Additional reporting by Neil Merrett.
Former President Mohamed Nasheed’s trial hearing scheduled for 4:00pm today (February 20) was cancelled by the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court after police were unable to present him to judicial authorities due to his presence in the Indian High Commission.
The High Court meanwhile threw out an appeal hearing into the first warrant issued on February 13, after Nasheed failed to appear at a hearing scheduled for 1:00pm this afternoon.
On Monday (February 18), the magistrate court issued a second arrest warrant requesting police present Nasheed on charges of illegally detaining Chief Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed during his final days in office.
An official from the Judiciary Media Unit confirmed Nasheed’s hearing was cancelled after police said the former president could not be arrested while still inside the Indian High Commission.
“Police have said they won’t be able to bring Nasheed to Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court and so the hearing has been cancelled. A new hearing is yet to be scheduled by the court,” the official said.
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) have said Nasheed will remain inside the High Commission until an interim government is established ahead of the presidential elections in September.
Police have cordoned off the street outside the High Commission, but have so far taken a hands off approach towards the few hundred Nasheed supporters protesting at the barricades.
Police Spokesperson Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef was not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.
Stalemate
Nasheed and the MDP have maintained that the charges against him are a politically-motivated attempt to prevent the former president from contesting in presidential elections scheduled for later this year.
Nasheed’s lawyer Hassan Latheef said the former president’s team of lawyers were having to rely on the media to receive updates regarding the latest news from Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court, and were not being officially informed of any decisions it was making.
“It is very unfortunate that we are not directly informed by the court regarding the developments in this case. Instead, we are having to contact the court for information,” he said.
“We are relying on the media for updates. Now that the court hearing has been cancelled, we have no idea what will happen,” Latheef said.
Asked whether about the possibility of the trial being conducted in absentia, Latheef added: “The constitution states clearly that no trial can be held with the defendant being absent.”
“However, knowing this particular court and the knowing the magistrates on the case, as well as the police and government, I do not doubt it could happen,” Latheef said.
Earlier today, MDP Spokesperson MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said that the Foreign Ministry had already been in touch with the Indian High Commission to try get them to hand Nasheed over to police.
“I wouldn’t put it past the government to raid the Indian High Commission, partly because nobody expects them to do it,” Ghafoor said.
India’s Special Envoy arrives
India’s Special Envoy Harsh Vardhan Shringla visited Male’ today to try and resolve the stalemate, which has attracted widespread international media coverage, and extensive attention from the Indian media. No headway or details of meetings had been reported at time of press.
Meanwhile, a small police presence manned barricades around the the Indian High Commission building ahead of the scheduled trial.
Minivan News also observed a large UN contingent sitting in Traders Hotel opposite the High Commission. UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Gabriela Knaul, is currently in the country for a scheduled visit until February 24.
A large number of tourists were passing through the barricades and having their photos taken with police officers controlling traffic outside the high commission. A row of 30 bouquets of flowers had been placed against the wall of the commission earlier in the day by a group of female Nasheed supporters. One had a card the read: “We will always be with our President (Anni) XX”.
As the time of the hearing neared, around 200 MDP supporters gathered outside the party office on Sosun Magu before moving to the Prosecutor General (PG)’s Office demanding the PG withdraw the charges against former President Nasheed.
As the 4:00pm deadline passed, a few hundered supporters and onlookers once again gathered on Sosun Magu, where they have been holding successive daily demonstrations since Friday (February 15).
Around 20 riot officers were deployed to control the crowd, remaining a few hundred yards away from the protesters. The atmosphere was tense as supporters continued to heckle authorities, however at time of press police had taken no action to disperse the demonstration.
However police subsequently seized a yellow-painted pick-up truck equipped with a loudspeaker that was playing the party’s protest songs, claiming that it was disturbing nearby schoolchildren.
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This case is been forward to Hulumale' court and the court refuse to take the matter in to court and they change the Judges of the court and appeal the case in to same court again,the courts are under a coup its been influence by the present regime JSC commission Parliament chair is been lead by a coup leader Gasim Ibrahim cant understand how they can have fair trail It like K.Kashoodoo MP been sentence given the chair to Jumhure Party and the MP after election by Gasim Ibrahim sitting on Parliament chair in JAC
India will defend fili nasheed since they are hoping to bring back gmr and then take over Maldives. Traitor like nasheed will be willing to do anything just for his own benefit
Amended Constitution not permits to sentence any one in absence.May be good for Gayoom and the rest.
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-929520
Its a Kangaroo Court.
shows the police chickened out yesterday! The world is watching .very obvious India is very much involved in everything. And nobody is doing anything about it which means whatever it is doing is right, eh?
Telecast live the proceedings of this case. It should have been done earlier. The entire world is watching this development
It is always the nature of hypocrites to hide from harsh reality. The head of coup man says,” the government cannot do anything it is between Judiciary and Nasheed” . I wonder if Nasheed is asked to leave by Indian official, will the coup man ask home minister don’t get involved and stop chasing Nasheed, it is between Judiciary and Nasheed
Why can’t this guy simply say I am sorry we can’t do anything, Anni is beyond our reach if and when we can grab him we will bring him.
The coup master definitely can solve issue if he is not biased, everybody knows coup master is the arch enemy of Anni who was hypocrite under Anni and, was waiting for the opportunity to hit Anni on his face. I am not sure why the fishermen trust such hypocrite, if he can cheat his master what ethics and principle this guy has to be loyal to people.
The whole world knows Anni has problems with Judiciary and he is not loved by judiciary, how can a judiciary that is most corrupted and uneducated can do a fair trial to a person who is against them. Everybody knows that this is not a trial; it is going to be an exercise to issue a verdict for an obvious crime Anni has committed.
Coup master can’t say he can’t do anything, when he is the highest man to get the country out of crisis which now seems obvious. He has to help the judicial system to carry out their jobs or to reform Judiciary according to what Nasheed has tried and still trying. If the man has no mandate to exercise such a power, than he has to go and get someone who has a mandate by people to do this, to hold on power he is simply complicating a very simple thing to show the fishermen crowd that he is very capable guy who is doing a good to the country.
Mohammed can’t say I can’t do anything, when he can definitely do one thing; it is just resign because you can’t get the country out of a very big crisis. Almost you have lost the status of independence, and you are saying you can’t do anything and still holding that position. This is possible only in your Fishermen village and may be the Fishermen Islands are not fit to be called an independent country. Coup master thought the tom & jerry that he is playing with his goons at home can be done with outside world.
Since by definition you are an independent nation but literally you are not independent because you depend on others for basics in survival, you have to be smart to hold on your fake independency and should play with rules of games that are universal. You have brought democratic government down undemocratically on the street by thugs and the so called forces who were sworn to protect the democracy and ignored the pacts, agreements that was done under a democratic government.
Now you are defunct player at the mercy of Indians and I think the only way the fishermen can save their face is once you have resigned,
kuribee on Thu, 21st Feb 2013 10:37 PM
"its a Kanogaroo court where the monkey is hiding in the nut shell by seeking asylum in a foreign embassy."
Your mastery of the Queen's language is remarkable. Care to teach it?
It's not Kuribee's syntax that is the real worry! The real worry is that we don't have a clue of what he is trying to say! I am wondering if HE knows what he is trying to say!
I see Kuribe and Mody's pocket money is running out. That is a logical explanation for their massive drop in propaganda quality.
Also what do monkey's have to do with kangaroo's?
yes . true Fili Nasheed and his loyalists thinks that when Nasheed can hide in the Indian embassy until election result come out.
Nasheed thinks that he can sell the Maldives to India?
Nasheed thinks that entire international community is going to back him to win the election.
International community is not blind to see things and not going to believe things what Nasheed tell to international community.
International community will be more responsible than what Nasheed thinks and they are not going to be believe and agree what ever Nsheed says and they will make a rational decisions always.
But i guess India will be slightly different from other international community since they now going to have a vested interested in this country . Knowing the weakness of Nasheed, they will use Nasheed to capture this country and invade the country at least economically.
@kuribee
Here are the real facts India already owns your sorry arse of a country because it has loaned you so much money in the last year you can't repay it.
Now you realise the corrupt coup leaders have emptied the treasury they are trying to resell your souls to the Chinese.
Make no mistake, its better to be in bed with India than with China. You will be a willing partner with the India, but a slave to China.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-25-most-miserable-places-in-the-world-192748535.html
It says here "heavy government spending have taken a toll on the local economy, cause high inflation and an unemployment rate that's nearly double since 2010. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-25-most-miserable-places-in-the-world-192748535.html