Minority Demands Government Action on Three-Month old abducted Lebanese Business Man

The Minority in Parliament is demanding for an urgent action by government in the alleged abduction and disappearance of Mahran Mustapha Baajour, a Lebanese businessman.

The minority describes government handling of the Lebanese businessman’s abduction as repugnant in a press statement issued by the Ranking Member on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

According to the press statement, Mahran Mustapha Baajour, 39 is a Lebanese businessman of Palestinian origin who arrived in Ghana from Lebanon on a business visit on the 13th of December 2018 and has since not been found.

The minority alleged that “immediately after arriving at the kotoka International Airport, Mahran Mustapha Baajour and his two Ghanaian hosts who welcomed him at the airport were arrested at the precincts of the airport just when they were about departing in their Toyota salon vehicle with registration number GN 6126 -15 by persons claiming to be operatives of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).

“After all three were kept in detention for six days in violation of Ghanaian law, our understanding is that Mahran’s two hosts, one Razak Abdul and another were then released as free men while Mahran was kept in detention. This is the reason Mahran’s family and officials from his country are having a hard time believing denials and claims of innocence by Ghanaian Government officials they have contacted”. The statement added.

The statement further added that “our monitoring of international media including Al-Jazeera which has broadcasted two stories on this matter confirms that another petition demanding the release of Mahran addressed to the Ghanaian Government has been presented to our Consular Official in Lebanon where another protest was staged with protesters carrying banner which read “Mahran is in your prisons”.

“The minority therefore demands the Akuffo-Addo administration which is in charge of the territorial security of Ghana and which is being held responsible by the growing number of protesters, takes urgent steps to assure the family of Mahran Mustapha Baajour- who we note sadly lost his mum last week, the people of Lebanon and the entire international community that Ghana will not slide into a state of lawlessness neither will we become a haven for human rights abuses perpetrated by faceless persons acting in the name of the state” The statement concluded.