The Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office has today told the Criminal Court that it has 11 witnesses against Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, proving that he was in possession of – and under the influence of – alcohol when arrested on the island of Hondaidhoo last November.
During today’s hearing the PG’s lawyers said that the 11 witnesses were police officers in the team that raided Hondaidhoo, and that in addition to the 11 witnesses there were two experts that examined the alcohol found on the island and the related documents showing the test results.
Meanwhile, MP Hamid also submitted eight police officers as witnesses in his defence as well as the two experts that examined the alcohol.
The presiding judge told Hamid that some of the police officers that he had submitted as witnesses in his defence were police officers has been named as witnesses for the prosecution, meaning that he would he would have to change witnesses.
Hamid submitted the witnesses to prove to the court that the alcohol found on Hondaidhoo island did not belong to him and that police had illegally arrested him.
The hearing into MDP MP Abdulla Jabir’s case – also concerning the possession and use of alcohol – was scheduled for today but was cancelled due to the defendant being out of the country.
The trial of the third person charged – Jadhulla Jameel – trial was conducted in the Criminal Court today with state lawyers read out the charges against him, before his lawyers were asked to respond to the charges.
His lawyer said that the charges did not specify that Jadhulla had consumed or possessed alcohol.
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.
Senior MDP members – who had held top portfolios in the the government of former President Mohamed Nasheed – were arrested in the case, including former Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair and his wife Mariyam Faiza, as well as Nasheed’s Special Envoy Ibrahim Hussain Zaki and his son.
The state is also pursuing separate charges against MP Hamid in relation to his subsequent failure to provide a urine test.
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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It is a widely known secret that the upper class in the Maldives engage in recreational drinking, drug use and sexual promiscuity while subjecting the local populace to impossible standards.
While the Islamic injunctions against extramarital sex and alcohol consumption are enforced haphazardly and selectively, the consequences are dire. Regular everyday people are sometimes stripped of their dignity and labelled for life just because they were caught doing what just about every Talib, Dawood and Haroun call a Thursday night.
A little advice to lawmakers, police and the Prosecutor General;
1. Keep the Islamic injunctions in the Penal Code to silence the Salafists and flag-burners.
2. Use police resources to focus on theft, drug trade, murder, robbery, pedophilia and rape while turning a blind eye to innocent experimenting teenagers and consenting adults engaging in intimacy.
3. Use the PG's discretion to refrain from charging adults engaging in consensual sex and the occasional party inside private residences.
4. Stop preaching impractical, unreal standards to the youth who think Islam is a joke because of the outdated texts and anachronistic principles taught in the name of Islam. Follow Malaysia's example by developing Islamic law as a positive force for change and social justice. Mohamed did not unite the Hejaz by refusing to let go of norms that no longer suited the times. He did the exact opposite. A change in this sphere will be achieved by letting go of barely-trained opportunists and career politicians who pretend to be Islam teachers just to get a following so they can kick-start a career in politics.
Look those boys probably had a drink or two. Let's take a look at punishments on these sort of things under Islamic Sharia:
(1) Alcohol consumption: 40 lashes.
(2) Sex outside marriage: 100 lashes
(3) Adultery: death by stoning.
The chaps in question here probably fall into category (1). The most disturbing part is the chap who falls into category (3), Ali Hameed is sitting rather comfortably in the Supreme Court bench, dispensing Islamic Sharia!
Someone is having a laugh!
Pathetic. What a hatchet job. Purely politically motivated.
Coup regime now getting desperate.
Isn't profiting from alcohol equally ungodly as consuming it? If so, the honourable MPs didn't sin any more than a citizen who is paid by the government.
Better late than never, the laws pertaining to alcohol import and sale must be revoked as they are unconstitutional, i.e., since it infringes Islamic Law.
Now cognitive dissonance dictates that a barrage of scathing ire must be directed toward me or anyone else who speaks of the unspeakable. But that would not make the above argument untrue.
No! No! No! - Hamid Father was a good person.
No! No! No! - Hamid Mother was a good person
No! No! No! - Hamid family is a good family
So, Hamid is a good person.... just politically motivated
Ah, tsk tsk. He's gonna get brutally murdered by the psychotic salafi gangsters for saying such things.
He was a good opponent. I will mourn his passing.
I prefer a better way to silence the salafi/wahhabis/babyrapers.
SHOOT ON SIGHT!