President Mohamed Nasheed has appointed his former member on the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), Aishath Velezinee, to the position of Deputy Home Minister.
As a member of the JSC, Velezinee was an outspoken whistle-blower who campaigned against the reappointment of sitting judges in what she contended was a violation of article 285 of the Constitution and part of a “silent coup” to seize control of the judiciary.
In early 2010, she set about publicly exposing the independent institution she claimed was operating “like a secret society” and serving as a “shield” for a judiciary that was “independent in name only”, and had tabled only several of the hundreds of complaints submitted against judges.
Using her access to court documents, Velezinee revealed that almost a quarter of the sitting judges had criminal records – ranging from theft to terrorism – and that an even greater number had not even completed grade 7 education. The only qualification of many was a ‘Diploma in Judging’ presenting to them by the former Ministry of Justice, Velezinee contested.
For the past 30 years judges effectively worked as the employees of those “hand-picked” by the former government, Velezinee explained – to the extent that failures to extend a particular ruling as required by the Ministry of Justice resulted in a black mark on the judge’s file.
“The only qualification it appears was a willingness to submit to the will of the government at the time – to follow orders,” Velezinee told Minivan News in a previous interview.
“Not everyone has the mindset to follow orders and serve in that kind of capacity. I believe it has excluded people with independent thinking, or the necessary legal knowledge – such people would take it as an insult for someone to order them how to decide a case.”
She also presented documents and recordings that implied the JSC had forged documents for a hearing over High Court appointments, accused the commission of embezzling state funds by awarding itself a ‘committee allowance’ contrary to Article 164 of the Constitution, and criticised it for abolishing its Complaints Committee in the name of “efficiency”. The previous year the JSC received 143 complaints concerning the conduct of judges, none of which were even tabled at the commission.
In January this year Velezinee was hospitalised after she was stabbed three times in the back in broad daylight on the main tourist street of Male’, “right outside the Home Minister’s door.”
Many international organisations, including Transparency International and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), at the time expressed “grave concern that the attack may be politically motivated.”
Velezinee told Minivan News today that her new role at the Home Ministry will see her focusing on “international affairs and projects in planning and development, and monitoring of agencies.”
“Many international conventions were signed in 2005 but were not incorporated into the domestic system,” she noted. “The Home Ministry should be a very strong Ministry, as it has a huge mandate, and should ensure it complies with the conventions the Maldives has signed.”
The remit of the Home Ministry includes police and the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services (DPRS), as well as juvenile justice, civil society and decentralisation.
Velezinee speculated that one of the reasons she may have been offered the role was because of her focus on justice, as “the Home Ministry is very much concerned with justice and the rule of law.”
She expressed surprise and delight at the welcome she received from her team at the Ministry, observing that it was “completely unlike the experience of the JSC where I felt I was unwanted the entire time.”
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