Lawyers of investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas have denied reports that he is to appear in court as prosecution witness without his trademark face beads.
Cromwell Gray LLP states that even the celebrated investigative journalist may choose to testify in the said case, involving former Ghana Football Association (GFA) President Kwesi Nyantakyi, or not because he only agreed to testify after the star witness for the Republic, Ahmed Suale, was gruesomely murdered in 2019.
The Supreme Court earlier on Tuesday, November 8 ordered Anas to testify in the case without being accorded any special privileges.
By that, he could be compelled to appear not only in open court but also without his mask.
Anas had agreed to testify in the stead of Ahmed Suale on condition that he would be allowed to do so in camera.
However, Mr Nyantakyi, who appeared in the damning 2018 documentary titled ‘Number 12: When Greed and Corruption Become the Norm’, challenged this request, granted by the High Court, at the Supreme Court.
Justice of the Supreme Court (JSC) Justice Baffoe-Bonnie granted Mr Nyantakyi’s application.
But a statement issued by Cromwell Gray LLP, the lawyers for Anas Aremeyaw Anas, later on Tuesday said: “The public should disregard false reportage that Anas has been ordered by the Supreme Court or is being compelled by the Supreme Court to appear in court without his trademark face beads.
“Anas may choose to testify as a prosecution witness or not,” it added.
The statement further indicated that Anas and his Tiger Eye PI team will continue to wear the iconic face beads as “a symbol of impartial anonymity in investigative journalism and to highlight the extreme risks in that line of duty”.
Source: 3news.com