The Ho 21: what happened to the paralegals arrested at a rights training

In May 2021 police arrested 21 people attending a paralegal training session in Ho and charged them with unlawful assembly for what officers described as promoting an LGBT agenda. Some were held for weeks. Human Rights Watch documented arbitrary arrests and detention, and called on the attorney general to drop the charges; UN experts condemned the arrests and urged the group's release.

Five years on, the case remains the reference point for how human rights work is policed in Ghana. Trainings moved into private homes. Organisations stopped publishing venues. People who were detained told researchers they lost jobs, housing and family support afterwards.

We keep this case on the record because the harm did not end with release. Documentation that stops at the courtroom door misses most of what a prosecution actually does to a person's life.