Additional reporting by Mariyath Mohamed
The Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court has issued an order to the Maldives Police Service for the arrest of former President Mohamed Nasheed, asking them to bring him to a court hearing at 4:00PM on Tuesday.
Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef confirmed that the new warrant gives the police powers of arrest after a previous warrant allowed them only to present the defendant in court with his consent.
The order has been issued in relation to the case of Nasheed’s arrest of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed last year.
Punishment for a person guilty of this offence is imprisonment or banishment for three years, or a fine of MVR 2,000 (US$129.70).
Nasheed was initially summoned to the court on October 1. After he failed to attend this hearing, instead heading to the southern atolls to campaign, the court ordered police to present him at the next hearing, scheduled for Sunday October 7.
Nasheed then sent a request to the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court on Friday asking for the hearing to be rescheduled. The court rejected the appeal, saying that campaigning was not listed as a reason for absence in the legislation regarding summons.
He had planned to return to Male’ on Saturday October 13. No spokesman from the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) was able to respond to calls at the time of press.
Earlier today, the high court rejected former Nasheed’s appeal challenging the legitimacy of Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court, and its summoning of him in connection with this case.
Former MP and President of MDP Ibrahim ‘Ibra’ Ismail has also cast doubt on the validity of the Hulhumale court’s rulings.
“There is more than ample grounds to contend that the summons was issued by an unlawful panel of judges, sitting in an unlawful court, which had already issued an unconstitutional restraining order which was ultra vires,” said Ibra on his personal blog.
Last week, the MDP vowed to ignore all rulings made by the courts until judicial reforms were introduced.
Nasheed did not return to Male’ for today’s hearing, following which the court issued the current arrest warrant.
The high court has ruled that the order to arrest Nasheed and present him in court on Tuesday cannot be appealed.
An arrest warrant was issued for Nasheed – for unspecified charges – shortly after his resignation in February although he was never detained by police.
Nasheed was arrested more than twenty times under the regime of 30-year president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
Since leaving the President’s Office, Nasheed has maintained that figures loyal to the former regime were behind his ousting, although the Commission of National Inquiry’s (CNI) final report in August found otherwise.
Nasheed is also currently facing civil court proceedings related to the defamation – labelling as traitors – the current minister of defence and police commissioner, both installed immediately following his resignation.
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I'm sure that the rest of the democratic world will find it quite amusing when not a single soul associated with Gayyoom's 30 year dictatorship has ever been forced to appear before a Court of Law in the Maldives.
The very few that have appeared (that can be counted with the fingers of one hand) have failed to turn up countless times, to the point their trials have been going on for years.
A notable example is Gayyoom's half brother Abdulla Hameed who have never appeared before the Courts despite cases involving him.
Under the circumstance, whatever the regime says, this case against President Nasheed is nothing but a politically motivated vendetta. After all, we are all constantly told about the importance of equality before the law. We've never seen that practised by the legal institutions of the Maldives. Never ever!
So what do you propose Ahmed?
That we intentionally overlook Nasheed's abuse of his powers to arrest a State official without evidence of any wrongdoing?
That we fail to uphold our Constitution when it comes to politicians and popular figures?
"Nasheed’s abuse of his powers"
What abuse?
I don't see the requisitioning of investigations against a known child abuser as 'abuse of power'.
President Nasheed is complying with his party, the MDP's resolution. That is, for the Party's Presidential candidate to reject this unconstitutional "court" tailor made to convict him. The liberal MDP furthermore maintain the Judiciary have not transited as per Art 285 of the Constitution, designed to flush rouge, illiterate judges from the 30 year Dictatorship. Therefore processes and interpretations of the Judiciary that served Dictator Gayyoom lack basic democratic norms. The resulting "Phantom Court" is now framing itself as a "Kangaroo Court" with it's knee-jerk orders to arrest a former President on politically motivated charges. If the Police think they can simply pick President Nasheed up just like that, they may not be getting their numbers right. Yes, Mr. Riyaz and Mr. Nazim did pulled off a coup d'etat on 7 Feb, but it remains to been seen if these gentlemen have been able to complete this coup d'etat? To make matters worse, a moderate but rather controversial religious scholar and famous Gayyoomist MP gets gruesomely murdered and the onlooker is eerily cognizant of the uncanny timing. The coup installed commissioner only this afternoon announced he is seeking foreign assistance in this murder investigation, though they are said to have rejected foreign assistance initially! Concurrently, the religious Adhaalath Party' Sheik Shaheem appear on the defensive with respect to this shocking killing. I believe it may therefore be preliminary for Mr. Waheed and his Coup conspirators to factor in the concept of a "civil war" should this unconstitutional court keep barking.
The old dictatorship is back protecting themselves. The judicary was NEVER legal or constitutional in the first place. The regime and judicary is inbred and corrupt protecting themselves for their own profit.
tsk tsk: Please could you intentionally appoint judges that have basic level of education. Judges who know how to read and write. Judges with no criminal record... and oh! while you are at it get some cash and go whine on someone's shoulder.....
what a joke!
Truly said Ahmed bin Addu bin Suvadheeb.
@tsk tsk
Ahmed may, or may not be suggesting; but since you asked:
"Produce" him at court in chains.
Let the trial begin with the selected bench of judges.
Let the jury find, President Nasheed gulty!
Let the judges serve him and extra ordinarily heavy sentence for such a crime by:
1. Dismember President Nasheed.
2. Dissect them into tiny bits. One for each citizen of the Maldives.
3. Embalm them and set each piece on a velvet bed (bearing the MDP colours) inside a tiny glass box.
4. Present every citizen with one.
You and your likes can curse it every day, for the rest of your lives!
People who loved him and will love him can remember him every day for the rest of their lives for what he was worth!
Peoples of the democratic societies in the world can learn a thing or two from unbiased, peace loving and law abiding peoples like you!
I know it is sickening and may sound a lot out of proportion. But your mind and spins are such sickening, you deserve something or equal worth!
Can this, or will this, satisfy you?
Will this not serve justice for the detention of the so called "criminal court judge" Abdulla Mohamed?
Hulhumale court is not a court according to the constitution of Maldives . Today MDP IS not having any power in the country. Maumoon is ruling the country and his loyalists are working hard to send Preznasheed to jail. We have seen how criminal and civil courts done when the case against so called jangiya Nazim . All MDP members have to protest and save their presidential candidate before too late.
@tsk tsk
What courts, tsk tsk? The courts that force us to bow to the will of those who exploit us and oppress us and kill us? We have had to stand by powerless watching the shameful dismissal of the corruption cases against Red Wave Saleem and Nazim, the shameful negligence of the courts to make Riyaaz Rasheed pay his debts to STO, the shameful actions of Judge Abdulla to refuse to issue arrest warrants to Jameel current Home Minister when he published a book slandering President Nasheed and refused to source his accusations..... I could go on, it is a long list.
You can justify all you wish and spin the words of the law books you have studied, but the fact is, my dear tsk tsk that there is no justice in the Maldives, just greed for money and power.
We live in fear, that if we took someone powerful to court we will lose our homes, that drugs and alcohol will be planted in our homes and the homes of our loved ones, that our business will be compromised under some pretext or the other, that we will die at the hands of the hired killers roaming the streets of our islands.
President Nasheed has walked the path of conflict resolution, he accepted Dr Waheed's Committee to investigate President Nasheed's position. And he accepted the report that was published in the face of no agreement .
But the administration of Dr Waheed chooses otherwise.
The fog has cleared, the curtain has lifted. Time now to choose our path.
And so here we are. At the turning point of our destiny as a nation, is this the tipping point that will have us say ENOUGH and choose the path of freedom and integrity?
Hear this. Tsk tsk, for yourself and your children, as someone said in a comment in one of these pages, you are the past, we are the future. And we have no fear, just conviction in our hearts and faith in Allah that Allah will deliver us from the shadows of those who have tyrannised us and imprisoned our souls for far too long.
shut up and attend the courts, kangaroo or not, or else kiss good bye to presidency. period.
The Maldives court system is a joke, judges are told what ruling they have to do via sms by those who control them. Known rapists murders can be set free while investigation is pending, and they sometimes go back to the islands where the crime took place, harassing the victim in the case of a rapist, while if you have demonstrated against this government you get automatically 15 days in detention no questions asked.
Sowing the seeds of revenge to destroy Maldives. Touristic, idyllic Maldives may be on a nose dive to fade into thin air. Quite a dangerous precedent. Feeding ego, vengeance and inviting more trouble when least needed.Who would be responsible for the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars when political revenge go out of control in mafia style as happening in other parts of the world. I wish nothing wrong happens to Maldives.Hope we are not reaching a point of no return. Peace on the revengeful minds and all
An order of a Magistrate’s Court to be obeyed against a former president, a statesman of the country, while the security forces have blatantly disregarded constitutional violations in overthrowing the popularly elected government does not enhance police integrity and is a blow to the constitutionality of their operations.
They can arrest anyone. Actually, this is not the problem. It is whether the arrest is constitutional or lawful that matters. There is no law that makes whatever police or courts do lawful.