Some Ghanaians and other West African nationals languishing in jail in Thailand face execution anytime soon by the Thai prison authorities. The Ghanaians, numbering four, were thrown into jail in 2008 for illicit drugs-related offences, but they are claiming that they were framed up by the Thai authorities. In Thailand, the death penalty is the cost for people found guilty for dealing in illicit drugs. The use of illicit drugs in Thailand became very high with the development of the tourism sector of that country and in the mid-90s and early 20s, many drug couriers were arrested in the country. Apart from the drug trade, prostitution also boomed during that period, causing some women to travel from Africa and Europe to that country. One of the Ghanaian victims, who called The Enquirer in the early hours of last Wednesday, said that most of them in Prison now were never given the opportunity to defend themselves. The victim, who gave his name as Ibrahim Musah, told The Enquirer that he was a resident of Dansoman, a suburb of Accra, and went to Thailand to buy clothing to supply traders in Accra and other parts of the country in 2007. Musah who was speaking undertone from his cell in a Bangkok prison, said that while he was moving out from his hotel room to inspect some clothing from a manufacturer, he was arrested by the police in Thailand on suspicion that he was a drug dealer. Bawling throughout the over 12-minute telephone conversation, he said that he was quickly arraigned before a court and was handed a death penalty sentence. "My brother, not even my correspondence between the manufacturers of the clothing and their preparedness to testify at court will convince the Thai authorities not throw me in jail." he said. He told The Enquirer that he met lots of other West Africa nationals, including Ghanaians, who had also been thrown into jail under such bizarre circumstances. "What the prison authorities do is that they swap us from one prison to another to face different forms of torture," he said. According to Musah, he has been transferred for well over four times since his incarceration and has undergone worse forms of torture. He told The Enquirer that some prisoners were always at the mercy of the authorities, who execute them as and when they deem it fit. "Now, we don't know when they will come for some of us because within the few weeks, the authorities are dealing with us like never before. The torture has taken a new twist," he said. Musah told The Enquirer that most of them look frail and ill, but that would not deter the prison officers from torturing them. Asked by The Enquirer what prompted him to make such a telephone call, he said that they heard in the prison that the Ghana government was able to prevail on the authorities in Libya to pardon some prisoners who were jailed for no wrong done. He said that the government should come to their aid immediately to save them from imminent execution. "Brother, I can't think of dying in somebody's country for what I have never done in anyway at all," he said. It is recalled that the Vice President, John Dramani Mahama, was able to broker and deal with the Libyan authorities to secure the release of a Ghanaian who was on death row in that country. Source: The Enquirer