The High Court has upheld a decision by the Criminal Court to fine a man MVR 50,000 (US$3242) for possessing pornographic materials.
The man was identified by the High Court as Ahmed Anwar of Foakiadhoo in Shaviyani Atoll.
The ruling said that according to the Criminal Court ruling, the pornographic materials were discovered inside a laptop bag in Ahmed Anwar’s house when police searched the residence, after he was accused of cashing MVR 600,000 (US$38,910) out of Lily Shipping and Trading Private Limited’s account at the Bank of Maldives (BML) using a fraudulent bank note.
The High Court back the Criminal Court ruling stating that there were 22 DVDs, one CD and one pen drive containing 227 pornographic video and eight pictures.
In the statement Anwar gave to police he confessed that the pen drive belonged to him but denied that the DVDs and CDs were his.
However, the High Court ruled that the things were discovered inside Ahmed Anwar’s house and that since no one else had claimed those materials, Anwar had to take responsibility for them.
The Court also said that the files on the pen drive were created and modified before the police searched his house on September 1, 2010.
The High Court endorsed the lower court’s ruling that found Anwar guilty of violating Act number 4/75 List of Contraband’s article 4[c] and article 13[d].
The court ruled that there was no lawful reason to change the lower court’s ruling on the matter.
The appeal case was filed at the High Court last year in November and was concluded last Wednesday.
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