Private Legal Practitioner, Samson Lardy Anyenini says the arrest and alleged maltreatment of Citi FM journalist by National Security operatives were against the provisions of the 1992 Constitution.

Speaking on Newsnight Friday, he stated that the police had no right to lay hands on Caleb Kudah during the interrogation, adding that by law, every suspect is innocent until proven guilty. 

He stated that according to Caleb's account, he was slapped several times by a number of the officers. "What is that? That’s not how to arrest anybody. Our constitution which is the supreme law says every suspect is presumed innocent until they have pleaded guilty or they have been found guilty.”

Mr Anyenini explained that even in cases where suspects are resisting arrest, the police cannot lay hands on them in an attempt to force compliance.

He added that Caleb in his narration revealed that the operatives tampered with his phone and impersonated him after finding out the videos were sent to Zoe Abu-Baidoo, who they arrested later.

Mr Anyenini said the law requires the officers to have obtained a warrant from a court before accessing information on a suspect's phone especially if it could serve as a piece of evidence.

The Legal Practitioner stated that "even when you take it properly, the law says you have no power to access the contacts. The way to access the content is to use the law. You must get the courts to empower you and recently the human rights courts pronounced on this, very emphatically. You need a warrant of the court to be able to access the gadgets."

He stated that the actions of the officers did not show they were enforcing the law. "They rather broke the law", Mr Anyenini stressed. 

This comes after Caleb Kudah on Wednesday revealed that he was slapped multiple times despite pleading to be released after he admitted to filming at the premises of the National Security in Accra.

He further pointed out that, although he was put in handcuffs, the assault against him grew intense with him feeling dizzy at a point in time.

“They were still beating me slapping me from the back, I will be talking to another one and someone will come and slap me from the back and you feel dizzy at once. At this point, they had handcuffed me and every now and again one will come and press it harder so that I feel the pain."

“Along the line, a man identified as Agyeman came in and I tried to talk to him, and immediately, he asked me to kneel down and he kicked me in the groin. I tried to plead with him that Sir they have beaten me enough. I beg you please let me go because he told me to kneel down, he kicked me in the groin,” he added.

However, Mr Anyenini believes that the law is being abused adding that operatives cannot fight what they say is an illegality using illegal means.

“It is the law that creates the security officers. It is the law that creates the police. If they can function outside the law then we don't need the law anymore. The law provides how to effect an arrest,” he added.

Meanwhile, Mr Anyenini believes that Caleb Kudah did not commit any crime while filming the premises of the national security office, the reason for which he was arrested.

He added that the national security has failed to give details of the crime or name a crime they claim was committed by the Citi FM Journalists.

He said that the claims Caleb Kudah took videos on National Security premises and forwarding them to his colleague Zoe Abu-Baidoo even after seeing a no picture sign does not equal a crime.

“The law says nothing is an offence unless it is defined by law and the penalty is prescribed in a written law. It doesn't say that the thing is written on a wall or that there's a signage that says this place, do not trespass,” he told Evans Mensah.