Arrest of Ghanaian Journalist Sparks Outrage on Twitter

Fadi Dabboussi, a fierce critic of President John Mahama, was arrested on Friday after a trip from Lebanon at the Kotoka International Airport.

His lawyer, Hassan Tampuli, said he had been refused access to his client.

“I have been to the office of the BNI, and I was denied access to him. I was told the officer responsible for the case was not in the office and that I can only have access to him on Monday,” Tampuli told Joy FM Saturday.

Ghanaians have angrily reacted to Dabboussi's arrest, slamming the president for trying to curtail freedom of expression.

The arrest of Fadi Dabboussi comes after president John Mahama addressed the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, which he called on European leaders to stop meddling in the democracy of African countries.

But it is for acts like these that the Europeans feel the need to poke their noses in the affairs of Africa.

Police analyst at the Danquah Institute, Dr Gifty Oware, reminded journalists the arrest of Dabboussi could happen to them if the BNI is not checked.

A lecturer at the Department of Petroleum Engineering of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Mustapha Hameed, tweeted a reminder of president John Mahama's address to the UN General Assembly in which he told the west not to force democracy on Africa.

Lawyer Kow Essuman believes the president is too sensitive to criticism.

Others feel his arrest could mark the end of free expression and the return to authoritarianism, a country's dark past.

Dabboussi is also the author of "59 Years to Nowhere," a book that severely criticised the Mahama-led administration.

Following the launch of his book, he received death threats from surrogates of the ruling National Democratic Congress.

"You foolish man, you think you can use your book 59 years to disgrace as. If we see this damaging book in town again, we will finish you in this country nonsense," a death-threatening message sent to his phone read.