More than thirty Ghanaians have been detained in a Segris prison, a facility located in the northwestern Libya city of Misrata.
The Ghanaian immigrant workers, who are males, were arrested by the police for either not possessing passports or for drinking alcohol in public.
Libya is said to have banned the consumption of alcohol in 1969 and hence makes its consumption criminal. The Ghanaian prisoners’ lamentation however stems from the fact that they have been detained more than necessary.
Information available to The Chronicle indicates that these Ghanaians should have been released a year after their incarceration, but have been kept there for six years, a practice the prisoners believe is against their right and therefore calling on the government of Ghana to come to their rescue.
The Chronicle gathered that aside being detained for these numbers of years, they are also kept under horrible conditions, not given medical care and are made to do menial jobs such as the carrying of cement blocks.The paper was also informed that these prisoners are poorly fed and this has led to the demise of some of them.
They are also pleading with the state to at least help evacuate them from the prison to a deportation camp established by the United Nations (UN), where they can seek for healthcare.
In a distress voice note sent from the Segris prison camp, which has been intercepted by The Chronicle, one of the Ghanaian inmates explained that he was arrested four years ago by Libyan police for drinking alcohol in public.
“I was arrested on January 1, 2018 and have been in prison since then. There are some Ghanaians who have been in prisons for six years. We are being held for either drinking alcohol in the open or not possessing a passport, “he said.
According to him, they have been ‘kidnapped’ and they are being used for menial jobs. “They bring us out under heavy security and order us to carry cement blocks and climb eight storey-buildings,” he narrated.
On how they are fed, the Ghanaian, who spoke in Twi, indicated that they are dying of hunger, disclosing that they are not fedwell and that they are given a slice of bread in the morning at 08:00am and a meal in the afternoon.
“We are helpless; we pray that some of us even die to end the frustration, but death has not come for us. Ghanaian leaders should do what they can for us”, another Ghanaian said.
When the Public Relation Officer of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Madam Tenewa Asamoah was contacted, she told The Chronicle that she was not at post and that this reporter should either send an e-mail about the development to the ministry or speak to a contact at the ministry, a directive which was obeyed.
The paper then called MadamEnyonamDakudzie, another officer at the Foreign Affairs Ministry who assured the paper that the issue would be forwarded to the consular at the ministry.
Asked about if the ministry has been urging Ghanaians to travel to safer countries, Dakudzie noted that the ministry has been giving traveling advice to Ghanaians but some choose not to heed to them.
