Former opposition MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor is seeking MVR4.2 million (US$270,967) in compensation for an “illegal” Criminal Court issued jail sentence in October 2013.
Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed had sentenced the former Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP in absentia for contempt of court when he refused to attend court on charges for refusal to provide urine.
The High Court overturned the six-month sentence in December 2013.
Hamid had contended he was not obliged to attend hearings as that the Criminal Court had repeatedly scheduled trial during People’s Majllis work hours, against privileges afforded to MPs in the Parliamentary Privileges and Powers Act.
“I am standing up for justice, and to a host of illegal administrative procedures and processes that have been used to harass me, deprive me of campaigning for my seat and physical harm for which I am now getting treatment,” Hamid told Minivan News today.
The refusal to provide urine charges are still standing, but Hamid has criticised the judiciary for allowing Judge Abdulla to continue overseeing the case even after he had unfairly sentenced Hamid to jail.
Hamid lost the MDP primaries for the Malé seat in January.
President Abdulla Yameen in 2011 successfully sought MVR244,00 (US$15,742) for his unlawful military detention on the presidential retreat in 2010. He was an MP at the time.
Contempt of court
The Prosecutor General charged Hamid with refusal to provide urine, alcohol possession and cannabis trafficking after his arrest in a November 2012 police raid on a private picnic island.
Former MP Abdulla Jabir and former President Mohamed Nasheed’s Special Envoy Ibrahim Hussein Zaki were also arrested at the time. All three have alleged the police severely brutalised them during the raid.
In the run up to November’s presidential elections, the Criminal Court expedited hearings into Hamid’s refusal to provide urine case. The charges carry a one-year jail term under Maldivian law.
Hamid accused Judge Abdulla Mohamed of a personal vendetta against him at the time.
Following the sentence, Hamid took refuge inside the Majlis premises for four weeks, and only left after newly elected President Abdulla Yameen assured him he would not be arrested and allowed to stay in his own residence.
However, shortly after Hamid left the Majlis, the Supreme Court struck down the article barring courts from holding trials against MPs during Majlis hours.
The next day, Hamid was taken to jail. Two days later, three High Court judges overturned the Criminal Court’s sentence stating an MP could not be summoned to court during Majlis hours as per the Parliamentary Powers and Privileges Act of the time.
Hamid’s failure to attend court was justified and as such the Criminal Court had no grounds to sentence him for contempt of court, the High Court said.
The Criminal Court has since cleared Jabir and Hamid of alcohol possession, and the PG has now withdrawn charges of cannabis possession.
Jabir was however sentenced to a year in jail in February for refusal to provide urine, but President Abdulla Yameen pardoned him in July.
Hamid is also being charged for a second time for alleged refusal to provide urine following a separate arrest in July 2012 after he had crossed a police barricade during a protest.
The PG had also charged him with disobedience to order in the same case, but has now withdrawn the charges.
Hamid has been summoned to Criminal Court tomorrow to answer both counts of refusal to provide urine.
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good precedent..
Have fun and party till you drop.
Sue the state and pass the tab to state treasury.
good one.
this is great, when the common man is charged with the same crime, his/her ass is dragged to jail on the spot and no questions asked.
and no matter how brutalized the common person was, he/she has no voice that would be attended to by the state.
and his guy is suing the state for busting him with alcohol and narcotic possession. and what more this guy denied to give his urine and still the jackass is on government payroll.
kudos to this fucked up country.
Though it pains us to see him in the spotlights again, we can't do anything but watch.