Day: January 23, 2014

JSC to evaluate performance of judges

The judicial oversight body, the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), is to evaluate performances of all judges at least every two years under a new regulation.

The Regulation on Evaluation of Judge’s Performance came into effect on January 1, and was made public on Tuesday.

“This regulation allows the JSC to take action against non-performing judges and also provides incentives for judges who perform well,” JSC member and opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Hamza said.

Under the regulation, the JSC is to appoint a five-member subcommittee to conduct performance appraisals of all judges. Judges will be evaluated on four criteria:  work performance, commitment to the judges’ code of conduct, attendance, and extent to which the judge’s verdicts are repealed in the appeal process.

If a judge gains between 85- 100 points, he or she will be given priority in promotions to a superior court.

However, if a judge receives below 50 points in two consecutive appraisal terms, the JSC will recommend the People’s Majlis to retire the judge or transfer the judge to another position in the judiciary.

Hamza said the regulation constituted an important step in holding judges accountable, but said the judiciary intervened regularly in the JSC’s attempts to discipline judges.

“Influential judges do not want the JSC to function. They use legal loopholes to undermine the JSC’s powers,” Hamza said, referring to the recent Supreme Court’s mandamus order halting the JSC’s decision to shuffle ten superior court judges.

Article 46 of the Judges Act allows the JSC to transfer judges between courts on the request of the Judicial Council.

However, the Supreme Court has annulled the Judicial Council and taken over the council’s powers, effectively limiting the JSC’s power to transfer or appoint any judges unless authorised by the Supreme Court.

Hamza said the People’s Majlis needed to amend judiciary related laws to limit judicial interference in the JSC.

The JSC’s record on disciplining judges has been mediocre. In 2012, a series of sex tapes which appear to show Supreme Court judge Ali Hameed fornicating with three different foreign women in a Colombo hotel room were leaked on social media.

The JSC set up an investigative subcommittee twice, but has failed to follow the subcommittee’s recommendations to suspend Hameed for failing to cooperate with the investigation.

In 2011, the JSC decided to take action against Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed for politically biased comments in the media. Abdulla Mohamed, however, requested the Civil Court invalidate the JSC’s decision, claiming the media had taken his statement out of context.

The Civil Court issued an injunction in November 2011, ordering the JSC to halt disciplinary action until the court had reached a verdict in the case. The High Court upheld the Civil Court’s injunction in April 2012.

Abdulla Mohamed retains his position as Criminal Court Chief Judge. He was among the ten judges the JSC had decided to transfer before the Supreme Court’s order.

Abdulla Mohamed was a central figure in the downfall of former President Mohamed Nasheed, following the military’s detention of the judge after the government accusations of political bias, obstruction of police, stalling cases, links with organised crime.

The Home Minister at the time described the judge’s conduct as “taking the entire criminal justice system in his fist” in order to protect key figures of the former dictatorship from human rights and corruption cases.

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Home Minister Umar Naseer orders preparations for death penalty

Minister of Home Affairs Umar Naseer has released an order on the Maldives Correctional Services mandating the implementation of the death penalty.

“I order the Maldives Correctional Services [MCS] to implement the death penalty – as sentenced by the Supreme Court – through the use of lethal injection, and to make all necessary arrangements for the implementation of such sentences, and to obtain all necessary equipment for the implementation and maintain the set-up at the Maafushi Prison,” read the order signed by Naseer and made public at a press conference today.

The home minister’s decision comes just days after a death sentence was handed to Hussain Humam Ahmed on charges of murdering the moderate religious scholar and MP Dr Afrasheem Ali in October 2012.

The order was received by MCS Commissioner of Prisons Ahmed Shihan at today’s event.

Naseer stated that the order is in alignment with the draft bill on death penalty implementation which the state has made ready for submission to the parliament. He confirmed that advice had been sought from the attorney general prior to the signing of the order.

“We will not wait for laws to be drafted and passed. The law allows for implementation, and it is at the discretion of the home minister to order implementation,” Naseer said, adding that – should a relevant law be passed in the future – the state would then abide by the new laws.

Implementation only after appeals

The home minister further stated that the death penalty will be implemented only after all appeal processes are exhausted. If the sentenced fails to appeal his case, the state itself will initiate all avenues of appeal prior to the implementation of the sentence, he added .

Naseer said that while the order applies to all pending death sentences, and not just the ones that come after the issuance of the order, the state will not seek to expedite any of the existing appeal cases.

“The government will not interfere with the work of the judiciary, either to expedite or slow down a process. The bottom line is, the death penalty will only be implemented once all the appeal processes are completed,” he stated.

“Regulations on how this penalty will be implemented have already been compiled. Media will have access to the centre of implementation, but not will be allowed inside. The MCS now must run training programs for those who will be involved in this work and they will also begin work on establishing the necessary set up,” he continued.

“While this order does not detail a specific deadline for completion of this task, the MCS will have everything ready by the time we will need to implement such a sentence.”

The minister added that, in the case of minors sentenced to death, “I think the rule is to wait till they turn eighteen for implementation of the sentence. It will be done in accordance with international treaties we have signed”.

Naseer stated that, as Home Minister, he would need to sign a specific order to authorise the execution of each individual person sentenced to death.

A source at the Home Ministry stated that, although there are approximately twenty individuals currently sentenced to death, all cases are being appealed at the High Court and have not yet reached the Supreme Court.

Background

While death sentences continue to be issued in the country, these have traditionally been commuted to life sentences by presidential decree since the execution of Hakim Didi in 1954 for the crime of practising black magic.

In May last year, the UN country team called for the abolition of death penalty in the Maldives, stating: “in view of the country’s more than 50 year moratorium, the United Nations call upon the Maldives to take the opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to its international human rights obligations, and abolish the death penalty”.

Earlier in 2013, calls for presidential clemency to be blocked resulted in then Attorney General Azima Shakoor asking the High Court to decide upon the matter.

Azima further drafted a bill in December 2012 favouring the implementation of the penalty via lethal injection. This was met with opposition from religious groups including Jamiyathul Salaf, which called for the draft to be amended in favour of beheadings or firing squads.

In June 2013, Dhivehi Qaumee Party MP Riyaz Rasheed submitted a bill asking for death penalty to be implemented by hanging. The bill was rejected by 26 votes to 18, with no abstentions.

During campaigns for 2013 presidential elections, incumbent President Abdulla Yameen stated that “murder has to be punished with murder”. Yameen revealed that, although he was previously not an advocate of the death penalty, he “had a change of heart” due to “murders that have become too commonplace”.

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