Investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas’ bid to overturn a high court judgment that dismissed his defamation action brought against Assin-Central MP, Kennedy Agyapong, has been dismissed again by the Supreme Court.
Voting by a 3:4 majority, Ghana’s highest court said it did not agree with Anas’ arguments that High Court judge, Eric Baah, who ruled on the matter acted beyond his jurisdiction when he gave final comments on the case last year.
While delivering judgment on the matter last year, Justice Eric Baah specifically called the investigative journalist a “criminal and an ” extortionist.”
“From the above, I hold that the plaintiff [Anas] is a blackmailer who uses blackmail to extort money from his opponents and people he does not like. What the plaintiff is doing is not investigative journalism but investigative terrorism,” the judge had said in March last year.
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Anas’ case against Ken Agyapong came after the Number 12, documentary that detailed corruption at the top of Ghana’s Football Administration. The documentary eventually led to the sacking of FA president Kwesi Nyantakyi.
But after its airing, Ken Agyapong went on what he called an “anti-corruption campaign”, claiming to have revealed the identity of Anas, who by the dangerous nature of his work, keeps his identity hidden. Agyapong aired a “documentary” titled “Who Watches the Watchman?” on the media network he owns, claiming that Anas operates by blackmailing persons he investigates to hide evidence.
Overall, the Number 12 documentary had in fact raised discussions about the journalist’s use of “entrapment” as a method in investigative journalism.
