Prosecutor General (PG) Ahmed Muizz has said that a decision on whether to press charges against former President Mohamed Nasheed over the arrest of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed is expected to be made by next week.
Earlier this week, the Maldives Police Service sent the case of the arrest of the chief judge to the PG’s Office. Minivan News reported at the time that under the submitted case, former President Mohamed Nasheed could face charges for his alleged role in the Maldives National Defense Force’s (MNDF) decision to detain Judge Abdulla.
The country’s judges and their conduct became a major focus for Nasheed in the run up to his replacement by Dr Waheed in February. The former president had raised concerns over allegations of perjury and “increasingly blatant collusion” between senior judicial figures and politicians loyal to his predecessors, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
However, Nasheed himself came under criticism from some international bodies after detaining the chief judge whilst he claimed to be awaiting international assistance from bodies like the UN and the Commonwealth with the judicial reforms.
Speaking briefly by phone today about the Judge Abdulla case and its relation to the former president, PG Muizz said that a decision had yet to be taken on whether to press criminal charges or not.
In addressing the decision-making process concerning the prosecution of a high-profile figure such as a former president of the nation, Muizz said that he would apply the same criteria that was used against any other Maldivian citizen.
MDP response
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), of which Nasheed is a member, has responded to the filing of the case against the former president by claiming the decision was “pure injustice”, representing the “broken” state of the national criminal justice system.
MP Imthiyaz Fahmy commented that it was ironic that Nasheed, who had worked to foster a reputation for championing human rights in the country, could now potentially face prosecution by a judiciary that he himself believed to be guilty of several of cases of corruption.
“This is injustice. Justice is not ensured simply by a judge’s verdict on an issue, it has to be publically accepted that it is justice,” he argued.
“For the last thirty long years, the regime [of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom] tortured and suppressed the people. They systematically tortured the people. Those that were at the helm of torture and corruption are made as clean as ‘pure white cotton’ by the crippled judiciary.”
Charges
According to sources linked to the Judge Abdulla case, the charges levelled against Nasheed relate to the violation of article 46 of the Constitution of the Republic of Maldives, and for violation of Article 12 clause (a) of Judges Act (Act no 13/2010).
Article 44 of the Maldives Constitution states: “No person shall be arrested or detained for an offence unless the arresting officer observes the offence being committed, or has reasonable and probable grounds or evidence to believe the person has committed an offence or is about to commit an offence, or under the authority of an arrest warrant issued by the court.”
Article 12 clause (a) of the Judges Act states that a judge can be arrested without a court warrant, but only if he is found indulging in a criminal act.
The same article also states that if a judge comes under suspicion of committing a criminal act or being about to commit a criminal act, they can only be taken into custody with a court warrant obtained from a higher court than that in which the judge presently sits. This warrant has to be approved by the PG.
A police official confirmed on Sunday – April 15 – that the case regarding the judge’s detention had been submitted to the PG’s Office .
“Today at around 9:30am, we have submitted the case [the arrest of Judge Abdulla] to the prosecutor general. We have completed all the necessary investigations required,” the police official said at the time.
An official from the PG’s Office also confirmed to Minivan News that the charges sent to it by the police were against Nasheed. However, the official refused to explain the exact nature of the charges, stating that the case was still being assessed by their legal team.
Alcohol case
A second case involving Nasheed has also been sent to the PG by the police, involving the confiscation of bottles of alcohol allegedly found at his residence shortly after his presidency ended.
In a press conference, Deputy Head of the Drug Enforcement Department, Sub-Inspector Ismail Fareed, noted that all people questioned regarding the case had cooperated fully.
However, Nasheed maintained that he had no part to play in the confiscated liquor bottles.
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Nasheed drinks liquor. But so what? A lot of people do.
Sheikh Fareed planned to plant a bomb at airport. But was kept under the hood so as not to give ideas to other potential wanna-be's.
So why dont you drop the case against Anni as well.
How convenient that liquor bottles are always found anywhere the Police and MNDF personnel are seen, before the great discovery itself! If Nasheed is to be tried in court for drinking liquor, then the Parliament needs to first of all impeach the current President, for everyone knows that he also drinks. And what about his cabinet ministers? What about Police and Defence officials? And what about the many ordinary citizens in this country? Why don't we ask those foreigners with liquor permits to give a number on how many Maldivians they have come across who drink?
When the Judicial system itself failed to give justice to the many victims of Judge Abdulla's corrupt acts, then who else besides the President of the Maldives, has the final responsibility of ensuring that the Judicial system does not continue to infringe on the collective rights of the people of this country? It's a simple matter of Judge Abdulla's individual right to continue to conduct himself as a corrupt and inefficient judge versus the collective rights of the people of this country to a fair and efficient justice system. It is obvious from the stance of the PG office that they themselves are not bothered about justice. If justice is what they are after, well then immediately after this case then all those involved in the coup should be tried next. But of course, that's not going to happen, cause this is all about suppressing the democratic movement in this country. And only fools can actually accept or believe that this is about protecting the Constitution, Islam or the justice system of this country. Forunately, the majority of people in this country are not that stupid!
They are trying to arrest Mr.Nasheed , before the election .
Maumoon Gayoom is responsible for killing Ivan Naseem and Hussain Salah why not prosecute his case?
PG you've a dirty justice system here in Maldives and majority maldivian knew how you are prosecuting cases favor to your interest.
PG you are damaging our democratic system man and you are illegitimate to prosecute cases as we are having a military state, the constitution does not allow to run a military system(state).
We will be watching PGs every move very closely!
"Upon this, men ought to be either well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more severe ones they cannot; thus the injury that has to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of vengeance." - Niccolo Machiavelli
PG Muizz did not prosecute Nasheed,Anni, in 2008 when Elections Commission sent a case against Nasheed for violating campaigning law. Muizz said it was not in the public interest to prosecute Anni.
For God's sake, PG Anni is going to be elected President. It is not in the national interest to prosecute the next President.
Anyway, PG CMAG does not like Anni to be prosecuted ok
If they arrest President Nasheedh, They are going put fire to the current situation, First put the people who brought this coup to Justis and then talk about others . Will will not wait calm and idly after ur unjust sentence againt President Nasheed .
Obviously trying to destroy the MDP at all costs and remove the real President from the contest.
Arrest former Pres Nasheed after former Pres Gayoom literally got away with murder and the theft of millions of state dollars and cronyism?
I hope this does happen in a way as the whole world will go up in a mushroom cloud in disgust and response to this:)
he should be jailed for arresting chief judge adhullah. I call PG to prosecute asap. U made ur statement very clear when he was in Girifushi. I remember ur statement said he was arrested unlawfully which means u believe that arrest was unconstitutional so he should be prosecuted
Yet another bomb to provoke the people and say to the world.... we dont have the conditions for a fair and free election....yeyeyeye
I suggest stay quiet and watch the dudes games.... for now.
This is totally rubbish!
Why now? Why not when he was in power?
Nothing will erase the fact that the current regime is a rebel regime and they have came to power through a coupe of the forces, who are now controlling the rebel VP from behind the curtain!
@Peasant: Allways love how you spice up minivan news with quotes from the classics, Shakespeare, Machiavelli, Old English poetry... Enriches this website immesnely!
Well, Harming Anni is only going to bolster his support, he had learned to use his suffering, his victimisation as a weapon a long time ago.
The Judge, Yameen and Gasim, whom Anni arrested at different times, were not tortured during the short period of time they spent in custody. It would not be JUST to torture Anni. IF Anni is arrested it would be Un-equitable, it would not be JUST to detain him for a greater length of time than he kept the Judge, or Yameen and Gasim...
And don't even get me started on how hypocritical it would be too arrest him for alcohol use!
fairly weird how i sometimes feel the need to state the obvious huh? I will so never understand myself!
Ben,
After the coup they allow dissent to a degree. Once waters settled, consolidate power, reign in the councils and hostile organizations, allow the troubled waters to settle once more. Arrest Anni, ride the inevitable explosion, which would be smaller than expected, since civil servants are also appeased by then. Charge Anni on trumped up charges. Wait out the protests, while continuing the purge of lower ranked MDP activists. Sentence Anni on lesser charges, acquit him of the more outrageous charges. Anni, convicted of a crime is no longer eligible for office. Encourage a more conciliatory MDP leadership, something in line with the current DRP.
Then would be the time for an election, when regardless of the party in charge, the oligarchy rules.
The above is how I feel things are/will transpire. Remember the dissent you see is not ideological, people are fickle, poor people from the islands do not live in the paradigm of strategic thinking. The media is controlled by the oligarchy. Only 28% of Maldivians use the internet, the only reliable source of news from varied view points, the rest is propaganda.
We are not mature enough as a society to live up to the lofty ideals of fraternity, justice and human dignity. Our collective needs are basic, our intellectual capacity barely meets the requirements to consume propaganda, whether from the left or the right side of the political spectrum. Social mobility almost always requires collusion with the bandits of society. Hardly the ideal foundations of a just and democratic state.
”Upon this, men ought to be either well treated or crushed, because they can avenge themselves of lighter injuries, of more severe ones they cannot; thus the injury that has to be done to a man ought to be of such a kind that one does not stand in fear of vengeance.” – Niccolo Machiavelli
Machiavelli was the wisest amongst the infidels, may his punishment in the hellfire be lightened.
The final solution to the known deviants and harlots that infest our Nation is to swiftly and firmly garrott them on the spot, wherever they may be found.
The wombs of our harlot women must be flogged until they can only produce virtuous offspring, and not the likes of Nasheed and his feminist and zionist conspirators. Alhamdulillaah!
...ahh! DH, love this hilarious out of context you are always writing! and feel very sorry when some of the reader take your words in a serious way.
@ Peasent,
Congrats on your mastery of looking into the Maldivian Political Crystal Ball. This certainly seems the way how the dies would be cast. It remains to be seen if President Nasheed’s legal team has the balls to fight the case and win – in the courts.
It looks like it’s going to be an uphill task for any legal team, because if President Nasheed has to answer charges of illegally arresting the now “super star” judge (That’s the type of reaction he got on the day he got back his freedom – due to “peoples power”.) - then his only recourse is to hire Western legal experts who are the most adept at splitting hairs and putting up smoke screens to ultimately have you wondering if black is white, or if the sun really rises in the East – in their 5 star brand of Justice. Don’t get me wrong! Any day I would prefer to their standards of justice as compared to our present prevalent form of justice. THAT’S ANOTHER MATTER!
As for trumped up charges I beg to differ.
I doubt any Maldivian has any doubts that President Nasheed arrested the judge extra judicially. I cannot understand how else a judge could be arrested without a court warrant, how it could be done at the dead of night with police officers knocking at your door at midnight and dragging you from your house in front of the terrified family which included small children. If that was not bad enough, then to ignore all the “higher” legal mechanisms in the land calling on President Nasheed to release the judge.
(We are not in KGB Russia or GESTAPO Germany or KU KLUX KLAN America – we are in DEMONCRATIC MALDIVES! Surely!!!!!!).
Surely if this country is to move forward, leaders who can blatantly trample the constitution and the laws of the country NEEDS TO BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE, in the most stringent and transparent way possible. So that future demoncrats would think twice before turning into despots, for convenience.
Surely this goes beyond personalities? NOBODY even such an “enlightened” individual as our inimitable President Nasheed is above the law. After all we have the shining example of the Prophet of Allah (Pbuh) and amongst others the Caliph Umar, with regard to rule of law. How could we then ignore or forget?
As for Alcohol, What President Nasheed does within his 4 walls is his business. Televised bottles of alchohol stashed in his residence means just that – somebody had placed it there because alchol bottles don’t walk on its own. However doesn’t common sense dictate that it could have been placed there by anybody? Person A, Person B, or the Police or granted - even President Nasheed. Now that the TV coverage is there obviously it has to be investigated and brought to courts. That President Nasheed could answer these charges is beyond doubt. The silver lining for President Nasheed is that in a court of law he would have successfully answered the charges of bringing & drinking Alcohol in his residence and so shut his critics up - once and for all. What a Golden opportunity for President Nasheed!
President Nasheed or any other public personality shouldn’t complain. We are all answerable before the same law. There cannot be one law for our bright young President Nasheed and another law for the Canary ge’ cook, and then one for you and me. You are in public office knowing that you are under the microscope and no matter who and how high you maybe, you are answerable to the same law.
I’m happy because this is a precedent that gives notice to all future leaders however glib their election rhetoric maybe – DON’T GO THE PATH OF DESPOTS AND TURN SUDDENLY AUTOCRATIC TRAMPLING THE LAWS. From President Nasheed’s case let public figures learn that THEY GO AGAINST THE LAW AT THEIR OWN RISK. Be sure that the law would catch up with you!
What bothers me though is that not enough is being done by the relevant organisations concerned to impress on the people that NOBODY is above the law. Not even the President. Not even the ex PresidentS. We should rejoice that at last in this country it seems that a new era is beginning. An era where the rule of law would prevail.
Let’s pray that due process is TRANSPARENT, that the court proceedings are well reported, on national TV and that a seat is found for anyone who wishes to attend – even children. If 4 walls is too constraining let the court sit at the football stadium. Lets not miss the chance of extracting the last drop of juice of the lessons of rule of law and transparency in this opportunity that has opened up for us - as a nation.
Hurrah! For Justice! Hurrah! For the rule of law! 🙂
PG is part of the coup he is a very foxy guy do you remember the feb 8 he closed his eyes. the citizens of this county is awake and will keep record of all these things You will also be removed and will be prosecuted one day