movement, has taken a turn for the worse, as her stay in Ghana has been truncated. This follows the revocation of her residence permit by the Ghana Immigration Service, which has now set in motion procedures for her repatriation.
Abbiussi, a Belgian national, previously faced charges of obtaining a Ghanaian student permit through false declaration, a plea she denied in court.
However, during the court session on December 19, the state unexpectedly dropped the charges, citing instructions to withdraw from Assistant Commissioner Adolf Aboagye Asensu.
Despite her legal victory in court, Abbiussi found herself in a tumultuous situation as Immigration Service personnel reportedly rearrested her outside the Kaneshie District Court. This led to a chaotic scene and a confrontation between GIS officials and her legal representatives.
The Immigration Service argues that with the revocation of her residence permit, her continued stay in Ghana is deemed illegal, justifying her imminent deportation.
In response, her legal counsel, Francis Xavier Sosu, strongly condemned the actions of the Immigration Service and further revealed that his outfit has filed a case at the Human Rights court against the Service.
“We have filed an action in the Human Rights court against them for all other processes they may take for the purposes of either trying to remove her from the country or not. I’m hoping that by the close of day, they will all be served with those actions and they will appear in court to come and answer for what they are doing, because we knew that there’s the likelihood that they will be behaving in the manner that they are.”
Sosu, visibly disappointed, added, “This is so arbitrary. This should not be tolerated in any democracy. I’m so, so disappointed.”
Background
The spokesperson of New Force Movement, Shalimar Abbiusi was arrested upon an invitation by the Head of the National Enforcement Section of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) regarding her immigration status in the country.
A viral video she shared on social media as well as other activities on social media drew the attention of the Ghana Immigration Service.
According to the Prosecution, investigations revealed that the Ms Abbiusi first came to Ghana on September 4, 2017, through the Kotoka International Airport and had since been a regular visitor to the country until 2018 when she became a resident following her supposed admission to the Ghana University College.
But upon investigations, it appeared that she had never been a student, and documents supporting her residence permit application were allegedly forged.
