Ghanaian World Cup squad member Thomas Partey will miss his country’s opening game in Toronto, after losing an appeal in Federal Court Tuesday to overturn a call to disclaim him entry into Canada.
Court documents obtained by Global News shows the Canadian government denied entry to Partey, Ghana’s assistant captain, attributable to multiple charges of rape and sexual assault the star midfielder faces within the U.K.
Partey’s legal team brought forward a motion to have the choice reversed, but Federal Court Justice Roger Lafrenière dismissed the motion Tuesday.
“Given the specific nature of the allegations within the indictment, it was open to the (Immigration) Officer to conclude that (Partey) committed serious acts of sexual violence that render him inadmissible to Canada,” Lafrenière wrote.
The choice got here as a component of a last-second hearing lower than 48 hours before Ghana will play their first match of the World Cup against Panama.
Under Canadian law, a foreign national will be denied entry, in the event that they are facing serious charges in one other jurisdiction, which are deemed to hold a sentence of not less than 10 years in prison in Canada.
Court submissions by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) argued Partey’s inadmissibility “is affordable given the detailed and graphic allegations of sexual violence.”
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London police have charged Party with seven counts of rape, accused of each vaginally and anally raping two women between 2020 and 2022, and faces one additional charge of sexually assaulting a 3rd woman in February 2022.
In Partey’s submission to the Federal Court, his legal team argued he ought to be admitted to Canada because he has pleaded not guilty to the fees, with a trial set for June 2027.
They further argued the judge should look past the criminal case for the aim of the World Cup.
“That is one in all (Ghana’s) star players,” Partey’s lawyer Mackeda Bramwell told Global News.
“He’s a vice captain for the team, and so the support to have him enter Canada for the particular purpose of playing within the match is what they’re searching for.”
Partey’s lawyers also argued he ought to be admitted to Canada because he has received a visa to enter the US, where Ghana’s other two games are going down and where the team is currently training.
Those claims were dismissed by IRCC lawyers.
“The reputational and practical consequences (Partey) currently faces flow primarily from the undeniable fact that he has been charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault within the UK, not from Canada’s application of its immigration laws,” the court documents say.
The documents also show that Partey didn’t fill out his own Canadian immigration form, as a substitute leaving it to a Ghana Football Federation official. That official said Partey had never been arrested or been charged with a criminal offense, despite the intense charges he faces within the U.K.
Under Canadian law, if a person doesn’t accurately fill out an immigration form, they will be denied entry into Canada for as much as five years.
If Partey was unable to get a brief visitor visa to play in Wednesday game, Partey’s legal team was asking he be granted a brief residency permit.
Court documents also include a three-page letter from the Ghanian foreign affairs minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa to the Canadian immigration minister asking that Partey be granted a visa.
“It will be a source of lasting appreciation to the people of Ghana, and a fitting expression of the friendship between our two countries, that a young man entrusted with a national duty, is permitted to face amongst his compatriots and represent his nation upon the sector,” Ablakwa wrote.
That sentiment was shot down by government lawyers, who said Partey’s “interest in attending a single, time-limited skilled engagement in Canada, nevertheless essential it’s to him or Ghana’s team, doesn’t outweigh Canada’s public interest within the careful, consistent application of its serious criminality inadmissibility regime.”
Partey has represented Ghana 58 times international and currently plays his club soccer for Villarreal in Spain, having previously played for Arsenal within the English Premier League.
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