The Maldives National Defense Forces (MNDF) last night informed Chief Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed’s wife and parents of his whereabouts and condition, following complaints made by the family.
“The judge is under our supervision at Girifushi in Kaafu Atoll (an MNDF training facility. He has no injuries and is in good condition,” said MNDF Chief Spokesperson Abdul Raheem, discounting local media reports to the contrary as “false messages”.
The Maldives’ famous underwater cabinet meeting was held off Girifushi in 2009, catapulting President Mohamed Nasheed into the environmental spotlight.
This is the first time that an individual has been held in custody at an MNDF training facility rather than Dhoonidhoo detention center. Raheem said the MNDF did not wish to specify why the judge is being held at the training facility.
Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed was arrested by the MNDF on the evening of Monday, January 16, in compliance with a police request. The judge’s whereabouts were not revealed until January 18, and the MNDF has acknowledged receipt but not replied to Supreme Court orders to release the judge.
Prosecutor General (PG) Ahmed Muizz lately joined the High and Supreme Courts in condemning MNDF’s role in the arrest as unlawful, and requesting that the judge be released.
According to the PG, police have to go through the PG’s Office to obtain an arrest warrant from the High Court.
“They haven’t followed the procedures, and the authorities are in breach of law. They could be charged with contempt of the courts”, he said.
PG Muizz added that as MNDF has violated the Constitution he has ordered an investigation by the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM), and will evaluate the situation following the commission’s findings.
Raheem said the armed forces did not wish to comment on the PG’s statement.
According to government officials, military assistance was sought for reasons of national security.
In a televised statement on MNBC One on January 17, Home Minister Hassan Afeef said military assistance was sought during the arrest for “fear of loss of public order and safety and national security” on account of Judge Mohamed, who has “taken the entire criminal justice system in his fist”.
Judge Mohamed has been implicated in 14 cases of obstruction of police duty, Afeef alleged. Actions include ordering unlawful investigations, withholding warrants for up to four days, limiting the issuance of warrants to himself exclusively at times, disregarding decisions of higher courts, strategically delaying cases involving opposition members, and barring media from corruption trials, according to Afeef.
The judge has also released suspects detained for serious crimes without a hearing. One murder suspect proceeded to kill another victim.
Afeef further alleged that the chief judge “twisted and interpreted laws so they could not be enforced against certain politicians” and stood accused of “accepting bribes to release convicts.”
Defence Minister Tholhath Ibrahim Kaleyfan has said police had sent a letter to the armed forces on Monday, January 16, “requesting assistance to carry out its legal duty under article 71 of the Police Act, stating that the Criminal Court was not cooperating with police and that as a consequence of Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed obstructing police work, the country’s internal security was threatened and police were unable to maintain public order and safety.”
MNDF therefore exercised authority under chapter nine of the Constitution and the Armed Forces Act of 2008 to take the judge into custody, he concluded.
Indicating the gravity of the moment, Minister Kaleyfan said, “I assure citizens that at this critical moment the country is faced with, the armed forces will do everything it must to restore national interest and defend the lawful government.”
The public has been protesting for six consecutive nights the detention of opposition party members who last week made statements of “hate speech” against the government, as well as the arrest of Judge Mohamed.
Meanwhile, the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) is circulating a petition calling for PG Muizz’s removal from office in a stated effort to clean up the judiciary.
“We are calling for a strong and independent judiciary for the people,” party chairperson and MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik told Minivan News today. “The judiciary will never work without a PG, an AG, police and courts. They have to work closely.
“We have found that cases related to the opposition stay in the PG office. We do not believe the cases are being properly prosecuted,” Moosa said, estimating that the petition currently has 1,000 signatures. “We will be discussing the results in our parliamentary group before submitting it [to a parliamentary committee]”, he added.
Addressing the matter of Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed, Moosa said, “this country will not stop for only one judge”, later adding that he holds Criminal Court Judge Abdul Ghazee responsible for the judiciary’s deterioration.
Moosa argued that MNDF’s actions against the judge were accordance with its duty to protect the Constitution. “MNDF are always responsible for the country. They are helping the police because the police currently have so many cases to investigate. The judge did not respect the police summons before, he assumed he was above the police. That’s not fair to the people.”
Speaking in his own capacity, Moosa continued, “If a judge does not respect the Constitution, who does? Article 207 of the Constitution gives the military the power to do what they need to do to defend the law.”
Moosa claimed “we will do anything to bring justice to the courts”, but added “ we don’t want to arrest anybody, we are calling on the people to please respect the country and bring justice for all.”
Spokesperson for former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Ahmed Mahlouf, was not responding to calls at time of press, however yesterday the party accused the government of trying to tip the country “into a state of emergency”.
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the author lack to do his homework , the article lack to mention the constitution says if you are to arrest a judge, you are to seek a warrant from an upper court. NO such warrant was obtained.
Police did not seek "help" from the military on this issue prior to arrest.
A statement was made by the minister of Defence at a very later stage.
Also if reeko moosa is so please to respect the law, he should have made his self aware of what the consitution says.
The current constitution does not give the same right as the previous constitution gave to the ex-president.The current president "thinks" he can do what ever he wants and justify....
whether a judge or not, the constitution says police simply cant arrest any one when they liked (command) to do so. They are procedures to follow, and none of the procedure mentioned in this article seems to be mentioned in the constitution.
The government is trying very hard to justify its silly act. They have not realised this could have backfire.
What a baloney..? If the integrity of criminal court chief judge is suspected by the police, the government, isn’t not enough for the rest of institutions to look in to this matter and immediately liquidate his functions, what is more important ? This guy’s job or investigate his integrity. All single neuronal fish brains cannot think anything better. Anni please tighten the fist. These morons will never grow up. You are a herd keeper go with a stick and hit their backs.
Maldives National Defense Force kidnapped the top judge. This is AGAINST the Maldivian Constitution.
Under tenure and removal of Judicary (Section 154) it reads: "(b) A Judge may be removed from office only if the Judicial Service Commission finds that the person is grossly incompetent, or that the Judge is guilty of gross misconduct, and submits to the People’s Majlis a resolution supporting the removal of the Judge, which is passed by a twothirds
majority of the members of the People’s
Majlis present and voting."
Thus only Judicial Service Commission can remove a judge. The Judicial Service Commission has called the government to respect the law and that imprisonment of Judge Abdulla is unlawful. But the dictatorial government appears to have unheard this appeal and also calls by the Attorney Gen.
@AM on Thu, 19th Jan 2012 6:59 PM
"the author lack to do his homework , the article lack to mention the constitution says if you are to arrest a judge, you are to seek a warrant from an upper court. NO such warrant was obtained."
No, you failed to understand the author! There is no court that functions as it should in the Maldives. Didn't you find it disturbing that the lower and upper courts worked throughout the night like their butts were on fire as soon as Abdulla was suspected of being summoned to the Police?
What was the reason for that? If, as you claim, all citizens are equal in front of the law, then there should have been no special sittings of these courts for your dear Abdulla!
You fail to realise that the wolf is in charge of the hen house. Fortunately, there are people who realise that and they have taken action. I salute the armed forces for their courage at this difficult time.
The Constitution is the thread that binds the 3 powers of the State. When any one of those powers fail to function properly, then that thread is broken. In order to apply the Constitution, firstly we need healthy and functioning institutions! If you still don't understand these, then you need help!
each and every article written about the current situation in maldives in minivan news is unbalanced goverment propaganda.
How very deceptive are these so-called politicians. I saw pictures of their meeting today with the Secretary of the Japanese High Commission.
I guess Japan is the ONLY Western government that these guys have not attacked by their Christian/Jewish hate mongering. Wonder whether they actually know that Japan has a sizeable Christian population too, and of course, Japan is largely a Buddist nation.
How would these most unlikely group of people that include Muslim fanatics from various right wing religious groups as well as minority political parties explain, something as simple as "freedom of religion" in the Maldives to the Japanese? Would a future government of these guys allow, say, Japanese residents to practice their religion in public? If not, why not? What was the view of Mohammed Bin Something or the Other regarding the Japanese? Are they bound to hell?
Of course, they won't have mentioned those difficult subjects. They probably made the Japanese delegate sick to death with how Judge Abdulla has been "illegally" incarcerated and our newly found National Hero, Jameel The Defender of Islam was detained illegally by the Police.
The Japanese take a very dim view of corrupt public officials. Of particular note is that total moral and ethical weight of the entire group that met the Japanese delegate did not equal what that single delegate had in terms of these characteristics.
“The judge is under our supervision at Girifushi in Kaafu Atoll (an MNDF training facility. He has no injuries and is in good condition,” said MNDF Chief Spokesperson Abdul Raheem, discounting local media reports to the contrary as “false messages”.
Good condition? when MNDF removed the rights of a citizen abducted by by force and taken away.....So much for the so called democracy .... Welcome to the Mugabe Club.
Why yes Anni.
Please kill all Maldivians until everyone who remains is obedient to your will.
Fire their neurons and tear their brains out so you can examine the mental defect which makes them oppose you. For surely no one who is properly indoctri....errr...educated in yellow-ism and here-take-some-free-cash enlightenment could ever doubt the age-old democratic ideals of military rule, media suppression and forceful obedience of the citizenry.
All hail the Island president. May he use military might and media control to enforce climate change policy on the world too.
What opposition feels/thinks/guarantees is that LAWYERS and JUDGES can do whatever they feel like and commit any crime they want without having to face any consequence. What the hell kind of a judiciary is that?
If government releases the corrup chief judge Abdulla Mohamed, there will be several people who would take the laws into their hands to bring an end to these corrupt retards dominating the judiciary.
FYI: Japan is not a western country. Where did u get educated from? Even a primary student would know where Japan is geographically location.
Government is doing what is necessary to elimate corruption from Maldives. And the Youth of Maldives completely support the government. We will come out on the streets tomorrow if the opposition continues to rumour false accusations against the government and the people of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party.
You people can only dream of our behaviour on the streets of Male'.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/maldives-vice-president-wants-release-of-detained-top-judge-in-sign-of-discord-in-government/2012/01/20/gIQAMEPIDQ_story.html
VP wants the judge release aswell. escalating the tension and the division in the country. the whole international media is taking a very negative stand on the current political showdown between govt and the opposition and the laymen like us have to suffer at the end. Please stop the madness if none-of you have the best in heart about the nation and its people. which seems to be the case.
"FYI: Japan is not a western country. Where did u get educated from? Even a primary student would know where Japan is geographically location."
Well, my friend, I'd like to teach you something for free. Japan is geographically located in the East, but is considered a "Western" country. The phrase "Western country" doesn't refer to the geographic location of the country.
Next time, before you question my education, please do some research yourself, will you?
WESTERN COUNTRY does not have a meaning except that its a western country. Maybe I'm not familiar with your vocabulary. Definitely that's not in any dictionary.
Even if Judge Abdulla is held in a 'palace', or in Bagram Air base or Guantanamo, the fact is that he is held against his will after being 'abducted/kidnapped/snatched' in the middle of the night by military forces without any legal basis whatsoever.
No there is no way to bring any charges against the judge through any 'legal' means when in fact there are serious cases to be brought against him.
Is President Nasheed going to hold kangaroo court via a military 'tribunal' to convict him? Or is the Judge going to be kept in isolation by the military forever?
This issue is larger than Judge Abdulla and is not going to go away okay! This is going to haunt HEP Nasheed forever unless he reverts back to the Rule of Law.
@ AT tsk tsk;
Youth? You make me laugh. Do you mean the one or two kids from the islands who are fed tiny morsels from misappropriated funds to keep them obedient to the whims and fancies of the MDP leadership?
Or do you mean the various "political bloggers", "social analysts" and would-be "information analysts" that are appointed to inflated positions in MNBC, the PO and the MDP's institutional structures to dupe them into protecting a dictatorship?
I do not support street activism as it never really achieves much. If the MDP had any balls they would just sit down and sort out this disaster by backing down on certain fronts. A country which has a majority population which either is politically neutral or in opposition to the MDP cannot be ruled by a party that demands everyone to indulge their every desire.
I call for an end to funding MNBC and the fake-experts appointed to several positions at the government-owned media company. Why do I have the right to call for this? Because the stupid place is run with my funds which I pay as GST, Business Profits Tax and god-knows-what-else.
I do not want the government to create any more government-owned companies so that their activists and lackeys can feel big and wear yellow chokers.
I do not want the government to force government-owned companies to sponsor events and shows that only favor the party line.
"WESTERN COUNTRY does not have a meaning except that its a western country. Maybe I’m not familiar with your vocabulary. Definitely that’s not in any dictionary."
I asked you to do your own research. But you failed to do so. I will help you again. I'm mostly referring to this article from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world).
"Though the term originally had a literal geographic meaning and contrasted Europe with the cultures of the Orient or Asia, today the term West does not imply geographic location, as most of Europe and Oceania, major components of the West, lie in the Eastern Hemisphere."
This was the first point I was trying to get across to you earlier. Now let's look at this a bit more:
"Japan and South Korea, in particular, are the only Asian members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the two leading full democracies in Asia, having a high standard of living and a high level of human development. Although these Asian countries are not western, these are amongst the generally accepted political characteristics of Western nations."
Furthermore:
"Countries of the Western world are generally considered to share certain fundamental political ideologies, including those of liberal democracy, the rule of law, human rights and a high degree of gender equality (although there are notable exceptions, especially in foreign policy). Additionally countries with strong political and/or military ties to Western and Central Europe, NATO and/or the United States, such as Japan, Israel and South Korea can be said to be Western in a political sense at least."
Now, do you understand?
@Ilyas Ahmed on Fri, 20th Jan 2012 10:33 PM
"Is President Nasheed going to hold kangaroo court via a military ‘tribunal’ to convict him? Or is the Judge going to be kept in isolation by the military forever?"
I guess the best we can say is that the judge is in some kind of a "deep freeze". He has been "removed" from the circus. Maybe the elements who were advising Nasheed thought some sort of "sense" may come about by taking him "aside". I fully understand this from the point of view of the military. They were asked for help as a matter of national security. They obliged as they are required to do.
What happens to him will be very interesting indeed. There was a similar incident with Yaamin and Gasim. I don't recall anyone appearing before a kangaroo or non-kangaroo Court over that either.
In the name of JUSTICE, there is no option for a judge other than giving JUSTICE to whoever!
Chief Judge of the Criminal Court, Judge Abdulla Mohamed on the day he released a murder suspect to make the Health Ministry accountable, branded himself unfit to judge in the name of justice.
If this judge had and taken the authority to release a murder suspect to make a ministry of the executive body accountable; it is possibly right for the executive to arrest the particular judge to make justice safe for its peoples and to uphold peace?
To my belief, this is an exercise long over due though!
The 3 powers + the 4the power should come to their senses in the best interest of the nation.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND PROPERLY WHATS WRITTEN: IN WIKIPEDIA LINK YOU SPILLED ALL OVER, IT SAYS:
"Some people ASSUME developed countries in Asia, such as JAPAN, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea, are a part of the western world, because of their strong economic, political and military ties to Western Europe, NATO or the United States.Although these Asian countries are not western, these are amongst the generally accepted political characteristics of Western nations.
"Having a high level of human development is not mutually exclusive to the west. Japan, South Korea, and Singapore all have high income levels and standards of living."
There is no F******* way that JAPAN can be a western country except that it has certain similarities with that of WESTERN COUNTRIES.
@ Ahmed bin Addu bin Suvadheeb on Sat, 21st Jan 2012 4:50 AM
"I guess the best we can say is that the judge is in some kind of a “deep freeze”. He has been “removed” from the circus. Maybe the elements who were advising Nasheed thought some sort of “sense” may come about by taking him “aside” ".
Hmmm. So this wretch Abdulla is 'deep frozen' after being 'removed from the circus'?
So I guess in the end only the circus clowns (of MDP) and the Ring Master (Nasheed) will have to keep the circus show going.
Looks like the 'audience' (the Maldivian People are going to have the last laugh!