President Abdulla Yameen has called on all parties to respect the Criminal Court’s verdict against former President Mohamed Nasheed.
In a statement released by the President’s Office last night, President Yameen noted that the opposition leader has “a constitutionally guaranteed right of appeal” to challenge his conviction on terrorism charges at the High Court.
“The government calls on its international partners to engage constructively, based on mutual respect and dialogue in consolidating and strengthening democratic values and institutions in the country,” reads the brief statement.
“The government remains steadfast in ensuring the separation of powers as stipulated under the Maldivian constitution and upholding the rule of law in the country.”
In the wake of the Criminal Court sentencing the opposition leader to 13 years in jail on Friday night (March 13), the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union expressed concern with the lack of due process, while Amnesty International said Nasheed’s conviction “after a deeply flawed and politically motivated trial is a travesty of justice.”
Domestically, the Human Rights Commission of Maldives said the former president was denied fundamental rights that guarantee a fair trial in line with the Maldives’ obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Moreover, human rights NGO Maldivian Democracy Network urged the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges to intervene in order to prevent a “slide back to autocracy,” whilst Transparency Maldives expressed “grave concern” and stressed that Nasheed was denied legal representation, the right to appeal, and sufficient time to mount a defence.
However, President’s Office Spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz Ali told Minivan News yesterday that he believed the Criminal Court “would have afforded due process in the conduct of Nasheed’s trial.”
“If you study this case, from the beginning to the end, it is clear the charges are not politically motivated,” Muaz insisted.
President Yameen as head of state could not “interfere in judicial proceedings and is not to blame for court proceedings,” he said.
Intervention
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma released a statement yesterday noting that the intergovernmental organisation would continue to closely follow the judicial process after the verdict.
The Commonwealth urged restraint and advised peaceful resolution of “differences of view” through dialogue.
“The Foreign Minister of Maldives, Hon Dunya Maumoon, has made recent public comments welcoming constructive and close dialogue with international organisations,” the statement read.
The Commonwealth assured its commitment to working with the Maldives to address issues of concern.
“All societies should have the space and opportunity for dialogue in order to ensure that universally shared values are advanced, and to create a stable and harmonious future,” the statement continued.
“All societies should also have national institutions that enjoy the confidence, trust and respect of the people they serve. The Commonwealth is committed to offering practical support in a collaborative partnership to achieve these goals in an enduring way.”
The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) has meanwhile called on the UN to hold an emergency session on the situation in the Maldives.
The ACHR “urged the members of the UN Security Council to take necessary measures to seize assets and freeze accounts of President of Maldives Mr Abdulla Yameen, Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon, Prosecutor General Muhthaz Muhsin and the three judges overseeing Nasheed’s trial i.e. Abdulla Didi, Abdul Bari Yoousuf and Sujau Usman and other key officials of the regime, impose travel restrictions and trade embargo, and withhold financial assistance and technical cooperation to the Maldives until the release of Nasheed.”
“The trial is a travesty of justice – Judge [Abdulla Mohamed] who claims himself to have been illegally detained for which former President Nasheed was charged under terrorism charges still heads the Criminal Court trying Nasheed and effectively allowed his deputy, Judge Abdulla Didi, to convict Nasheed in a kangaroo trial. If the United Nations and international community fail to intervene now, democracy may never return to the Maldives,” said ACHR Director Suhas Chakma.
The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia) also condemned the verdict and noted that Nasheed was “never investigated for the fresh charges of terrorism before trial.”
“The trial of Nasheed was riddled with numerous violations of basic human rights and fair trial standards, and his conviction must be condemned. This is a clear case of political persecution and therefore the verdict is not surprising, considering the manner in which the court has conducted the trial,” said Forum-Asia Executive Director Evelyn Balais-Serrano.
Related to this story
Democracy Network alerts UN Special Rapporteur on Independence of Judges on Nasheed’s sham trial
Former President Nasheed found guilty of terrorism, sentenced to 13 years in prison
“This is not a court of law. This is injustice,” Nasheed tells the Criminal Court
US, EU, and UK concerned over lack of due process in Nasheed trial
Nasheed trial “not free or fair,” says Maldivian Democracy Network
Former President Nasheed appears in court with arm in makeshift sling
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The international community's grave concern shown just to high jack Maldives government so that they can demand a higher ransom. We don't need to listen to economically broke bankrupt nations and crisis ridden goverents . We shall decide the kind of democracy suitable for us and we shall Eid this country of unnecessary freedoms that increased indicipline. With the backing of China we shall prevail. Either you are with us or with the forces that are trying to destabilize our beloved Maldives
Respect? To a bunch of heroin peddlers?
Ahahhahahahhaahahha what next, respect the random drug dealer in the pink skirt down the street?
@Hussain
How willing you are to use and throw away religion when it suits you.
http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1911002,00.html
Your kind are all the same - hypocritical cowards.
Lose-lose for everyone in "paradise". The "international community" cuts off the merry band of thieves and Maldives will whore themselves out to Saudi and China. But infidel diplomats don't want to lose their tax payer funded holidays. No need worry about the average Maldivian, important white people and a few Maldivian sell outs need to keep the status quo.
"ensuring the separation of powers"
My ass ....
@hussain
You seem to be deluded, China is nothing without the west, you need a reality check my friend.
American government would find it difficult to understand how Yameen hijacked the courts to make Nasheed stand trial. I say this because the judiciary is an independent thing in America. To make a long story short here is the reality and history.
1)Yameen won the Presidential election with making a contract with Gaasim the billionaire. Yameen got only 25 percent or so in the first round. Nasheed got 48 percent!!!!!!!
2) Gaasim spends 40 million Rufiyaa to bring Yameen to power. Yameen promised 33 percent of the cabinet and political appointments
3) After being nominated as President with only 51 percent in the second round, Yameen ditches Gaasim. Yameen after taking 40 million did not keep his promise to Gaasim.
4) Gaasim's businesses were taken to govrnment.
5) Gaasim joins Nasheed.
This is the real reason why Yameen jailed Nasheed.
The tirade below is just in case the comments above weren't made in irony.. but hopefully they were..or is that too much to expect?
Although its tiring to repeat the obvious, and at the risk of serious sense of humour failure, it looks like this may be needed if not heeded so here goes. Time to go back to our ABC. Really, there are no dark and bankrupt forces outside trying to destroy the Maldives. That's just the typical paranoiac propaganda that is the hallmark of a banana dictatorship. Surely no one in their right mind will buy this claptrap now. This overinflated view of our own importance, which masks a tremendous sense of inferiority. This sense of inferiority comes from not really recognizing what is great and good about us. We only have ourselves to blame for the mess we are in.
There are no "forces"outside needed to destroy the Maldives, except the forces inside "in charge" who are so blinkered that they perhaps don't even realize what they are doing is dismantling the nation and making a mockery of themselves, the country and the very institutions of democracy that the Maldives does need, if it is to address the gross inequalities and injustices in the system that are naturally there after 30 years of the same old enforced dictatorship.
We need to just move on, for goodness sake and give ourselves some dignity, give the many talented, intelligent, creative youth amongst us a chance and a choice in life other than joining the military, the mullahs or the moneymakers. Many of our people are capable of distinguishing themselves not only in the Maldives but in this world, in any company or institution, just given half a chance. Let them be the best version of themselves. Just let them be.
Democracy wasn't built in a day and too many folk have paid far too high a price for a form of "stability" that suits the minority of interested parties, a "stability" that is frankly unsustainable in the long run.This "stability" will lead to implosion and slow self-destruction. This "stability" is far too stressful for those said "forces" to uphold and certainly stressful for the rest of us.
There is absolutely nothing "unnecessary" about freedom. It is man's basic right. And discipline cannot be enforced on adults let alone children..it has to be cultivated from within.Respect has to be earned, not enforced.
Oh and we are not China, no matter how much some of us may try to emulate the way that huge country has been run, which, lets face it, has its own issues. We can't make entire tracts of the population disappear without anyone else knowing about it. We really shouldn't count on China to prop up our petty banana republic forever. They may have many other fish to fry. Backing comes and backing goes. Oh - and we are all Maldivians.Not just the ones in charge. That is also our birthright and noone can strip us of that. Its a small country and everyone knows everyone. That works both ways. Capito?