The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) has forwarded a case against former Police Deputy Commissioner Ismail Atheef for prosecution, following an investigation commission into its arrest of current Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel in January 2012, prior to the controversial change of government.
Dr Jameel was arrested under the administration of former President Mohamed Nasheed following a request made by the President’s Office to police, to investigate allegations made by the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) Deputy Leader that the then-government of Nasheed was working under the influence of “Jews and Christian priests” to weaken Islam in the Maldives.
The allegations were extensively documented in a publication released by the party, ‘President Nasheed’s devious plot to destroy the Islamic faith of Maldivians’.
The repeated release of Dr Jameel – also former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Justice Minister – by the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed, led to the Nasheed administration’s arrest of Judge Abdulla.
PIC Deputy Chair Dr Abdulla Waheed told local newspaper Haveeru that the investigation had been concluded and that case sent to the Prosecutor General’s office to press criminal charges against the former Deputy Police Commissioner.
Dr Waheed told the paper that the arrest was unlawful as the procedure Atheef applied in arresting Jameel breached the Police Act.
When Dr Jameel was arrested and brought before the Criminal Court for extension of detention, Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed ruled that the arrest was unlawful and ordered his immediate release.
Earlier last month, the Chair of PIC Shahindha Ismail resigned from the commission saying that the members of the PIC were not working to achieve the objectives of the commission and that the commission had failed to hold the police accountable.
“What I’ve seen in the actions of institutions is that they have been giving a lot of space for the police to act with impunity,” she said at the time of her resignation.
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