Tag: abdulla mohamed

“I just couldn’t let [Abdulla Mohamed] sit on the bench”, Nasheed tells Guardian

This is definitely not how Mohamed Nasheed imagined he would be promoting a new film about his campaign against climate change, writes Decca Aitkenhead for the UK’s Guardian newspaper.

The documentary follows the charismatic young leader of the Maldives, an island nation slowly sinking into the ocean, as he lobbies world leaders, addresses the UN, and makes international headlines by conducting the world’s first underwater cabinet meeting. But now that The Island President beginning to appear in cinemas, Nasheed is no longer the island’s president. Ousted from power in February, and now a quasi-fugitive in his own country, he arrives for our interview via Skype dishevelled and breathless, following another dramatic day.

“Well it’s been fairly challenging today,” he admits, lighting a cigarette and composing himself with a rueful grin. “First there was this scuffle inside parliament, but mostly there were a number of people who were demonstrating outside. The military charged at the crowd and therefore there were disturbances throughout the day. And after sunset the police and the military moved down to where we have been having our rallies and gatherings, and they ransacked and dismantled that place, and cordoned off almost a good half of Malé town.”

But after 30 years in office, in 2008 Gayoom yielded to pressure and held the country’s first democratic elections, which swept “the Mandela of the Maldives” to power. Quickly claimed by David Cameron as “my new best friend”, the young president became an international folk hero, and the face of a nation that, as he warned the UN, will be underwater “before the end of this century” unless the world acts now on climate change.

The Maldives’ transition to democracy was, however, ominously incomplete. According to Nasheed, elements still loyal to Gayoom were undermining reforms, and in response to repeated constitutional crises many opposition MPs and officials were arrested and detained during Nasheed’s administration. In January, frustrated by the judiciary’s attempts to thwart his reforms, Nasheed ordered the arrest of chief justice Abdulla Mohamed. Protesters loyal to the old regime took to the streets, supported by factions within the police, and on 7 February, after weeks of unrest, Nasheed was confronted by armed military officers. “There were guns all around me and they told me they wouldn’t hesitate to use them if I didn’t resign,” he told reporters that evening. It wasn’t a resignation, he says simply, but a coup d’état.

The picture since then has been, to say the least, highly confused. A warrant was issued for Nasheed’s arrest, and he has been threatened with life imprisonment, but for now he remains at liberty – just about – in his family home in the capital, orchestrating protests and demanding fresh elections. “Well basically the arrest warrant is there,” he explains, “but they haven’t moved on with it simply because there’s always so many people around me, so I suppose they don’t want to risk it yet. But they tried to do it today, and they will continue to try, tonight and tomorrow as well. I wouldn’t put anything beyond them.”

How did he feel about Amnesty International calling for the release of the chief justice? “I didn’t like arresting a judge, and as a long and dedicated Amnesty member I must say yes, Amnesty’s point was that I must try and find a procedure within the system to deal with this another way. And I was asking everyone, can you spot that procedure? But I just couldn’t let him sit on the bench. There is a huge lack of confidence in the judiciary, and I had to do something and the constitution calls upon me to do that. It’s not a nice thing to do. And it’s not a thing that I would want to do. And it’s not a thing that I liked doing. But it had to be done.”

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Former Home Minister summoned for questioning by police and HRCM over detention of Chief Judge

The former Home Minister Hassan Afeef was yesterday summoned to the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) to the police for questioning over the arrest of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed.

Speaking to the press outside the police headquarters, Afeef said he had no role in the arrest of Abdulla and that he had only requested the military to arrest him after police had asked him to make the request.

Afeef said it was the police that informed the Home Ministry that there were issues concerning the national security of the Maldives if Abdulla was to remain at large.

He said that in a letter he sent to the Defence Ministry on behalf of the Home Ministry, issues concerning the national security of the country were outlined very clearly.

He declined to provide details on the arrest of Abdulla because they concerned the national security of the country, he said.

When Minivan News contacted Afeef for a comment he said what he told last night outside the police headquarters was all he could say regarding the issue.

A police spokesperson today told Minivan News that police asked Hassan Afeef to come to the police headquarters at 9:30pm last night.

‘’He came on time and we questioned him about the arrest of Judge Abdulla Mohamed,’’ he said. ‘’He answered all the questions very well.’’

Yesterday afternoon Afeef was summoned to HRCM for questioning over the arrest of Judge Abdulla.

Afeef met the press outside the HRCM and said the commission faced him a lot of questions and that he answered all the questions fully and declined to provide details of the questions.

Recently Former government’s Defence Minister Tholhath Ibrahim and former President Mohamed Nasheed were summoned to the HRCM.

Tholhath was also summoned to the police headquarters, however, he used the right to remain silent.

Judge Abdulla Mohamed was arrested by the Defence Force in compliance with a police request.

However, the protests sparked in Male’ following the arrest and lasted until the resignation of the former president.

The opposition-led protests in the run up to Nasheed’s resignation initial called for the release of the Criminal Court Judge.

The first complaints against Abdulla Mohamed were filed in July 2005 by then Attorney General Dr Hassan Saeed, and included allegations of misogyny, sexual deviancy, and throwing out an assault case despite the confession of the accused.

The Judicial Services Commission (JSC), the judicial watchdog, eventually formed a complaints committee to investigate the cases against Judge Abdulla in December 2009, which met 44 times but had failed to present a single report as of March 2011.

The JSC eventually concluded an investigation into politically-contentious comments made by Judge Abdulla Mohamed on DhiTV, but the report was never released after the judge sought a Civil Court injunction against his further investigation in September 2011.

Then-Home Minister Hassan Afeef subsequently accused the judge of “taking the entire criminal justice system in his fist”, listing 14 cases of obstruction of police duty including withholding warrants for up to four days, ordering police to conduct unlawful investigations and disregarding decisions by higher courts.

Afeef accused the judge of “deliberately” holding up cases involving opposition figures, barring media from corruption trials, ordering the release of suspects detained for serious crimes “without a single hearing”, and maintaining “suspicious ties” with family members of convicts sentenced for dangerous crimes.

The judge also released a murder suspect “in the name of holding ministers accountable”, who went on to kill another victim.

Then Vice President of the Maldives Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan opposed the judge’s detention, stating on his blog that “I am ashamed and totally devastated by the fact that this is happening in a government in which I am the elected Vice President.”

Nasheed’s government requested assistance from the international community to reform the judiciary. Observing that judicial reform “really should come from the Judicial Services Commission (JSC)”, then Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem said the commission’s shortcoming are “now an issue of national security.”

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HRCM questions former Defence Minister over arrest of Chief Judge

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has summoned former Defence Minister Tholhath Ibrahim for questioning over the arrest of Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed.

Speaking to the media yesterday, Tholath said he told the commission that the information about the arrest of the judge could not be revealed to HRCM as the matter concerned national security.

Tholhath told Minivan News that he had informed the commission that he would only answer questions related to human rights violations.

Tholhath was accompanied to the commission by  lawyer Nooruban Fahmy, the sister of MDP Deputy Leader and MP Alhan Fahmy.

President of HRCM, Mariyam Azra, recently told Minivan News that the commission was hoping to conclude the investigation before next month.

On March 4, Police summoned  Tholhath for questioning over former President Mohamed Nasheed’s arrest of Abdulla Mohamed.

Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed was arrested by the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) on the evening of Monday, January 16, in compliance with a police request.

The judge’s whereabouts were not revealed until January 18. The MNDF acknowledged receipt but did not comply with Supreme Court orders to release the judge.

Opposition political parties held a series of protests which culminated on the morning of February 7 with police joining opposition demonstrators in an assault on the MNDF’s headquarters, and the resignation of Nasheed – allegedly under duress – and the handover of the presidency to Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan.

Last week, Former President Mohamed Nasheed was also summoned before HRCM, in connection to his role in the controversial detention of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed earlier this year.

The former president attributed the initial arrest call to his Defence Ministry, on the grounds of “protecting” national security relating to alleged ethical concerns about the judge.

On the day Nasheed resigned, Judge Abdulla was brought Male’ and released from his detention.

The first complaints against Abdulla Mohamed filed in July 2005 by then Attorney General Dr Hassan Saeed included allegations of misogyny, sexual deviancy, and throwing out an assault case despite the confession of the accused.

The Judicial Services Commission (JSC), the judicial watchdog, eventually formed a complaints committee to investigate the cases against Judge Abdulla in December 2009, which met 44 times but had failed to present a single report as of March 2011.

The JSC eventually concluded an investigation into politically-contentious comments made by Judge Abdulla Mohamed on DhiTV, but the report was never released after the judge sought a Civil Court injunction against his further investigation in September 2011.

Then-Home Minister Hassan Afeef subsequently accused the judge of “taking the entire criminal justice system in his fist”, listing 14 cases of obstruction of police duty including withholding warrants for up to four days, ordering police to conduct unlawful investigations and disregarding decisions by higher courts.

Afeef accused the judge of “deliberately” holding up cases involving opposition figures, barring media from corruption trials, ordering the release of suspects detained for serious crimes “without a single hearing”, and maintaining “suspicious ties” with family members of convicts sentenced for dangerous crimes.

The judge also released a murder suspect “in the name of holding ministers accountable”, who went on to kill another victim.

Then Vice President of the Maldives Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan opposed the judge’s detention, stating on his blog that “I am ashamed and totally devastated by the fact that this is happening in a government in which I am the elected Vice President.”

Nasheed’s government requested assistance from the international community to reform the judiciary. Observing that judicial reform “really should come from the Judicial Services Commission (JSC)”, then Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem said the commission’s shortcoming are “now an issue of national security.”

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Maldives facing serious constitutional crisis: Eurasia Review

There is no doubt that the judiciary in the Maldives is in a mess with many unqualified and incompetent people having made it into the judiciary in the void created during the transition period, writes Dr S. Chandrasekharan for the Eurasia Review.

“The ICJ report of July 2010 pointed out the legacy of an authoritarian past in which the President was the supreme judicial architect that has tested the transition.

“Another factor which inhibited proper selection was that the Judicial Service Commission failed to fulfill the constitutional mandate of properly vetting and reappointing the judges. Even the composition of the commission was questionable. Imagine Gasim Ibrahim being a member – he is a politician and leader of one of the active political parties. He has extensive business interests and there will be an unavoidable clash of interests.

“In the year 2005, the then Attorney General and now a leader of the DQP has himself reported against the judge and the allegations included misogyny, sexual deviance, throwing out an assault case despite the confession of the accused. The Judicial Commission took its own time to enquire into the allegations and meanwhile the judge approached the civil court and stopped the enquiry!

“The judge would have got away with all this but what triggered the anger of the government was that he issued orders for immediate release of two persons from custody – Dr Jameel, the Vice President of DQP and Sandhaanu Didi for asserting in a private broadcasting station that the government was working with the Jews and Christian priests and encouraging vice. Didi went further and made personal attacks against President saying that the President was a madman and a Christian!

“Confronted by the police, the two were not able to substantiate the allegations and were therefore taken into custody under 125 of penal code which said that a ‘person can be punished for making a fabricated statement or repeats a statement whose basis cannot be provided.’

“The Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed ordered the immediate release of the accused and the Police with the help of the MNDF in turn arrested the judge of the criminal court.
Police Sources say that the Judge was arrested for unethical conduct in obstructing the Police in exercising their responsibilities to preserve law and order in the society.

“The High Court ordered the release of the judge stating that the arrest was illegal. The Chief Justice Ahmad Faiz and the Prosecutor General also issued orders for the immediate release of the judge.

“The JSC (Judicial Service Commission) also issued a press note that it is not in the jurisdiction of the armed forces or the Police to take action against the judge.

“The Vice President has in his blog has said that the arrest is against article 319 of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Further it is against the international covenant of civil and political rights and international convention for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance. He suggested that the judge should be released and then make the JSC fulfill its responsibilities.

“The Secretary General of SAARC and a former attorney General Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed, the youngest and the first female Secretary General, condemned the arrest in a television programme and said that it is a “violation of individual human rights, a violation of independence of the judiciary and a violation of the constitution.” She has put in her resignation papers after the broadcast.

“A team of lawyers filed a case against MNDF in the High Court over the illegal arrest of the judge. A case has also been filed in the International Court of Justice over the arrest.

“President Nasheed appears to be unrelenting and has justified the arrest. He has separately approached the UN for help in cleaning up the judiciary- immediate issues and the long term issues that includes the failure of the judicial accountability mechanism in the constitution.

“It looks that President Nasheed has over reached himself in firstly arresting and in refusing to release the judge when the overwhelming public opinion is against taking such a drastic action. He should have taken this strong stand last year during the transition when some of the judges appointed by the previous regime were found not having “high moral character, educational qualifications or competence.”
One of the charges against the judge now arrested was that in 2005 he was alleged to have requested the under age victim of molestation to re enact her abuse in court. The charge could not be enquired into by the judicial service commission as the judge got a stay order from the civil court.

“By this one act of arrest, President Nasheed is likely to antagonise all his admirers and sympathisers. Earlier it is undone, better it would be for all concerned.”

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Parliament security committee meeting to resolve political instability breaks down as MPs argue

Opposition protests continued on the streets of Male’ on Saturday night, while parliament’s National Security Committee (NSC) meeting to resolve the political instability was dismissed abruptly after heated arguments broke out between opposition and ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) parliamentarians.

Opposition protests have continued every night since January 16, after the Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed was arrested by military forces and detained at a training facility in Kaafu Atoll Girifushi – an unprecedented move that has led to a judicial impasse, intensified by political polarisation.

Home Minister Hassan Afeef and Defence Minister Tholhath Ibrahim Kaleyfaanu were summoned to the first session of the meeting and questioned by the opposition MP’s about the arrest of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed on January by military forces, which has subsequently led to consecutive opposition protests calling for his immediate release.

In response, the Defence Minister interjected that the judge is not under arrest, and that he is being “supervised to ensure national security”.

He avoided MP’s repeated requests to explain the reasons for the judge’s arrest, claiming that reasons have been explained in a previous public statement which was aired on state TV channel three days after the arrest. Afeef at the time had accused the judge of “taking the entire criminal justice system in his fist”, stating that the executive had been compelled to act to protect the constitution. The judicial watchdog – the body mandated to investigate and act on such allegations – had complied with a civil court injunction filed by the judge against his own investigation.

Several opposition MPs walked out of the meeting, complaining that the ministers did not answer their questions.

In his statement the Defence Minister revealed that police sent a letter to the armed forces on January 16 “requesting assistance to carry out its legal duty under article 71 of the Police Act, stating that the Criminal Court was not cooperating with police and that as a consequence of Judge Mohamed’s obstructing police work, the country’s internal security was threatened and police were unable to maintain public order and safety.”

Therefore, Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) exercised authority under chapter nine of the constitution and the Armed Forces Act of 2008 to take the judge into custody, he said, disputing that the judge’s detention was unconstitutional.

Tholhath added that MNDF would provide assistance to ensure public safety, and that the consecutive protests and unrest had jeopardised it.

Meanwhile, Afeef observed that those accused of causing the current unrest and destroying public property were swiftly being released by the judges, thus encouraging more unrest.

“Public safety is being lost because of judges’ actions,” Afeef concluded.

However, speaking at the NSC meeting’s second session, Judicial Service Commission (JSC) President and Supreme Court judge Adam Mohamed insisted that the current crisis had not been caused by the incompetence of the commission.

He claimed that the commission was executing its duties duly. The “earlier environment did not allow the commission to work,” Mohamed claimed – a comment directed at the former President’s member of the JSC, Aishath Velezinee, who had openly protesting against the unconstitutional appointment of unqualified judges, delays in investigating allegations against judges – including the chief judge – and politically biased decisions of the JSC. She was dismissed from the position in May 2011.

Velezinee  attended the committee meeting with a box full of papers on the judiciary, and maintained her stance that public has “lost confidence in the courts due to the JSC’s failure to take action against the chief judge”, and due to the reappointment of judges with life time tenure in violation of the constitution.

Velezinee has previously alleged that Abdulla Mohamed was at the heart of a “silent coup to hijack the judiciary”, with the complicity of opposition MPs seeking to prevent cases against them moving through court.

The NSC meeting heated up, after opposition MP Abdu Raheem objected to the summoning of JSC members to the national security committee.

Raheem claimed that the JSC must be summoned to parliament’s independent commissions committee, and the NSC’s meeting should be continued under the advice of Consul General.

Committee chair MDP MP Ali Waheed interjected that anyone can be summoned to the committee for questioning and adjourned the meeting after repeated attempts to maintain order failed as MPs continued arguing.

Meanwhile, out on the streets, the opposition continued to call for the release of Judge Mohamed and the resignation of President Mohamed Nasheed. The protests began near the Progressive Part of Maldives (PPM) camp, as pockets of MDP activists obstructed the rally, leading to mild confrontations which were controlled by the police.

The police comfirmed 16 were arrested last night.

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Comment: Political impasse between government and opposition weakens human rights safeguards

The current stand off between the government and the opposition on how to secure the independence of the judiciary is hampering the much needed reform of the country’s criminal justice system.

Neither the government, nor the parliament or the judiciary can take pride in maintaining an outdated justice system that lacks a codified body of laws capable of providing justice equally to all.

Current laws are mainly remnants of acts of parliament passed at the time of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom when the country’s legal system was even less developed and more prone to political influence. Laws also include religious injunctions, regulations passed by ministries, some acts of parliament passed in recent years, and the 2008 Constitution. Even so, these laws cover penal areas only partially. Some are too vaguely formulated to prevent miscarriages of justice.

Most judges have no formal training in law but exercise considerable discretion – often based on their own interpretation of religious law – in deciding what constitutes an offence and the punishment for it.

In such a milieu, judicial decisions could be at risk of the judges’ personal or political preferences especially when these relate to complaints by the government or the opposition. One potential remedy for this problem would be to hold judicial personnel strictly accountable for any misconduct, but the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) appears unable to ensure this type of accountability.

So far, the government and the opposition-dominated parliament have failed to address these shortcomings. They have not even, as a first step, enacted a penal code that can reflect Maldives obligations under the international human rights treaties the country has ratified. A draft penal code intended to do this has remained dormant in parliament for at least four years.

While the government and the opposition blame each other for these failures, people whose rights are being violated are at risk of receiving unfair trials.

Respect for human rights has been further undermined by recent arbitrary arrest of Abdulla Mohamed, the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court.

He was arrested on 16 January. His arrest followed a civil court injunction on 27 November that blocked the JSC’s probe into Judge Abdullah’s alleged judicial misconduct. The Judicial Service Commission began this investigation in 2009 after receiving a complaint from the government. JSC found that judge Abdullah was guilty of violating the Judges’ Code of Conduct for making politically contentious statements on a local TV Channel. At this point, judge Abdullah successfully applied to the Civil Court for an injunction against further investigation or any actions against him. By granting that injunction, the Civil Court exposed the judiciary to further allegations from the government that Judge Abdullah can effectively remain in office with no accountability. The government then instructed the police to investigate the allegations against Judge Abdullah. Police went to arrest him but judge Abdullah refused to go with them, saying they had no warrant of arrest. The government then sent the army, still without a warrant of arrest, and he was taken into army custody on 16 January.

Regardless of the allegations against Judge Abdullah, his continued detention since 16 January remains arbitrary. The Maldives Human Rights Commission has confirmed that he is treated well and is allowed access to his family. Amnesty International is calling on the government to either bring formal criminal charges against him or release him.

Amnesty International has no position on the validity or otherwise of the allegations against judge Abdullah. It is for the judiciary to ensure that a mechanism exists to uphold accountability in any case of alleged judicial misconduct.

Sadly, all sides in the debate about the independence and impartiality of the judiciary tailor their arguments only to their own, narrow political ends. What they are missing is the opportunity to turn the Maldives into a hub of respect for human rights where the government, the parliament and the judiciary work alongside each other to strengthen the rule of law.

Abbas Faiz is South Asia Researcher with Amnesty International.

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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PPM Vice President Umar Naseer sues police and Maldives National Defence Force

Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Vice President Umar Naseer, formerly Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Vice President prior to his eviction from the party, has filed a suit in the civil court against the police and Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF).

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Umar said that he decided to sue the MNDF for unlawfully arresting Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed, and police for not working to set Judge Abdulla free.

He filed the suit against Police Commissioner Ahmed Faseeh, Deputy Commissioner Ismail Atheef and Deputy Commissioner Ahmed Muneer, and on the MNDF side, he sued Chief of Defence Force Major General Moosa Ali Jaleel and Vice Chief Brigadier Faruhath Shaheer.

Umar claimed at the press conference that superiors at the MNDF had been giving unlawful orders, and that it was one reason why he felt he had to file the suit.

He claimed that if the court rules that the senior officers have been giving unlawful orders they would be dismissed from their jobs.

Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed was arrested by the MNDF on the evening of Monday, January 16, in compliance with a police request, after he attempted to block his summons in the high court.

After he was arrested the Supreme Court declared that the arrest was unlawful and ordered his immediate release, but the MNDF did not respond.

Later the High Court ordered the MNDF three times to produce him at the High Court, but the MNDF did not respond.

Yesterday the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) was summoned to parliament’s Independent Commission’s Committee. President of the HRCM Mariyam Azra told the MPs that there were “issues with the judiciary”.

She also said that HRCM had forwarded these issues  to concerned institutions such as Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which has halted its investigation of Judge Abdulla after he obtained a civil court injunction against his own investigation.

Azra told the committee that HRCM had the legal authority to investigate human rights violations.

Recently Umar has filed two cases against President Mohamed Nasheed at the police.

PPM Spokesperson Ahmed Mahlouf was unavailable at time of press.

A police spokesperson said the police have not officially received any information about the suit.

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Nasheed vows “independent and fair judiciary” before end of first term, in leaked audio

An audio clip of President Mohamed Nasheed vowing to ensure a fair judiciary before the 2013 presidential election has been leaked to local media.

The audio was reportedly one of several recorded during a meeting with the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF).

“Freedom of expression and an independent and fair judiciary in this country – I will not go for the election after these five years without doing these two things,” Nasheed is heard to say.

He added that according to Home Minister Hassan Afeef, “the entire criminal justice system of this country is being destroyed because of a single judge.”

Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed, who was detained on January 16 by the MNDF after he sought a High Court injunction to prevent a police summons, “will not retain his place on the bench under this government even if he is released [from Girifushi].”

“I will tell the army very clearly that [Abdulla Mohamed] will not get closer than 100 meters to the courthouse,” Nasheed said.

In another leaked clip, Nasheed argues that judges were not appointed lawfully and their verdicts and judgments were therefore suspect.

Several local media outlets reported Nasheed’s comments as a threat from the President not to hold elections unless the judiciary was reformed.

President Nasheed’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair was not responding to calls at time of press.

“The opposition is twisting what the President said,” responded a source in the President’s Office. “He was promising to reform the judiciary before the conclusion of his first term in office – he has no intention of calling off any elections.”

The Maldives is currently in the throes of a judicial crisis, after Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed scuttled an investigation by the judicial watchdog into his alleged misconduct by applying for a Civil Court injunction to halt the process. The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) yesterday argued in parliament that it had no option but to obey the ruling of a body it was tasked with overseeing.

That investigation concerned politically bias comments made on DhiTV, which an unreleased JSC report states violated the judge’s Code of Conduct.

The government has presented a bevy of allegations against the judge, listing 14 cases of obstruction of police duty including withholding warrants for up to four days, ordering police to conduct unlawful investigations and disregarding decisions by higher courts, “deliberately” holding up cases involving opposition figures, barring media from corruption trials, ordering the release of suspects detained for serious crimes “without a single hearing”, and maintaining “suspicious ties” with family members of convicts sentenced for dangerous crimes.

The judge also released a murder suspect “in the name of holding ministers accountable”, who went on to kill another victim.

Earlier allegations, forwarded to former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in 2005 by then Attorney General Dr Hassan Saeed, included allegations of misogyny, sexual deviancy, and throwing out an assault case despite the confession of the accused.

In one instance, Dr Saeed told Gayoom, the Chief Judge made two underage victims of sexual assault act out the assault “in the presence of the perpetrator and the rest of the court.”

The judge remains in detention and the government is appealing to the international community for independent and authoritative legal assistance to resolve the impasse and reform the judiciary. Meanwhile, opposition supporters have held two weeks of nightly protests calling for the judge’s release.

No organisation has yet stepped forward, however a UN spokesperson from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights over the weekend encouraged the government to “release the judge from custody or charge him with a crime.”

The matter has also been raised in the UK Parliament’s House of Commons by Conservative Party MP for Salisbury, John Glen.

“Although the judiciary is constitutionally independent, sitting judges are underqualified, often corrupt and hostile to the democratically elected regime,” Glen stated.

Leader of the House of Commons, George Young, responded that Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Alistair Burt, was “in touch with the Maldives President to see whether we can resolve the impasse. The high commission in Colombo is also engaged. We want to help the Maldives to make progress towards democratic reform in the direction that John Glen outlines.”

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Civil Court injunction stops us taking action against Abdulla Mohamed: JSC

Judicial Service Commission (JSC) President Adam Mohamed has claimed the body is “impatient” to take action against the Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdullah Mohamed, and claimed that the only thing preventing the move is the Civil Court injunction filed by Abdulla Mohamed ordering the judicial watchdog not to take any action, until the court decided otherwise.

Adam Mohamed made the statements in response to questions asked at the Saturday’s meeting of parliament’s independent institutions committee where the JSC members, including opposition MP Gasim Ibrahim and Speaker of Parliament Abullah Shahid, were summoned to clarify the reason for delay in taking action against the judge.

In the committee meeting, broadcasted live, Mohamed restated that  it would be a “violation of law” to take any action against Chief Judge before the Civil Court injunction was overruled, stating that and the commission has to proceed within the legal bounds.

“If we take action against Judge Abdullah, we will be in violation of law. [Because] violating a ruling is violating the law. We are very cautious,” said Mohamed, the Supreme Court’s representative on the judicial watchdog.

“We are impatient to take action [against chief judge] within the legal bounds” he claimed, adding that the case had now been appealed in High court.

The civil court granted the injunction in November 2011 – on the judge’s request – during the 30 day period he was given to respond to the report completed by JSC in which was found guilty of violating the Judge’s Code of Conduct for making politically contentious statements on a local TV channel.

According to the JSC, a total of 11 complaints have been submitted against the judge.

While the JSC’s decision remains stalled due to the injunction, questions have been raised as to whether the civil court has the jurisdiction to rule against its own watchdog body.

Aishath Velezinee, former president’s member at the JSC, argues that “if the judicial watchdog can be overruled by a judge sitting in some court somewhere, then the JSC is dysfunctional. But that’s what has been happening,” she asserted.

While the injunction issued last November was appealed at the higher courts, JSC also cited that the commission does not consider that the civil court has authority to hear the case.

The JSC first appealed the case at Supreme Court, which instructed it to forward the matter to the high court.

The high court scheduled its first hearing on the case last Thursday, but was cancelled by the judge who decided the case cannot be heard in absence Judge Abdulla Mohamed, after the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) refused to produce him. He remains under MNDF custody on the training island of Girifushi.

The military arrested the judge on January 16 after he attempted to block his own police summons – subsequently all the courts , JSC, Prosecutor General Ahmed Muiz, and later Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed called for his immediate release citing the arrest as unlawful.

President Mohamed Nasheed met with some of the JSC members at a meeting held at the president’s office on Sunday to discuss his concerns related to the judiciary, local media reported.

UN calls for judge’s release

Associated Press (AP) has meanwhile reported that the United Nations (UN) has called for the Maldives to release the judge from custody or charge him with a crime, as the  body considers a government request for help resolving a dispute with the country’s judiciary.

“While acknowledging the challenges Maldives faces in reforming and strengthening its judiciary, we believe that Judge Abdulla should either be treated with due process, meaning he should be properly charged moved from military detention, and brought before a court, or released,”  Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman at the UN human rights office told AP on Saturday.

She also observed that the officials are still discussing how to respond to the request made by the Foreign Ministry last week, requesting international legal assistance.

The government has meanwhile listed 14 cases of obstruction of police duty by Judge Abdulla, including withholding warrants for up to four days, ordering police to conduct unlawful investigations and disregarding decisions by higher courts.

Afeef accused the judge of “deliberately” holding up cases involving opposition figures, and barring media from corruption trials.

Afeef said the judge also ordered the release of suspects detained for serious crimes “without a single hearing”, and maintained “suspicious ties” with family members of convicts sentenced for dangerous crimes.

The judge also released a murder suspect “in the name of holding ministers accountable”, who went on to kill another victim.

“We have been working to improve the judiciary since we came to power, but we have not succeeded,” said Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem last week, calling for a delegation from the United Nations Human Rights Commission (OHCHR) to help resolve “an issue of national security.”

The first complaints were meanwhile filed against  Mohamed in July 2005 by the Attorney General at the time time Dr. Hassan Saeed, president of the minority opposition party, which is leading the call for judge’s release.

The allegations  included, misogyny, sexual deviancy, and throwing out an assault case despite the confession of the accused.

Meanwhile, group of lawyers have  sent a case to the International Criminal Court (ICC), appealing that the judge’s detention is an “enforced disappearance” under the ICC’s Rome Statute  – while opposition activists have  taken the fight to free the judge to the streets, as protests continue for a second week.

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