Partey loses court bid over Canada visa before Ghana’s World Cup match
A Canadian judge rejected Thomas Partey’s last-minute attempt to enter Canada for Ghana’s World Cup game against Panama in Toronto.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
2 min read
A Canadian court has rejected Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey’s attempt to overturn a visa refusal, leaving him unable to enter the country for Ghana’s World Cup match against Panama in Toronto. Reuters reported that the decision came one day before the Black Stars’ Group L game on Wednesday.
Canada’s government refused Partey a visa last week, according to Reuters. His lawyers then filed an urgent appeal at the Federal Court in Ottawa, which was dismissed on Tuesday.
Judge Roger Lafreniere wrote that Partey was seeking “extraordinary, mandatory interlocutory relief” that would have forced Canada to set aside a “lawfully rendered inadmissibility finding and facilitate his entry for a specific event,” Reuters reported.
Partey, 33, faces allegations in the United Kingdom involving rape and sexual assault, according to Reuters. He has denied the charges and has pleaded not guilty, Reuters reported.
Reuters reported that the United States government granted Partey a visa. Canadian immigration officials, however, said foreign nationals can be found inadmissible under Canadian law even when there is no foreign conviction.
“When there are reasonable grounds to believe an act that would trigger inadmissibility has been committed by an applicant, they can be deemed inadmissible to Canada,” a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said, according to Reuters.
Before the ruling, Partey’s lawyer, Mackeda Bramwell, told Reuters that the legal team would not appeal if the judge ruled against him. The court’s decision therefore leaves Ghana to prepare for Panama without one of its most prominent midfielders.
Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz said before the decision was issued that the team had already prepared for that possibility. “We have our plan settled,” Queiroz told a news conference, according to Reuters, while declining to discuss Partey’s case in detail.
Queiroz added that his focus was on the players available for selection. “To add more comments about issues that are nonsense is not part of my business,” he said, according to Reuters. “My business is to play with the cards that I have in front of me.”
Reuters reported that the visa refusal has angered and frustrated some Ghana supporters in Ghana and among the Ghanaian diaspora in Canada. Akua Mensah, a 45-year-old Canadian with Ghanaian roots, told Reuters that Canada’s decision was unfortunate.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.