State to repatriate New Force Movement’s Shalimar after revoking her Residence Permit

The plight of spokesperson for the New Force Movement, Shalimar Abbiussi may have just gotten worse as her stay in Ghana has been truncated.

This is because the Ghana Immigration Service has revoked her residence permit and initiated processes to have her repatriated.

The Belgian national had been charged with attaining Ghanaian student permit using false declaration by Prosecutors, but she pleaded not guilty.

In court on Tuesday, December 19, the state dropped the charges against her after Assistant Commissioner, Adolf Aboagye Asensu told the court he had been instructed to withdraw the charges.

Lead counsel for Ms Abbiussi, Francis Xavier Sosu urged the Bureau of National Investigations to release her phone since nothing incriminating had been found on it.

But Mr Aboagye Asensu noted that her items would be released once she is discharged.

Things turned awry after the Spokesperson of the New Force Movement appeared to have been rearrested by armed personnel from the Immigration Service after she made her exit from the premises of the Kaneshie District Court.

This generated chaos outside the court premises as a struggle ensued between officials of the GIS and her lawyers.

Her parents who looked on helplessly, broke down in tears as Shalimar Abbiussi was whisked away.

According to the Immigration Service, with the revocation of her permit, her continuous stay in Ghana is illegal and hence she would be deported.

Reacting to the development, counsel for Shalimar Abbiusi, Francis Xavier Sosu condemned the actions of the Ghana Immigration 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 lamented to journalists after his client was picked up by the GIS.

“This is so arbitrary. This should not be tolerated in any democracy, I’m so, so disappointed,” he added.

Per the brief facts of the case, 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.

Further checks by the Ghana Immigration Service, however, uncovered that the ‘New Force’ spokesperson had never been a student, adding that documents purportedly issued by the college to support her application for a residence permit were allegedly forged.

source: 3 News