It has emerged that Ghanaian-Lebanese author Fadi Daboussi was arrested and detained by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) for two days for two main reasons: asking in one of his publications if President John Mahama had HIV/AIDS and also making reference to a publication that alleged Mr Mahama had impregnated a daughter of Ashanti monarch Otumfuo Osei Tutu.
This was revealed by Mr Daboussi’s lawyer Hassan Tampuli in an interview with Naa Dedei Tettey on Class91.3FM’s 12Live news programme Monday, 26 September. According to Mr Tampuli, his client was not the originator of those publications but merely made reference to them in his publications.
Mr Daboussi was released by the BNI on Monday. Mr Tampuli said he was not charged for any crime for which he had to be bailed contrary to some reports claiming his client was granted a self-recognisance bail. He also wondered why the BNI had to arrest and detain his client since the reasons for which he was picked up fell within the remit of the National Media Commission (NMC) rather than the security body.
Meanwhile, Mr Daboussi has said he was treated well during the entire period of his detention.
“I wasn’t maltreated,” he told Chief Jerry Forson on Accra100.5FM’s breakfast show Ghana Yensom on Monday, 26 September.
According to him, the perception that officials of the BNI are bad people is false. “They are not bad people,” Mr Daboussi said, adding: “…They just did what they had to do.”
Mr Daboussi said his arrest and detention was not in connection with anything bad that he had done, stating: “They just asked me for clarifications on issues, not because I had done anything bad.”
Mr Daboussi, a known critic of President 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. National Security officers ransacked his house and seized copies of the book. They were later returned. Mr Daboussi, who said he did not eat for two days while in detention, pleaded with the media to give him some time to rest and replenish his strength.
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