High Court upholds decision to detain Faiz on charges of blackmailing Supreme Court Justice

The High Court has upheld the decision made by the Criminal Court on 11 July 2013 to detain Ahmed Faiz of Pink House in Feydhoo, Addu City, on charges of possessing pornographic material and trying to defraud money through blackmail.

Faiz, at the time a prominent member of President Mohamed Waheed’s Gaumee Ithihaad Party (GIP), is accused of allegedly using a sex video of Supreme Court Justice Ali Hameed involved in sexual activities with two women to try and blackmail the judge.

The High Court said Criminal Court warrant number 145-J[MD]2013/6077 orders the Maldives Police Service to hold Faiz in pre-trial detention, as the court believed he may try to eliminate evidence if freed.

The Criminal Court issued the warrant to hold him in detention from 11 July 2013 12:13 pm to 26 July 2013 12:12pm.

The High Court stated that Faiz’s appeal was based on two points: one in which he claimed others involved in the same case had not been arrested, and that the Criminal Court’s decision to detain him in his absence was unconstitutional.

The High Court ruling stated that Faiz was detained on charges of possessing a pornographic video of a person in a senior position in the state, with the assistance of others, and for attempting to extort large amounts of money by blackmailing the victim, and for attempting to sell the video for a price to others.

The High Court said Faiz had a pre-existing criminal record, including the possession of pornographic material.

In reference to the points noted, the High Court ruled there was no legal ground to rule against the Criminal Court’s decision.

Snapshots taken from the video began circulating on social media networks Twitter and Facebook, prompting a police investigation. The police formally notified all relevant authorities including the JSC, the Prosecutor General and President Waheed regarding their investigation into the case.

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Two arrested for recording nude footage in Thinadhoo

Police Spokesperson Lance Corporal Abdul Majeed Moosa has said that police have arrested two persons in Thinadhoo after it was reported that a group had recorded nude footage of a group of visiting athletics officials.

Moosa said that the visiting officials went to the island to attend ‘Makita Inter Atoll Junior Athletics Championship’ held on Thinadhoo.

”We can’t give more information as the investigation is ongoing,” he said.

Local newspaper ‘Haveeru’ reported that the two nude videos were of two foreign officials.

The paper reported that sources familiar with the case has said that the videos were recorded inside the bathroom secretly and some of the videos have been leaked.

The incident has caused the other members of the officials team to be concerned that their videos might also have been recorded secretly.

All the officials stayed in one house and there were two toilets in that house which both males and females in the team used during their stay in Thinadhoo.

Recently police arrested 14 persons for recording nude videos and pictures of senior government officials through facebook.

Police have not yet provided further information of the case.

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