Police have submitted the cases of seven individuals, including two opposition-aligned MPs, to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) after they were arrested on the island of Hondaidhoo last November on suspicion of possessing drugs and 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.
Seven of the suspects, including Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs Hamid Abdul Ghafoor and Abdulla Jabir – a member of the government-aligned Jumhoree Party (JP) at the time of his arrest – are among those whose cases have been forwarded to the PGO this month.
Police confirmed that cases had also been submitted against former SAARC Secretary General and Special Envoy to the former President, Ibrahim Hussain Zaki, former President’s Office Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair and his wife Mariyam Faiz. Jadhulla Jaleel and Hamdan Zaki also face charges.
Two Sri Lankan nationals named Raj Mohan and Anoor Bandaranayk as well as a Bangladeshi named Suhail Rana were taken into custody following the island raid. Their cases have not been filed at the PGO.
Police Sub-Inspector and Media Official Hassan Hannef said at the time of the arrests that officers requested all suspects taken into custody on Hondaidhoo to provide urine samples for a routine examination. However, only Hamdhaan Zaki and the three foreign suspects complied with the request.
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.
Previous submission
Police previously submitted cases against “some” of the ten people arrested during the raid on Hondaidhoo to the PGO in January this year.
However, the case was returned after the investigation was deemed to have been incomplete, according to Sun Online.
The MDP has maintained that the arrests were a politically-motivated attempt to disrupt parliament ahead of a no confidence motion against President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, and a proposed amendment to voting procedure to allow such a vote to be held in secret.
In April this year, Parliament’s General Purpose Committee rejected procedural amendments to allow secret voting for no confidence motions, such as one previously scheduled to be heard against President Waheed.
(0)Dislikes
(0)Related Posts
JP MP Abdulla Jabir summoned to police regarding island raid, alleged alcohol consumption
2014 budget should be decided after election, says former finance minister
PPM unveils economic plan, to release full manifesto in “days”
JP claims many more MPs set to join party after presidential election
Elections Commission rejects PPM’s calls for “lenient” voter registration
“We will not follow unconstitutional orders, even if a new president is installed tomorrow”: Police Commissioner Riyaz
Excellent! The religious police are targetting high profile persons. Now why not raid the bars of resorts? You'll see many more politicians and businessmen drinking and dancing. Arrest them too. Only when these people are arrested and tried will we see some changes around here.
'Its not true'
- Dhiyaanaa-
When will the esteemed Maldives Police Service send officers to raid 5 star hotels in Colombo to catch various Pandiyaaru and other high profile muppets engaging in fornication?
Here's a piece of free policy advice to the new Home Minister: form a bilateral agreement with Sri Lanka, giving MPS the power to raid those premises frequented by Maldivian hypocrites.
3 youths from Foa Mulah has already been sentenced for the same crime. 1 year jail for refusing to submit to urine test. why is so difficult to be just? these 3 parliamentarians also refused the test and shall be jailed for one year. should be a very straightforward decision. why is taking them so long?
"All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law."
Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
I agree with Human Being on this...they should be jailed for refusing a urine test. That is the law pure and simple.
The Police first bashed those people up. You see them with sand on their faces because the cops fell them to the ground and doused their faces in the ground. Then they ask for Urine Sample. Point is the moment people get bashed up, it becomes a questionable arrest at best, in fact illegal arrest, which the K'fushi Court ruled in their cases. K'fushi Court also ruled on the urine matter. That's how all those guys are free. And now, this kind of demonizing on the eve of Ramazan shows how desperate the Commissioner and Coup Leaders are getting. Booze after cabinet meet, Booze frm Muliaage, Booze from Moosa's dicky Booze from a small fiyafaalhi in Hondaidhoo..all frame ups of a heinous regime courting the ghastly Adhaalath Party.
Asking for Urine, after bashing up, is at best an illegal order, in fact a personal affront that no self respecting human would comply.In the same case in Hondaidhoo, a sleeping husband and wife (married for some 30 years) were bashed up and handcuffed from behind while in bed at 0515 in the morning. Police ask them for Urine at 1130. Till then the couple had requested to do their morning toilet several times. Is it any wonder that by 1130, some six hours after waking up and being refused, that they had urinated on the side and had no more urine to give? But, no. Bash them up, jail them and behead them simply because they were supporters of Mohamed Nasheed ? That kind of desperate wishes doesn't come true amongst a people who are aware of the evil designs perpetrated under the banner of Gaumaa Dheenah Takaa. Yo on Wed aa human being: Gayaa dhurah kameh kohla bala, bimun kendendhen !
There were 30 people on Hondadidhoo, why only seven are isolated. Because they hv "support fr Nasheed" in common. 30 people were handcuffed from 0515 at dawn till 0630 sunset. Why have the press not found out who the others were? Some had sand on their bodies and faces because the Police felled them to the ground and dragged them on the beach and held their faces down on the beach. Why have the Press not followed this brutality.Asked the PIC? All defendants are free and just one phone call away.
Hard to feel sorry for a guy (Zaki) who has been drinking alcohol with impunity for thirty odd years. Finally the law caught up with him.
If its any consolation to Just desserts, Zaki nearly died. The cops (28 rozzers)stealthily waded neck deep and then chest deep and suddenly reared up and rushed at Zaki who was walking on the beach. It played out like a US movie. There are more than eight witnesses to this. The Police then beat him up, held his face on the sand, kicked him and baton bashed him while he was handcuffed from behind. Ditto some others on the beach. The welts and bruises on Zaki were published by media for all to see. He had a broken rib and swollen areas all over his body. And you'd call that kind of brutality the law? Up yours, all you fundies, modern Maldivians will smother you with shame, ridicule and the camel dung dust of seventh century middle-east.
Yeah Right FM, Maldivian artists will rise to the occasion, with paintings, drawings, even plays about the abject brutality of the Baagee Regime, complete with the players foreign and local. And MNDF Mialani Supari Be will portrayed in a feature film billed "Hondaidhoo: Singu Rulheege Agalu Kuda Aniyaa" ....
Journalists have missed out on the MDP successes after the Hondaidhoo bash up. Immediately, Jabir and four other MPs loyal to him joined MDP in parliament voting. The first session they attended ejected the serial harasser Fahumy. Bill after bill, MPs began to join up. It can be said that Hondaidhoo was a turning point fr MDP parliamentary and overall success. The tides turned after Hondaidhoo. Those boys in the MDP are smooth...and up on their toes.