The Maldives Police Service (MPS) has revealed that charges against People’s Alliance (PA) leader Abdulla Yameen and Jumhoory Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim include treason and bribery.
The court ruled just before midnight on Wednesday that both MPs would be confined to house arrest for three days while the investigation continues, and would be free to attend any parliamentary meetings.
Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the case was being heard this evening, and confirmed the charge sheet included bribery and “attempting to topple the government illegally.”
This afternoon police appealed in the High Court against a warrant issued by the criminal court shortly after midnight on Tuesday evening, requiring that Yameen and Gasim be brought to court in one hour.
Yameen’s legal team, led former attorney general Azima Shukoor, filed in the criminal court to determine on what grounds Yameen was arrested.
The prosecution claimed the court warrant issued by the criminal court was unlawful and against judicial procedure.
”Maldives Police Services understand that the court warrant which ordered police to summon Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom was against the law,” the prosecution stated. ”The criminal court unlawfully ordered police to summon Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.”
She said that there was no law forbidding police from arresting Yameen as there were criminal charges against him.
”Everyone is equal in front of the law,” the prosecution stated. “The court order does not mention that the police abused any of the rights on arrest guaranteed by the constitution.”
She said the time limit on the court warrant was also an issue.
The Chief Judge queried the prosecution lawyer as to whether there was a law specifying a time limit to conduct trials.
”Arrests made abruptly should be brought before judges between 7:30pm to 9:30pm on working days and from 4pm to 9:30pm on other days,” she replied.
Yameen’s defence lawyer Azima Shukoor, said police had no reasonable grounds on which to arrest Yameen.
”Yameen was not told what charges he was being arrested for at the time of him arrest,” Shukoor said, noting that this was a legal right as guaranteed by article number 48(a) of the Constitution.
The article states that everyone has the right on arrest or detention to (a) be informed immediately of the reasons therefore, and in writing within at least twenty four hours.
”He was arrested at 6:30pm and at 9:45pm he knew the cause of his arrest – that is three hours after he was arrested.” she said.
Azmia said that the Maldives Police Service entered Yameen’s house without his permission, and claimed this violated article 47(b) of the constitution, which states that ‘residential property shall be inviolable, and shall not be entered without the consent of the resident, except to prevent immediate and serious harm to life or property, or under the express authorisation of an order of the Court.’
Addressing the High Court, Yameen explained how he was arrested.
”Police officers came to my house at around 630pm, I do not remember the exact time, and they said they had something to tell me,” Yameen recounted. ”They ordered me to go to the police station immediately.”
Yameen said he asked the police officers whether they had a court warrant and why he was being arrested.
”They said that when I arrived at the police station I would know why,” Yameen said. ”I asked whether they had a document from the Maldives Police Service (MPS), and they did not have that.”
Yameen said he then refused to accompany the officers.
”A police star force squad came and cruelly and without any respect tried to take me [forcibly],” he said. ”I then said I would go.”
Yameen said he asked the police officers to show him a court warrant authorising his arrest.
”They replied that I did not have that opportunity,” he said. ”I said I would go in my own vehicle, and they replied that I did not have that opportunity also.”
Yameen said when the police vehicle went near the police headquaters, they pretended to wait and then drove at high speed.
”I asked them what they were doing,” he said. ”They replied that they were taking me to Dhoonidhoo [police custodial], and said they also had a police station there.”
Gasim’s hearing followed Yameen’s. The MP was defended by Dhivehi Qaumy Party (DQP) leader Dr Hassan Saeed, who also claimed that Gasim was arrested unlawfully.
The High Court will rule on the case tomorrow.
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Aha! Justice has finally caught up with the thugs who terrorized the people of this country and looted it during the Golha years.
This section of the article actually made me laugh out loud:
"Azmia said that the Maldives Police Service entered Yameen’s house without his permission, and claimed this violated article 47(b) of the constitution, which states that ‘residential property shall be inviolable, and shall not be entered without the consent of the resident, except to prevent immediate and serious harm to life or property, or under the express authorisation of an order of the Court.’ "
How many times did the police raid opposition homes in the past and drag them away into the night while their children watched? The ones who were not beaten were lucky.
Azima should be thankful that the infant democratic institutions in this country have allowed her client some semblance of dignity.... Something that wasn't afforded to many people when he was calling the shots.
Never thought this day would come. Yameen under arrest, dragged to court. There is some semblance of justice after all. This is peanuts compared to the utter horrors that the previous government including Yameen subjected innocents to.
I hope and pray that he is sentenced.
I never thought Yameen can become the President of the Maldives, I have no doubt anymore he will be the next President of Maldives for sure. Thats why Nasheed and MDP so worried so early before next election.He has become so popular so quickly that now the country need a leader like Yameen.
Didn't we see something similar before this?
My guess is nothing will happen to either Yameen or Gasim.
These arrests are just to rattle them, their supporters and the country a bit. By next Thursday, they will be free birds living their normal lives. The only thing different that they can tell their friends will be their tales of this experience.
If these people can be punished for their alleged crimes, it would have been done ages ago.
This is the height of idiocy. Yamin was the most unpopular politician in the whole of Maldives. Now this man is going to be the the martyr of democracy. How an earth can he ever topple the government illegally? The only way he could do was have a military coup and I for one do not believe that anyone in the MNDF would be that stupid enough to even think about this.
By arresting him and Gasim, the government has shown that there is no difference between when Gola was the President and now.
Now the case of bribery, then they are opening a can of worms. All the MPs who changed sides would liable to be charged with bribery as well.
I never thought that when we brought in democracy that I would see an MP being arrested for a thing like this.
This is the death of democracy in the Maldives. It was not good while it lasted.
Finally Nasheed started showing his true colors. What happened to this fellow who was bragging on about democracy and human rights. Now history will tell who is the real dictator in disguise. Why can't Nasheed digest the simple fact that we in the Maldives do not support him or his flawed policies.Nasheed's own cabinet lost trust in him and now in anguish he is trying to scapegoat some one.
the two most powerful human beings in the Republic of Maldives are Yameen n Gasim...mdp meehun sihi sihi bodumaguga husjangiyaa hadhaigen geynen jeheyneeeeeeee....
@Akbar "How many times did the police raid opposition homes in the past and drag them away into the night while their children watched? The ones who were not beaten were lucky."..didnt u guys ran on the road like a 'bakari aingandu' n asked us to vote for a change????....wheres the change??? wheres the so called democracy n human right which u guys claim??..better shut ur mouth !
@Ekaloa - you are out of your mind.
The Government must do anything right now to ensure these thugs are arrested. I hope they are being dragged to court with substantial evidence.
I am no fan of your Govt. But, on this, I am with you Mr President.
Ah! now we are all confused. Who are the thugs?? They used to be the Yellow clothed MDP guys who were running around the community making a nuicence of themselves and for others. Now your President Anni is in deep trouble. Truely, Those people in deep trouble should keep their mouths shut.
I call upon the Majlis to make stricter laws and regulations to ensure that the Kerafa Klan and their company of hoodwinkers will not be able to sell the property of the Maldivian people for cuts.
The Government has failed. Where is Kerafa Jr. going to find cabinet ministers. The RM will not approve such unethical and roudy people as amin faisal using slang in public. 'Amin remember your Grandfather'
Hmmm I'd like some advice for you Kerafa people. Yameen is who he is. So is Illyas and Sato and many others who took advantage of the Get Rich Quick Oppotunity that then existed and swindled. Why do you want to pick on Yameen, is it because he is in the parliament and could yield influence on the KKG (Kerafa Klan Government)? Run after Ilyas, he was cruel too, what about Adam Zahir? what about Gayoom who allowed and watched over the cruelty unfold and take it's toll. Don't be naive. As much as you have forgotton the others forget Yameen, let the man do a job, he wants to serve us, not you. He was appointed to do a job by us the people.
Now Anni has to worry about a Cabinet, or does he want to be a Dictator? He already claimed to be the Chief of Police and the Military !! We know that. Did you listen to the rebuttle from Mr. Munawar !! hehehehehe, was just a laugh in Anni's face !! So where do we go from here.. Worry about a decient Cabinet who is mature and ethical. Anni, forget about the pack of lairs you have in your cabint. "We the people have no more respect for you and your government" try mending fences spend the next few days in solomn prayer, not to budha but to Allah.
finally these people are being held accountable. what about the 30 years of looting and torture?
All of a sudden, the focus has changed from Maumoon to Yamin, as Maumoon is now not in the picture. What is this for god sake.
It took long 30 years for Maumoon to consolidate his dictatorship. Anni has taken only 18 months to reach that level of dictatorship. I honestly, thinks its worse now than the previous dicatorship, as now more freedom is given under the new constitution.
Juha is telling ministries will be managed by state ministers and deputies, but according to constitution the government has to be run by ministers, a ministry cannot be run by any one else for even a minute. Neither President nor vice president can be ministers, bottom line is we have no government in Maldives any more.They have miserably failed and done a biggest blunder, which President Nasheed and his cabinet has entangled by themselves in a constitutional mess.How can he solve this according the Maldives constitution now. Even a laymen can understand he has no choice anymore, other than to apologize from public and resign.
Akbar has a good point. If we ruled by the justice which Maumoon showed the opposition during the dictatorship before, the opposition would be hiding overseas and they would be tortured for just speaking out.
However since the government has changed, people are able to "actually" talk, even if it is slander against the government or figures in the government. Funny how before people could not even write anything critical about the government, let alone speak out against it. Oh yeah, you can actually have a lawyer in court for a change.
Yet "some" DRP supporters who are still corrupt and power greedy try to forget this fact and even deny it. Maybe because they are related to the corrupt MPs or good friends with them or something.
The majority of the public has learnt, be it from MDP or DRP or other parties - we have learnt that people with big mouths are at times the most corrupt in Parliament.
Government should make sure these trials go through and the judge is accountable in giving a fair trial to both sides. Ofcoz what I would love is that if convicted, Islamic law be implemented for the punishment.
@Baburu Ali - I agree that not only these two should be arrested, other corrupted politicians should be arrested as well. So I hope that this is just the start and it does not stop with just these two because that would be unfair. All politicians who are corrupt and has a history of corruption should be dealt with the same way. Be it a politician or a fisherman. No one should be above the law.
Maldives in deed is in need of a capable leader like Yameen! Congratulations Yameen! You are in the rise!
the criminal court is protector of all criminals in the maldives. look at their history. according to this court
conterfiet money - go on its not criminal
having arms- what is that
trading drugs- perfectly legal- they set free the Don
so as long as this court exists the maldives is a heaven for, theives, thugs, coup leaders, drug loads and white collar billion dollar criminals.
Well done Mr. President, this should have been done ages ago.
Blind people are still blind. We don't care about u idiots. We were with you Mr. Nasheed and we will still be with you. We see and feel the change you brought. We are proud of you.
This is well orchestrated game plan by President Nasheed. It was time to give opporsition a very strong message. Entire cabinet resignation could back fire or can be reversed back to biz as usual. I am not a lawyer there will have to wait and see the results.
The Cabinet has given resignation. My question has the president accepted. If Yameen & Gasim is convicted and ruled the message part is done. Next would be President will recall all the ministers back to their posts saying he cannot accept the resignations or atleast he will recall the ministers that wants back and leave those that are need to be discarded.
What would be the legal aspect of recalling of ministers. The law may say simply resigning is good enough to consider it is automatically accepted. That would mean a disaster which i would think otherwise. Lets see.
This Yameen guy need to taken out from the Maldivian political equation. He is guy who is corrupt to the core.
ANNI's two and half years itch to ARREST a high profile political figure is now a reality!
What we have today is the making of the WORST dictator in Maldivian history!
JUST WAIT AND OBSERVE, you all!
TRIVIA!
Who said this two years back!?
"WE ARE NOT GOING TO GO ON A WITCH HUNT"
TRIVIA!
Who said this two years back?!
"I have not for one second forgotten the significant role played by the ALLIANCE in our victory"
All the politicians are corrupt here. It has become just the politics of the rest of the south asian countries in here. What a shame. MDP has taught people violense and now DRP and the others are using the same tool against MDP. Anni should also resign just like the way his ministers did. Just go to hell all you politicians. You have all failed.
This is not a failure of the government. This is a failure of the people. We all know Gasim and Yamin are allegedly corrupt and we voted them in. We know they have business interests and we know they control the laws. We know they have not and will delay as much as possible the tax bill.
We all sat and watched the DRP amend the public finance bill to protect their business interests, and allegedly buy the judges.
Transitions are never easy. We, the people, need to take our country back!
“But [PA leader] Abdulla Yameen has some commitment to the people – he was trade minister in 1998, he is an economist and he is well educated. I think he is OK." This was MDP spokesman Dhonbileiy Ahmed Haleem speaking to Minivan News less than 5 weeks ago. I wonder what he has to say for himself now?
this is so good. what we need is a law that states that less related people get involved in politics the better. meaning having a law that clearly states higher positions of the government (ministries, parliament and judiciary) should not be filled in by same family people (eh bandu eh bafaa)... then there will always be less corruption. now don't tell me that how is it possible with this population where everyone is related to everyone. Well there are 300 000 people in this country!!!! to fill in 10,000 position from different families is not difficult thing and not even a bad idea.
otherwise this would have never happened.... what a waste of time from our life to see people like yamin, gayoom bodaa haakaathan.!
just save the precious time, either way Maldives gonna sink soon, till then should we all citizens just hang on to our ropes for the government to settle down.
maybe what parliament and this gayoom, yamin generation including people like zaki, iliyas, gasim and all the "oldies is goldies" needs to be put in one box and blown in a bomb so finally we (the younger generation) can move on with greater developments following their deaths.
aharun vihaigen maruvaa iruves mi muskulhintha retire vaakah nulhey viyaaa... dhen mee dhera kameh nun!
Lets not forget that Anni is a genuine reformer, If Anni was corrupt like Maumoon and his cronies, he had the opportunity to manipulate everything as soon as he has come to power that would suit his appetite. Let’s be realistic, Anni will not do anything that will be against human rights or democracy. This is a gimmick to control these subhuman like Yameen and Qasim. Thses are the people who think that the ruling of Maldives is only limited to some elites in their standard. These people have deep in their mind that Maldives has got so much from their ex master and they have acquired narcissism like personality disorders Now think in a country like Maldives, where gossips and few coconut printed paper is all that matters, nothing sensible will work. So something has to be done on the sidetrack.
We have experienced 30 years of a system which did not pave the way to a credible future. It is now obvious that the pervious system has to be changed and a new system should be adopted. Guys like Gasim and Yameen and the other MPS who are opposing the government vehemently, have to be dealt in order to implement any thing in the country.
Haven't we seen this before? DRP guy goes to police, goes to court, we all participate in a peaceful protest which always turns violent, every accuses everyone, we get bored, back to normal regular life, wait a month, repeat.
If Mr. Nasheed, the commander of police had the information about the bribery and treason, why did he not act on it before. Why does he need to stage a drama at national level? Why did he ask the whole cabinet to resign?
Two things I can think of is that he wanted to do a pre-emptive strike on the opposition as well as to distract the public at the same time.
After marginally surviving no confidence vote against dr. shaheed's , the government was not ready to take another blow. The government was very sure that dr. musthafa luthufee will definitely fail the no confidence vote. Maybe this time the government couldn't secure support of a party switching parliament member from any opposition parties, after continuous attempts. Sarangey might want to beef up his tempo on such things.
Once again I will go to the GMR-Airport deal. Mr. Anni needed to distract the public from the whole GMR deal which he has done so gruesomely incorrectly. He needed the public to stop talking about the US$78 million upfront deal he finalized without paying the least respect to the feelings of ordinary maldivians, and of course our representatives the parliament members. This also after a very relevant amendment to law was passed by parliament majority.
@akbar..'How many times did the police raid opposition homes in the past and drag them away into the night while their children watched? The ones who were not beaten were lucky'...didnt we vote for a 'CHANGE' when things went wrong...??? ..theres no way u guys can compare ...we voted for a 'heyo badhal' not to repeat the same things...got it !!
"Innocent Until Proven Guilty". If Gasim & Yaameen is corrupt & proven so they must be punished. But Why just pick & Choose. What about others. Is it an automatic clensing when anyone moves to MDP???
Like many been said here there are many motives behind this drama. The drama is intended to intimidate MDP & its coalition. So far The coalition has not been caught into this drama. Wonder whats the Plan "B"
What happend to the Riyasee commission?? Does this mean they are done with Gayoom? or was that also a failed drama?
Yameen Abdul Gayoom is the biggest crony this country ever saw! He is verrry proud man who could never be a politician!! Mind you u can say he is holding a Majlis seat which he and his cronies got from innocent Maldivians from Islands!!! Lets rock these cronies!!!
I would really like to have a look at the invoice from Saeed and Jameel to Gasim for the legal services.
TRIVIA!
Which party's garbage pick-up parades round Male' with this song on loud speaker?
"Among the blossoms of my evergreen garden NOORAANEE MAA will surely bloom!"
Yeah! My @$$ is in full bloom!
i thought yameen owned some deal of the Singapore oil company which why DRP is so upset of not getting the airport deal where they want it to be... after all loosing airport fuel supply is like loosing millions for yameen!!!
What ever anyone say about MDP or DRP... Yameen and Gasim's interest is on making money. how can they even become parliamentarians... now that's where i blame the law and legislation!!! but what to do after all they are the people who is sitting in majlis and deciding!!!
No one here can deny the fact that Maldives was under one mans rule for 30 years.... and this new government is only two years old... of course DRP' motive is to crush MDP to stand up again and dictate that maumoon was and is god of the Maldives and that he should be given the respect!!! THAT IS NOT HAPPENING!!!!
no there is no way that he can get his palace back!!! he built that with Maldivian blood money... what yamin owns is Maldivian blood money... buruma is also the maumoons boy... how can people forget all this.
That's why we say that Maldivians have fish brain.. they forget things within fifteen minutes.
no more rumours...govt is corrupted...nothing to do..anni is the biggest dictator the maldives hav ever seen..we wont let him treat our beloved country like this....