Anas Aremeyaw Anas wins defamation case against abusive Ghanaian politician
The words of a colleague in a chat group of African investigative journalists said it all: “You’ve made all of us a bit safer, Anas. Thank you.” And indeed, investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ victory over a Ghanaian politician in a US court will resonate through political elite circles that are used to intimidating, harassing and even murdering journalists, and not only in Ghana.
The undercover documentaries in which Anas and his team aim to ‘name, shame and jail’ corrupt and oppressive leaders in Ghana and on the African continent, are close to legendary in the African and international investigative journalism profession. It is therefore not surprising that certain of those abusive political leaders have made efforts to tarnish his and his colleagues’ reputation. Especially millionaire politician and businessman Kennedy Agyapong, a key figure in one of Ghana’s main political parties, has conducted a war of hate speech against Anas and his team, calling Anas a ‘thief’, an ‘extortionist’ and even accused him of murder.
But rather than Anas or anyone in his team being involved in ‘murder’, it was Agyapong’s hate speech that is considered to have been a factor in a real assassination: namely the one of Anas’ colleague Ahmed Suale, in 2019. Suale had played a key role in one of the team’s documentaries, in this case about soccer corruption and the involvement of politicians. The documentary had named Agyapong and Agyapong had subsequently attacked the report, and the reporters, in an online TV broadcast, in which he made the defamatory remarks. In the same online broadcast Agyapong showed a photograph of Suale, called for him to be ‘beaten’, and added that he would even ‘pay’ for that to happen. Suale was murdered in the streets of Accra shortly after.
A recent arrest of a suspect in Ghana took place amid allegations that the suspect ‘gave the photographs of Ahmed Suale to Kennedy Agyapong’, but Agyapong denied this.
At the time of the murder, Anas had already started a court case in Ghana against Agyapong’s defamatory statements, but this case, -which according to many observers and experts was riddled with irregularities and bias- resulted in Agyapong’s acquittal in 2023. (Fellow award-winning journalist Manasseh Azure has mercilessly analysed the case, in which the judge did not only acquit the politician, but added even more defamatory remarks in the direction of Anas.)
However, the case was then taken to the US, where Kennedy Agyapong owns several properties and from where he had made similar defamatory statements in a show transmitted online. In this case, an eight-member jury found Mr Agyapong guilty of defamation on all counts raised by Anas (who is, himself, a qualified attorney as well as a journalist) and awarded US$18 million as damages against the Ghanaian politician in favour of Anas. The politician then moved a motion for mistrial, which was denied. He has now applied for remittitur, which is a ruling that lowers the damages amount.
In a comment, Anas said that “this victory belongs to every journalist who has faced intimidation, harassment, and persecution for speaking truth to power. Part of the US$18 million from this defamation case will be dedicated to protecting and supporting journalists under siege, ensuring they have the resources and security to continue their crucial work.” He mentioned the Whistleblowers and Journalists Safety International Centre (WAJSIC) in Ghana, which he leads, as a case in point and added that “we will not be silenced.”
