Author: Ahmed Nazeer

Civil Court allows Alhan’s lawsuit to invalidate party primary to continue

The Civil Court has ruled against the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in a procedural issue raised in the lawsuit seeking the invalidation of the Feydhoo constituency primary.

During the hearing, the MDP’s lawyer had told the court that the complainant – second-placed candidate Alhan Fahmy – had not completed all procedures within the party to solve the issue, and that he could not therefore file a lawsuit.

However, the Civil Court today ruled that halting the case would deprive Alhan of the right to a fair trial as guaranteed in Article 42 of the constitution.

After losing the contest for Majlis elections to Mohamed Nihad, Alhan claimed that the list used on polling day was different from the [eligible] voter lists, and that any candidate who won the party ticket through a fraudulent vote could not be a valid one.

Alhan called for a fresh vote in the constituency, claiming the voter list used at polling stations was outdated and did not afford 67 party members the right to vote.

The election committee confirmed that 67 members were indeed missing from the list at the ballot box, but decided against holding a re-vote, arguing that the primary outcome would not change even if these members were allowed to vote.

Online newspaper CNM today quoted MDP Chairperson and MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik as saying that the MDP will not change any of the party’s candidates and that it would not be wise to give the party ticket to a different candidate while there were only 18 days before the parliamentary election.

He also told the paper that the MDP had received complaints regarding people campaigning in contravention of party policies, and that cases have been filed with the party’s disciplinary committee to take action against those persons.

Moosa said that he, as the chairperson of the party, appealed to all party members not to do anything that would cause divisions within the party and that he would not give anyone the chance to do so.

Stabbing and party history

On February 1 – the same day Alhan announced that he would file a case with the court to cancel the primary – he was stabbed while at Breakwater cafe in the artificial beach area of Malé.

Following the attack Alhan’s left leg was paralysed though he has since regained the ability to walk, with the aid of a crutch.

Alhan has had a chequered recent past with the MDP, rejoining the party in June last year after an apparently acrimonious departure in April of the previous year. Then party vice president, Alhan was ejected – alongside then party President Dr Ibrahim Didi – after the pair publicly questioned the party’s official interpretation of the February 7 ousting of President Mohamed Nasheed.

The Feydhoo MP subsequently organised a rally – sparsely attended – calling for the freeing of the MDP from its talismanic leader Nasheed. Alhan’s soon joined the government-aligned Jumhooree Party,

Alhan was initially elected to parliament on a Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP) ticket, making him one of the few MPs to have been a member of almost every major political party represented in parliament, barring the DRP’s splinter party, the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM).

He was dismissed from the DRP in 2010 for breaking the party’s whip line in a no-confidence vote against then Foreign Minister, Dr Ahmed Shaheed

Last August, Alhan was summoned by police in connection with the alleged blackmailing of Supreme Court Justice Ali Hameed, using footage of the judge having sex with two foreign women said to be prostitutes.

The MP tweeted a screenshot of a text message he claimed had been sent to his mobile phone by Superintendent of Police Mohamed Riyaz. The text read: “Alhan, will make sure you are fully famed (sic) for blackmailing Justice Ali Hameed. You don’t know who we are.’’

Alhan is now contesting in the parliament election as an independent candidate.

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AG withdraws from non-cooperation case against Raajje TV

The appeal case concerning the President’s Office’s refusal to cooperate with private broadcaster Raajje TV has been withdrawn by the Attorney General’s (AG) Office.

The office is quoted as saying in local media that the case was withdrawn because it was not the policy of the government to work against any media outlet.

An official from the AG’s office was quoted in online newspaper CNM as saying that the government’s policy was to provide equal opportunity to all media outlets.

On April 14, 2013, the Civil Court ruled in favour of the Maldivian Democratic Party-aligned Raajje TV after the President’s Office had barred the station from the then-President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s press conferences and functions.

The office told parliament’s government oversight committee that Raajje TV was not invited to press conferences as the station did not fit the criteria or standards of reporting set out by the President’s Office.

The policy of the President’s Office was to invite “responsible and experienced” media outlets, which included private broadcasters DhiTV and VTV, state broadcaster Television Maldives (TVM), newspapers Haveeru and Miadhu, as well as internet publications Sun Online and Minivan News.

The Civil Court ruling was subsequently appealed at the High Court by the attorney general.

At the time, the Maldives Media Council also asked the prosecutor general to press charges against the President’s Office over what it found to be discriminatory treatment.

Raajje TV’s dispute with the President’s Office followed a similar disagreement with the Maldives Police Service (MPS) in 2012, during which police announced that they had stopped cooperating with the local broadcaster, alleging the station was broadcasting false and slanderous content which had undermined the services credibility of the MPS.

On February 5, 2013, the Civil Court ruled that a decision by the police to cease cooperating with opposition-aligned TV station Raajje TV was unconstitutional.

Raajje TV’s main studios were destroyed last October in a premeditated arson attack carried out by a group of masked men. After the police’s role in the incident was criticised by Reporters Without Borders, the Police Integrity Commission recommended charges be filed against two unnamed officers.

The station has also been the subject of a Supreme Court-ordered investigation into its alleged criticism of the court’s rulings. In December, police requested the Prosecutor General press charges against both the News Head of Raajje Television Ibrahim ‘Aswad’ Waheed and the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Station Abdulla Yameen Rasheed.

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Jabir’s legal team ask court to determine ways jailed MP can campaign

The wife of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Abdulla Jabir has today submitted a legal issue to the High Court arguing that the recently jailed MP has a right to campaign for next month’s Majlis elections.

Jabir is currently serving a one year jail sentence after being found guilty of declining to provide a urine sample for police to run a drug test.

Speaking to Minivan News today Dhiyana Saeed said that Article 73 of the constitution, which details persons who cannot qualify as Majlis candidates, states that a person serving a jail term of less than 12 months is still qualified.

“If the constitution states that a person serving a jail term less than 12 months will be able to contest in the election then that person should not be suspended from obtaining his electoral rights,’’ she said. “If he is able to contest then he must also be able to campaign.”

Dhiyana – herself a former attorney general and SAARC secretary general – said that the High Court should allow the MP to make phone calls and talk to constituents at a time determined by the court, or he should be allowed to visit a campaign office at a time determined by the court.

Dhiyana noted that when the Elections Act was enacted in 2008, the Jumhooree Party filed a court case claiming that the act’s ruling that prisoners are not able to vote was inconsistent with the constitution.

The High Court subsequently ruled that that article was void and that inmates should have the right to vote.

“So this is the other side of that right, that time it was the right of the persons voting and this time it is the right of the candidate,’’ she said.

Dhiyana revealed that the High Court has said it will decide on accepting the issue and inform her this afternoon.

“If the High Court does not accept this case then we will try filing it with the Civil Court as a civil right issue,’’ she added.

On February 20, 2014, the Criminal Court found Abdulla Jabir guilty of refusing to provide his urine sample to the police to run a drug test, and sentenced him to twelve months under the 2011 Drug Act.

On November 16, 2012, Jabir was arrested along with other high profile MDP members on suspicion that they were in possession and under the influence of alcohol and cannabis from Jabir’s uninhabited island Hondaidhoo in Haa Alifu Atoll.

The prosecutor general pressed three charges against Jabir – one for the charge of declining to provide a urine sample to police,  a second charge for making cannabis transactions, and a third for possession of alcohol.

Last month, the Criminal Court found Jabir guilty of declining to provide urine sample and the MP was taken into custody. Last week, however, the court ruled that the state was not able to prove that Jabir had made any transactions involving cannabis. The alcohol possession case is ongoing.

Jabir’s legal team has claimed the first trial contravened the MP’s constitutional rights as well as the principles of natural justice.

“The number of procedural violations in the whole criminal justice process in regard to this case is highly concerning and we believe that Hon. Abdullah Jabir was denied the fundamental rights that constitutes a free and fair hearing guaranteed to him by Article 42 of the Constitution,” read a press release from Aequitas Legal Consultants last week.

Last month a house in Malé owned by the MP was raided by police, with three men were arrested and drugs and alcohol were seized, though it was reported that Jabir does not live in the building.

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Criminal Court acquits MDP MP Jabir of cannabis possession charges

The Criminal Court has ruled that the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Abdulla Jabir was not guilty of possessing cannabis when police raided his uninhabited island – Hondaidhoo in Haa Alifu atoll – in November 2012.

Jabir is currently in Malé jail after the court sentenced him to twelve months after finding him guilty of refusing to provide a urine sample for police to run a drug test.

A total of 10 people were taken into police custody on November 16 after police raided and searched Hondaidhoo with a court warrant. Officers alleged they found large amounts of “suspected” drugs and alcohol upon searching the island.

Seven of the suspects, including the MDP MPs Hamid Abdul Ghafoor and Jabir were among those charged.

At the time, police submitted cases against former SAARC Secretary General and Special Envoy to the former President Ibrahim Hussain Zaki, former President’s Office Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair and his wife Mariyam Faiz. The manager of Jabir’s resort J Alidhoo Jadhulla Jaleel and Zaki’s son Hamdan Zaki also face charges.

Yesterday Jabir’s legal team appealed his recent conviction at the High Court, claiming that the trial had violated the MP’s constitutional rights.

Meanwhile, Jabir is still facing as additional trial for possession of alcohol relating to the Hondaidhoo incident.

According to the constitution, any additional time added to Jabir’s sentence will result in the MP being stripped off his seat in parliament and barred from running in the upcoming parliamentary election. After surviving disciplinary proceedings within the party, Jabir had been scheduled to re-contest his Kaashidhoo seat next month.

Article 73 of the constitution states that a person shall be disqualified from election as a member of the People’s Majlis – or a member of the People’s Majlis immediately becomes disqualified – if he has been convicted of a criminal offence and is serving a sentence of more than twelve months.

Additionally, the same article states that if a person has been convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to a term of more than twelve months – unless a period of three years has elapsed since his release – or he has been pardoned for the offence for which he was sentenced, he will also be disqualified.

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MDP MP Abdulla Jabir sentenced to one year

The Criminal Court has today sentenced Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP and parliamentary elections candidate for Kaashidhoo constituency Abdulla Jabir to one year in prison .

The court found him guilty of refusing to provide his urine sample to the police to run a drug test, and sentenced him to twelve months under the Drug Act 17/2011 article 123(a)(b).

The verdict published on the court website stated that on November 16, 2012, Jabir was arrested as a suspect in a drug related case and that police asked him to produce his urine sample to which he clearly refused according to the witnesses produced by the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The verdict stated that, although Jabir had claimed that he was tortured by the witnesses produced by the state, and that the police did not follow the correct procedure when asking for a urine sample, Jabir was not able to prove these accusations to the court.

Article 73(c)(2) of the constitution states that a person shall be disqualified from election as a member of the People’s Majlis – or a member of the People’s Majlis immediately becomes disqualified – if he has been convicted of a criminal offence and is serving a sentence of more than twelve months.

Article 73(c)(3) states that if a person has been convicted of a criminal offence and sentenced to a term of more than twelve months, unless a period of three years has elapsed since his release, or he has been pardoned for the offence for which he was sentenced, he will also be disqualified.

MDP MP Ali Azim and Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Mohamed Nashiz were disqualified from the Majlis by the Supreme Court in a controversial ruling over decreed debt in October.

Jabir was set to re-contest his Kaashidhoo seat next month after an internal MDP decision to discipline the MP for repeatedly breaking three-line whips was overturned on appeal.

A house in Malé owned by the MP was raided by police earlier this month. Three men were arrested and drugs and alcohol were seized, though it was reported that Jabir does not live in the building.

MDP Parliamentary Group Leader Ibrahim Mohamed ‘Ibu’ Solih was unavailable at time of press and Jabir was not responding to calls.

A total of 10 people were taken into police custody on November 16 after police raided and searched Hondaidhoo with a court warrant. Officers alleged they found large amounts of “suspected” drugs and alcohol upon searching the island.

Seven of the suspects, including Maldivian Democratic Party MPs Hamid Abdul Ghafoor and Jabir were among those charged.

At the time, police submitted cases against former SAARC Secretary General and Special Envoy to the former President Ibrahim Hussain Zaki, former President’s Office Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair and his wife Mariyam Faiz. The manager of Jabir’s resort J Alidhoo Jadhulla Jaleel and Zaki’s son Hamdan Zaki also face charges.

Two Sri Lankan nationals named Raj Mohan and Anoor Bandaranayk as well as a Bangladeshi named Suhail Rana were taken into custody following the island raid.

Police Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef said at the time of the arrests that officers requested all suspects taken into custody on Hondaidhoo to provide urine samples for a routine examination. However, only Hamdhaan Zaki and the three foreign suspects complied with the request.

According to the Drug Act, Sections 123(a), 161(a) and 161(b), any person arrested on suspicion of having abused alcohol or narcotics has an obligation to comply with police requests for routine urine examination by promptly providing urine samples, and failure to comply is a criminal offence punishable with a one-year jail sentence.

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New court regulations introduced to speed up justice system

New court regulations will require the Prosecutor General (PG) to press charges against suspects arrested in serious crimes within 45 days of their arrest.

The regulation states that suspects arrested in other cases should be charged within 30 days, as well as giving instruction on how to proceed if the PG fails to press charges against a suspect in the given duration.

Furthermore, the new regulation determines different times of the day that police will be able to request a court warrant, as well as the times at which they will be issued.

According to the regulation, if any other institution needs a court warrant to conduct a criminal investigation, it has to request for the warrant through police.

The PG’s Office will not be able to resubmit a criminal case after withdrawing it, unless it informs the court that the case is being withdrawn for revisions. Cases withdrawn for other purposes cannot be resubmitted.

Earlier this month, the High Court ruled that the lower court could not revisit a police obstruction case involving two MPs, as the PG’s Office had earlier withdrawn the case for reasons that were not clearly understood by all parties.

The regulation obliges the PG to resubmit any case withdrawn for revisions within 30 days of the withdrawal.

The Criminal Court said that a meeting had been held with officials from the police, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and lawyers to launch the new regulation.

On December 10, 2013, the police launched a 100 day roadmap based on four main strategies which sought to increase and enhance operational activities, conduct activities to curb crime, enhance and hasten investigations, and to improve the police institution.

The roadmap set a target of  80 percent of the investigations filed with police to be completed and fowarded onto the Prosecutor General’s (PG) office of a more efficient service.

Police also pledged to conclude their investigations into crimes – other than those of a serious or organised nature-  in 30 days, to conclude testing of suspicious drugs within three days, and to conduct three special operations to curb the illegal businesses of drug and alcohol.

On December 2, 2013, the police and PG’s Office started working together in the investigation process in order to speed up investigations, with the of concluding investigations and submitting them to the court within 48 hours.

The new regulations come as the PG’s Office tackles a backlog of over 500 cases after the Criminal Court’s refusal to accept new work without the appointment of a new prosecutor general. The Deputy PG has said the build up of cases will take a month to clear.

Meanwhile, both the Criminal and Civil Courts have been forced to curtail overtime hours due to budget restrictions. Staff refusing unpaid overtime have been suspended.

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Convicted murderer retracts confession in High Court

Ahmed Murrath – the man sentenced to death by the Criminal Court after being found guilty of murdering a prominent lawyer in 2012 – has today retracted his confession given.

Newspaper Haveeru has reported that Murrath’s lawyer Abdul Hakeem Rashadh told the High Court his client’s hands were handcuffed behind his back when he made the confession and therefore it could not be considered a confession made without coercion.

Rashadh also told the court that Murrath did not willfully commit the murder because he was under the influence of illegal drugs, and also that his client had the opportunity to deny the confession as no witness had seen him committing the murder.

Haveeru reported that Murrath spoke inside the court today, telling judges that when he was in pretrial detention police had refused him access to a doctor.

Murrath acknowledged he is a drug addict and that he had experienced a pain in his body, in response to which police officers at the detention centre had given him a plastic bag containing tea.

Furthermore, it was reported that the Prosecutor General’s Office told the court there were two contradicting statements provided by Murrath, inquiring as to which one should respond.

The court told the PG’s lawyer to prepare his response at the next hearing, asking both parties to make it the final hearing.

Murrath’s girlfriend, Fathimath Hana of Rihab house in Shaviyani Goidhoo island, was also sentenced to life in the case after she confessed to “helping” her boyfriend kill Ahmed Najeeb.

The 65 year-old lawyer’s body was found stuffed inside a dustbin at Masroora house – Murrath’s residence – badly beaten with multiple stab wounds.

Speaking at the Criminal Court during the 2012 trial, Murrath’s girlfriend said that her boyfriend killed Najeeb after he became “sure” the lawyer had attempted to sexually assault her. She admitted to tying Najeeb’s hand, legs, and taped his mouth while Murrath threatened him with a knife.

“We thought he must have a lot of money as he is a lawyer,” she told the court, after declining representation from a lawyer.

Najeeb’s cash card was taken from him and the pair had used it to withdraw money.

According to Hanaa, she did not know that the victim had been killed until Murrath woke her up and told her at around 4:00am. At the time Hanaa said she was sleeping – intoxicated from drinking alcohol.

Murrath corroborated this course of events in his statement, saying that she was asleep when he killed the lawyer. He confessed to killing Najeeb out of anger and apologised to the family members.

On February 9, the cabinet advised President Abdulla Yameen that there was no legal obstruction to implementing death sentences, after the Home Minister Umar Naseer had ordered an end to the 60 year moratorium on executions.

The order closely followed the conclusion of the Dr Afrasheem Ali murder trial, in which Hussein Humam was sentenced to death. Similarly, Humam also claimed that his confession – currently being used as key evidence against his alleged accomplice – was given under duress.

Naseer stated that the order is applicable to all pending sentences, of which there are approximately 20.

In December 2012, the then-Attorney General Azima Shukoor drafted a bill outlining how the death sentence should be executed in the Maldives, with lethal injection being identified as the state’s preferred method of capital punishment.

The last person to be executed in the Maldives was Hakim Didi, who was executed by firing squad in 1953 after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder using black magic.

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Government will not seek to speed up Nasheed’s trial, says President Yameen

Read this article in Dhivehi

President Abdulla Yameen has said that the current government will not try to push the courts to speed up the trial of former President Mohamed Nasheed, who was charged for “unlawful arrest of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed’’.

Local media did report, however, that Yameen noted the opposition leader must be sentenced if there is rule of law in the country.

Speaking at a ceremony held to open the campaign office of the Progressive Party of Maldives’ Majlis candidate for the Maafannu-West constituency, Yameen noted that there were things the government could to expedite proceedings, but said that the government did not wish to enter the criminal justice procedure.

Yameen also said that international groups had no concerns over this issue or any other other issues such as the delay in appointment of a new prosecutor general (PG) – which has led to a backlog of over 500 cases.

A UN report on the independence of judges last year did make mention of the Nasheed case, noting that it was “difficult to understand why one former President is being tried for an act he took outside of his prerogative, while another [Maumoon Abdul Gayoom] has not had to answer for any of the alleged human rights violations documented over the years.”

In July 2012, Nasheed and Former Defense Minister Tholhath Ibrahim were charged with violating Article 81 of the penal code, which states that the detention of a government employee who has not been found guilty of a crime is illegal.

If found guilty, Nasheed and Tholhath will face a jail sentence or banishment of three years or a fine of MVR3000 (US$193.5).

The case was first filed at the Hulhumalé Magistrate Court before Nasheed’s legal team argued that it did not have jurisdiction to preside over the case, filing a procedural issue at the High Court.

The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) appointed a three member panel consisting of judges Shujau Usman, Abdul Nasir Abdul Raheem, and Hussain Mazeed to hear Nasheed’s procedural issue.

Before the court reached a conclusion on the issue, however, the  JSC suspended Chief Judge in the High Court bench Ahmed Shareef before changing Judge Mazeed and Judge Usman to the Civil Court.

Since this time, no hearings of the case have been conducted or scheduled.

Abdulla Mohamed’s arrest

Abdulla Mohamed was a central figure in the downfall of the former president. He was detained by the military in January 2012 after the government accused him of political bias, obstructing police, stalling cases, having links with organised crime.

The home minister at the time described the judge as “taking the entire criminal justice system in his fist” to protect key figures of the former dictatorship from human rights and corruption cases.

The chief judge was detained after he had opened the court outside normal hours to order the immediate release of the current Vice President Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, arrested after the President’s Office requested an investigation into “slanderous” allegations that the administration was working under the influence of “Jews and Christian priests” to weaken Islam in the Maldives.

Prosecutor general (PG) at that time – the recently resigned Ahmed Muizz – joined the High Court and Supreme Court in condemning the MNDF’s role in the arrest, requesting that the judge be released.

The police are required to go through the PG’s Office to obtain an arrest warrant from the High Court, Muizz said, claiming that the MNDF and Nasheed’s administration “haven’t followed the procedures, and the authorities are in breach of law. They could be charged with contempt of the courts.”

Muizz subsequently ordered the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) to investigate the matter.

Judge Abdulla’s arrest sparked three weeks of anti-government protests, while the government appealed for assistance from the Commonwealth and UN with reform of the judiciary.

As protests escalated, elements of the police and military mutinied on February 7, alleging that Nasheed’s orders to arrest the judge had been unlawful. A Commonwealth legal delegation had landed in the capital only days earlier.

Nasheed publicly resigned the same day, later saying he had been as forced to do so “under duress” in a coup d’état. A Commonwealth led investigation would later rule the transfer to have been legal.

Judge Abdulla was released on the evening of February 7, and the Criminal Court swiftly issued a warrant for Nasheed’s arrest. Police did not act on the warrant, however, after mounting international concern.

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Majlis committee to summon police for clarification on Alhan stabbing case

Parliament’s privileges committee has decided to summon police officers next Sunday to clarify details of how the investigation into the attack on Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Alhan Fahmy is proceeding.

Speaking to Minivan News, MDP MP Imthiyaz ‘Inthi’ Fahmy, who submitted the case to the committee, described the incident as a murder attempt.

Alhan was stabbed in Malé on February 1 while at the Breakwater cafe in the artificial beach area.

“It is a concern to the whole parliament,’’ Inthi said. “It undermined the privilege of all the MPs, that’s why I sent a letter to the committee.’’

He said that a meeting was held regarding the case, and the committee had decided to ask police to send officers who could provide details of the investigation.

Inthi noted that the police were not sharing information with the public as they did during the investigation into the October 2012 murder of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MP Dr Afrasheem Ali.

“So under the right to information we need to clarify this information,’’ he said, adding that the meeting with the police had been scheduled for 1:30pm on Sunday February 16.

Similarly, a source within Alhan’s family – speaking to Minivan News on condition of anonymity – said that police had not been cooperative thus far.

“Twelve days have passed now and we have tried many different ways to get information on the investigation,’’ he said, adding that he was sure the arrested persons were the assailants.

The Criminal Court yesterday extended the detention period to fifteen days for the two suspects arrested in the case. A third suspect was arrested, but was released soon after.

The family member said today that there was now a small movement in his leg, though doctors were unsure how long it will for him to fully recover.

During the attack, Alhan received stab wounds to the back and was quickly flown to Sri Lanka for spinal surgery.

“He still cannot sit, stand or walk and can’t talk a lot because he does not have energy,’’ said the family member. “We are still discussing sending him to Singapore and we also sent the surgery report to the doctors in Singapore where they have said it was done well and there were no issues.’’

The attack was politically motivated and well organised, stated the source, who noted that Alhan’s car had been followed three days prior to the incident.

MPs condemning the attack earlier this month suggested it may have been carried out by powerful local gangs working on the orders of political paymasters.

The source said that Alhan might not be able to be actively involved in his campaign for re-election in the Feydhoo constituency, where he intends to run as an independent after losing what he claims was an unfair party primary.

Though the MP’s family were critical of the MDP’s decision not to repeat the primary vote, local media were told this week that Alhan would continue to promote the MDP’s policy and ideology if re-elected.

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