Serwaa Amihere and Henry Fitz brouhaha: What the law says about sharing intimate footage of another

Identified as Edem Saviour Ketti, Candylove Kwakyewaa Ababio, and Henry Amponsah, also known as Henry Fitz, the trio faces multiple charges related to sexual extortion and the dissemination of private visual content.

Some social media users, including lawyer Maurice Amapaw, have demanded the arrest of journalist Serwaa Amihere, who is accused of capturing the footage between him and his former partner.

But what do the laws of Ghana say about publishing intimate footage of another? This piece explores the relevant sections of the Cybersecurity Act 2020.

Non-consensual sharing of intimate image (Section 67).

“(1) A person shall not, with intent to, cause serious emotional distress, intentionally distribute or intentionally cause another person to distribute the intimate image or prohibited visual recording of another identifiable person without the consent of the person depicted in the intimate image and in respect of which, there was a reasonable expectation of privacy both at the time of the creation of the image or visual recording and at the time the offence was committed.

“(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a term of imprisonment of not less than one year and not more than three years.

“(3) For the purpose of this section, “serious emotional distress” includes any intentional conduct that results in mental reactions such as fright, nervousness, grief, anxiety, worry, mortification, shock, humiliation and indignity, as well as physical pain.”

The law further explained sanctions on threats to distribute prohibited intimate images or visual recordings of another

Threat to distribute prohibited intimate images or visual recordings (Section 68).

“(1) A person shall not threaten another person to distribute a prohibited intimate image or visual recording of that person in a way that would cause that other person distress reasonably arising in all the circumstances and the threat is made in a way that would cause that other person fear, reasonably arising in all the circumstances, of the threat being carried out.

“(2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a term of imprisonment of not less than one year and not more than three years.”

Serwaa Amihere and Henry Fitz

Serwaa Amihere and Henry Fitz have been in social media trends for the last few days. This is after a video depicting Serwaa Amihere in a bedroom with a man, identified as Henry Fitz, circulated widely on social media platforms.

As per reports, the ordeal started when Serwaa Amihere’s makeup artist was contacted and asked to relay a message to the journalist to pay GH₵5,000 in order to stop the circulation of explicit photos. Subsequent threats escalated, with an unidentified individual demanding a larger sum of GH₵20,000.

Despite Serwaa Amihere’s compliance with the initial demand, the accused published the video. Following these events, Amihere reported the matter to the authorities, leading to the arrest of Edem Saviour Ketti. Efforts are underway to apprehend Henry Fitz, who remains at large as investigations into the matter continue.