An Appeal Court in Kumasi has quashed a motion of stay execution filed by lawyers of the Anbariya Islamic Institute that sought to stop the execution of a High Court ruling in the matter of the Republic Vrs the Sunni Islamist Group, ex parte Technical University College, Tamale; Anbariya Islamic Institute & 6 Others Vrs Dr Osman Alhassan.
The High Court in Tamale presided by Justice Richard Kugyapwah on Tuesday, November 28, 2023, struck out a motion of stay of execution filed by the Islamic Institute to stop the execution of his ruling on January 30, 2024.
In that ruling, the Anbariya and some of its followers and sympathisers were found guilty of contempt for disregarding a judicial order, trespassing on a disputed land under court injunction, organizing a violent assault on staff and students of the University, and illegally occupying the structures of the College.
Lawyers of the Anbariya filed the motion in February in Kumasi mainly to stop the Police from enforcing the High Court ruling that said their occupation of the university’s structures was illegal and should be reverted.
However, on March 26, 2024, the Appeals Court, presided by Mrs Georgina Mensah Datsa, Alex Owusu Ofori, and Samuel Obeng Diawuo struck out the motion as withdrawn.
The court also imposed a cost of GH¢10,000 against the Anbariya Institute.
The Appeals Court ruling was the fourth defeat for the Anbariya Islamic Institute since the start of the litigation in March 2019.
JoyNews sources at the Northern Regional Police Command confirmed that the Police were capable and ready to carry out any judicial order coming out of the Appeals Court ruling anytime they received official notification.
Speaking to authorities of the University College, they expressed profound gratitude to the judges whilst calling for the immediate removal of the Anbariya Institute from the university’s properties.
The authorities said the continued occupation of the school by the Anbariya Islamic Institute threatened the operation as well as the survival of the university.
The Anbariya Islamic Institute sued the managers of the Technical University College, Tamale seeking that Anbariya owns and has the sole right to manage and control the Technical University College, Tamale, as well as, an order restraining the founder of the University College from the name of the College and enrolling students under that name.
The Court then placed an injunction on the disputed land restraining both parties from carrying out any activity on the land until the matter was duly adjudicated.
However, whilst waiting, the Principal of the University College, Dr Osman Alhassan on a routine patrol in April 2022, found the Anbariya Islamic Institute and its agents engaged in the construction of structures on the disputed land.
In an attempt to draw their attention to the fact that the matter was subjudice, Dr Osman was subjected to barbaric conduct by the followers of the controversial Islamic Institute who physically assaulted him, missiles thrown at him, extensively damaged his car, and broke his reading glasses.
Then in May of 2022, the Anbariya Institute and its agents said the court was wasting time with the case and therefore went on a local radio station inviting all old and new followers of the group to rise and take up arms to take over the University.
Members of the Sunni Islamist group dutifully obeyed the call to take up arms against the University College and stormed the university, breaking doors, windows, and student beds.
They beat up students and everyone in sight and demolished other property such as computers, beds, and forcibly occupied the structures of the University College.
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