Journalist and Editor of The Herald newspaper, Larry Alans Dogbey, has been granted bail a day after he was sentenced to seven days in prison for contempt of court.
Mr. Dogbey was convicted on Thursday, June 25, by an Accra High Court presided over by Justice Isaac Addo over publications relating to a legal dispute between businessman Kevin Okyere, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Springfield Exploration and Production Limited (SEP), and Petraco SA.
The contempt proceedings arose from articles published by The Herald concerning a petition filed by Petraco SA against Mr. Okyere.
According to the court, Mr. Dogbey breached an interlocutory injunction that restrained him from publishing any further statements on the matter. Although he argued during cross-examination that he had not been served with the court order directing him to cease publication, Justice Addo ruled that he had failed to comply with the injunction.
In delivering the ruling, the court held that Mr. Dogbey had “willfully, contumaciously, and in flagrant disregard” of its authority violated the order issued on June 11, 2025.
“The power of this Court to punish for contempt is grounded in Article 126(2) of the 1992 Constitution and Order 50 of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2004,” the judge stated, ordering that a Warrant of Committal be issued to the Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service for the sentence to be enforced.
Following the ruling, Mr. Dogbey confirmed his conviction in a social media post and in comments to Citi News.
“Justice Isaac Addo of an Accra High Court has just convicted me and sentenced me to seven days’ imprisonment in the case involving Kevin Okyere and Petraco SA. The Herald newspaper reported only on a petition filed by the multinational company with the CID, EOCO, GIS, the Attorney General, among others. Ghana deserves better. Journalism is not a crime,” he wrote.
However, on Friday, June 26, Mr. Dogbey was granted bail pending further legal processes. Details of the bail conditions are yet to be made public.
