ARHIN ALIAS PALL MALL V. THE REPUBLIC

FORSTER JA.: Jackson Duodu and Emmanuel Arhin alias Pall Mall were at the material time in 1983, lance corporals in the Ghana Prison Service. Their duty post was the Ussher Fort Prisons, Accra. In June 1983, among the inmates of the prisons, were Corporals Adabugah, Akademah, Braimah and Tekpor. They had been remanded in custody pending their trial in connection with a charge of an attempt to overthrow the then Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) administration committed on 23 November 1982. While they were in custody, they managed to escape and with the active collaboration of the two prison officers. Once they were at large, the escapees—military men—mounted an operation to overthrow the PNDC Government. The two prison officers were tried at the National Public Tribunal and convicted on a charge of abetment of preparation to overthrow the Government of Ghana contrary to section 20(1) of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29) and sections 9(1)(g) and 16 of the Public Tribunals Law,…