Tag: prosecutor general

Pro-government parties propose parliament investigation of Nasheed

Proceedings in the Majlis were brought to a premature conclusion for the second time in 10 days after pro-government parties proposed and passed a resolution assembling a temporary committee to investigate the alleged illegal actions of former President Mohamed Nasheed.

The motion to form a seven man committee was passed before the session was halted after vehement protests from the Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) parliamentary caucus.

MDP spokesman Hamed Abdul Ghafoor described the scene within the chamber: “The deputy speaker looked visibly shocked when the MDP started shouting ‘arrest the speaker, arrest the speaker’. Then they began to shout ‘arrest Gasim, arrest Gasim’”.

Ibrahim Gasim is the leader of the Jumhooree Party (JP), one of whose members, Abdulla Jabir, proposed yesterday’s resolution, according to Ghafoor.

Yesterday, MDP members were invited to sit on the proposed committee, with the local media reporting that they had refused the chance.

Ghafoor, however, claims that the PPM had intentionally selected MDP members who were absent from the Majlis.

The two cases against Nasheed, concerning the arrest of Chief Justice Abdullah Mohamed and the alleged discovery of alcohol containers at the former president’s residence are currently with the Prosecutor General’s (PG) office.

The Deputy Prosecutor General Hussein Shameem said that a decision on these two cases was expected by the end of next week.

When asked if he felt the Majlis resolution would encroach on the work of the PG’s office, Shaheem replied: “The procedure is within the Majlis’ regulations – it would not be a criminal investigation. The findings would not come to us but will be for the Majlis.”

Deputy Leader of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Umar Naseer told local media earlier this week that he was confident the PG would ensure Nasheed would be jailed before the next elections.

Later the same day, speaking before an audience in Washington DC, Nasheed commented that there was always somebody talking about putting him back behind bars.

Ghafoor stated his belief that Nasheed was keen to have his day in court to defend himself over the arrest of Abdulla Mohamed.

“Nasheed is intending to defend himself – he wants to. It will be a landmark case, “ said Ghafoor.

When asked about the utility of such an investigation alongside the work of the PG, Ghafoor suggested the proposition may have been for publicity purposes.

He suggested that pro-government parties may begin to target independent institutions such as the PG’s office, describing this as the “reverberations of the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI)”, which he is confident will find the February transfer of power to have been illegal.

The January 16 arrest of the judge, who had been accused by the Home Minister of “taking the entire criminal justice system in his fist”, raised the intensity of the protests against the Nasheed government

These protests culminated in a police mutiny on February 7 and the resignation of Nasheed.

The judicial crisis was sparked after Abdulla Mohamed filed a case in the Civil Court granting him an injunction halting further investigation by the Juducial Services Commission (JSC) into his alleged misdeeds.

This was followed by a High Court ruling against a police summons on January 16, which prompted police to request that the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) take the judge into custody.

The crisis prompted the Foreign Ministry to request international assistance in reforming the judiciary.

The judge was released from detention immediately after Nasheed’s resignation and no

Local media reported that the Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim said that the party leaders will have to meet to discuss the failure to assign members to the committee.

At the time of press, spokesmen from the government aligned PPM and Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP) were not responding to calls.

Similarly, Minivan News unable to illicit a response from Dr Ibrahim Didi, President of the JP, whom a JP spokesman had assured would be willing to comment on yesterday’s resolution.

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Prosecutor General will imprison Nasheed before elections, promises PPM

Deputy leader of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Umar Naseer has expressed his confidence that the Prosecutor General’s (PG) investigation into charges against former President Mohamed Nasheed will see his imprisonment before the scheduled elections in July 2013.

“We will make sure that the Maldivian state does this. We will not let him go; the leader who unlawfully ordered the police and military to kidnap a judge and detain him for 22 days will be brought to justice,” local paper Haveeru reported Naseer as having said.

Naseer went on to say that, after the investigations of the police and the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM), the pressure was now on the PG.

“He is an independent person. I hope he will prosecute this case. He has said that he will. I have no doubt that he will,” Naseer said.

When Minivan News asked the Deputy PG Hussein Shameem if he felt politician’s comments about an ongoing investigation were appropriate, said: “I wouldn’t like to comment on that. If we start commenting on what politicians say, it will become too much.”

Naseer and his party’s spokesman Ahmed Mahlouf were not responding to calls at the time of press.

Shameem said that the cases against Nasheed, which include the detention of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed and the police’s alleged discovery of alcohol at the former President’s residence, were “waiting for extra information.”

“We are not sitting on it,” Shameem hastened to add.

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor dismissed Naseer’s comments.

“This is a man who has openly said he was a participant in this coup,” he said.

Naseer told Australian journalist Mark Davis in February that he had helped command the anti-government protesters as well as offering inducements to the police to mutiny.

Ghafoor was confident that the PG would not be swayed by Naseer’s comments.

“I do not believe the PG can be swayed –  he has been independent and I do not think that he will notice such comments. Also, I do not believe that the office is only one person, it is an institution,” he said.

He did, however, express concerns about the capacity of the office.

“Because of the lack of decisions, we have reason to believe the PG has a limited capacity. It is extremely slow in coming to grips with the situation,” Ghafoor said.

In March, the PG General Ahmed Muizz told Minivan News that the completion of the Nasheed cases was being delayed whilst police reviewed certain aspects of the investigation.

After meeting with the PG, PPM MP Mohamed Waheed today told Haveeru that the majority of the delays in prosecuting cases were resulted from incomplete investigations.

During an interview with Minivan News in April, Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz spoke of the need for enhanced training within the service to avoid such problems.

“We are doing a lot of training on professional development; investigations to make sure that, rather than on the number of cases we investigate, we concentrate more on making sure that we have more successful prosecutions,” said Riyaz.

“We have seen in the past a lot of cases that have not been proven at the court of law. That is a big concern for me, so I am working very closely with the PG as well to make sure that our officers are trained professionally to investigate, to interview, trained to collect evidence, analyse it, submit reports and present it at the court of law, and make sure we have successful prosecutions,” he added.

The call for institution building has been heard most frequently from the current government, although calls for the reform of institutions such as the judiciary and the Majlis were a leitmotif of the Nasheed administration.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Dunya Maumoon told the BBC in April that early elections would not be possible before the state’s institutions were strengthened.

A few days prior to Dunya’s interview with the BBC, the United States pledged US$500,000 in technical assistance to Maldivian institutions in order to ensure free and fair elections.

Naseer’s comments on the role of the PG’s Office came on the same day that the MDP report on the events of February 7 was sent to both the reformed Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) and the PG’s office.

Shameem said they had not yet studied the report but he was aware that it had been sent.

When asked if the PG’s Office would investigate the report’s findings now or wait for the CNI to deliberate, he replied: “I suppose we will have to wait for the CNI.”

Shameem added that the report would be of limited value to the office before that time.

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PG to appeal corruption charges levied against Deputy Speaker Nazim

The Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office has appealed cases concerning the alleged involvement of Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim in defrauding the Atolls Development Ministry, in the purchase of 220 harbor lights worth Rf1.95 million (US$126,000) in 2004 to the High Court.

PG also stated that it would appeal the remaining three cases of corruption charges levied against the deputy speaker.

The case appealed by the state in the High Court concerns the Nazim’s use of equipment and employees of Namira Engineering while he was the company’s Managing Director to submit bids in the name of two companies called Tech Media Service Pvt Ltd and Standard Electric Works Pvt Ltd, to provide 220 harbor lights to the Atolls Ministry without the company’s prior knowledge in 2004.

The prosecutors requested the Criminal Court recover the money paid to Nazim for the supply of the goods, on the grounds he defrauded the ministry.

However, during the trial Nazim had submitted six witnesses to prove the companies were aware of the submission of bid and presented Saleem as a witness to establish that the ministry received the 220 harbor lights.

The prosecution meanwhile presented as evidence the police investigation report, cheques issued by the state and bogus letterheads found during a police raid on Namira Engineering in May 2009.

Further, the prosecutors presented employees of Namira as key witnesses to prove they were acting on Nazim’s orders.

However, Judge Saeed Ibrahim dismissed the testimonies of the prosecutor’s witnesses on the grounds that they were the employees who had prepared the fraudulent bid estimates which were submitted.

Even though the witnesses had told the court that they had prepared the bid estimates on Nazim’s order, the judge concluded that it does not mean Nazim had ordered them to prepare the bids fraudulently.

Judge Ibrahim also argued that the act of asking was not enough to prove criminal intent.

Therefore, in reference to article 51 of the constitution which guarantees the rights of the accused, the judge concluded that the charges cannot be filed against Nazim

An official from the PG confirmed to Minivan News about the decision to appeal, but refused to provide any further details.

Multiple counts

Deputy Speaker Nazim, who is also the Deputy Leader of government aligned party People’s Alliance (PA), along with MP Ahmed “Redwave” Saleem (then-finance director at the ministry) and Abdulla Hameed, former Atolls Minister and half brother of Gayoom, was charged in late 2009 on multiple counts of conspiracy to defraud the Atolls Ministry.

The scam – first flagged in an audit report released in early 2009 – involved paper companies allegedly set up by the defendants to win bids for projects worth several hundred thousand dollars, including the fraudulent purchase of harbor lights, national flags and mosque sound systems.

According to the report, the documents of Malegam Tailors, the company which won the bid, show that it shared the same phone number as Namira. Fast Tailors, another company that applied, also shared a different phone number registered under Namira.

The other company Needlework Tailors that submitted the bid had an employee of Namira sign the documents as the General Manager while the fourth company named “Seaview Maldives Private Maldives” did not have any record of its existence, according to the report.

However, the auditors noted that Searview bid documents had an exact date error found on Fast tailors documents, which according to the auditors prove same people had prepared both company’s bids.

The prosecution began in late 2009, after police uncovered evidence that implicated Hameed, Saleem and Nazim in a number of fraudulent transactions.

At a press conference in August 2009, police exhibited numerous quotations, agreements, tender documents, receipts, bank statements and forged cheques showing that Nazim received over US$400,000 in the scam.

A hard disk seized during a raid of Nazim’s office in May 2009 allegedly contained copies of forged documents and bogus letterheads.

Police maintained that money was channeled through the scam to Nazim who laundered cash through Namira Engineering and unregistered companies.

“Politically cleansed”

On February 23, 16 days after the controversial transfer of power on February 7, the Criminal Court dismissed three remaining counts of fraud against Nazim, stating that his “acts were not enough to criminalise him”.

All four cases against Nazim concerned public procurement tenders of the former Atolls Ministry secured through fraudulent documents and paper companies.

Criminal Court Judge Saeed Ibrahim on at the time ruled that two counts of fraud against Nazim – for setting up several paper companies to win a bid worth US$110,000, provide 15,000 national flags for the atolls ministry in 2003, and a similar tender worth US$92,412 to provide 15,000 national flags in 2005, could not be prosecuted.

The third count – conspiracy to defraud the ministry in 2003 in a similar manner to win a public tender for procuring US$115,758 worth of mosque sound systems – was also dismissed.

In an interview to the local media outlet Sun following the rulings, Nazim claimed the four cases were baseless and had been leveled at him by former President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration, using false evidence.

He welcomed the ruling as a testimony to the existence of an independent judiciary: ”Today we are guaranteed of the existence of an independent and trustworthy judiciary. Former President Nasheed and the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) will now believe we have an independent judiciary, because they know that the four cases were schemed with manufactured evidence. These are are absolutely untrue and baseless cases.”

Following the dropping of the charges post-February 7, the MDP claimed that the courts rewarded Nazim by “politically cleansing” him from all the corruption charges, following the toppling the party’s government after it had attempted to reform the corrupt judiciary.

Minivan News tried contacting Nazim but he did not respond at the time of press.

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Police forward nine names to PG regarding VTV attack

The police have forwarded nine names to the Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office in relation to the attack on Villa Television (VTV) on March 19, reports Haveeru.

Police Inspector Abdulla Shatheeh is also reported that the police are searching for five more individuals in relation to the incident. In order to trace the whereabouts of the suspects the police have made public the photos of those under suspicion. They have also appealed to the public for any information regarding this incident.

Shaheeth told Haveeru that the nine names forwarded to the PG are:  Hussain Hameed – 26,  Ahmed Hameed – 29, Mohamed Hameed  – 50, Ahmed Naeem – 27, Ghaanim Haasan – 19, Hussain Shifau Jameel – 19, Ismail Hammad – 19, Ahmed Muheen – 22, and a 17 year old who could not be named for legal reasons.

The attack on VTV occurred during protests against the re-opening of the people’s Majlis on March 19. The building, as well as the soldiers guarding its entrance on Sosun Magu, came under attack as police tear gas forced the protesters south, past the building from the police barricades nearer to the Majlis building.

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Police send names of 108 persons involved in Thinadhoo arson attacks to PG

Police say they have concluded investigation into the arson attacks against government offices and the police station on Thinadhoo in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll on February 8, a day which saw protests erupt across the country after a brutal police crackdown on a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) protest against the party’s controversial ousting from power the previous day.

According to a statement from police, the names of 108 people involved in the arson attacks were sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office, to be forwarded to the Criminal Court for prosecution.

The police station, island court and atoll council office were burnt to the ground by angry protesters in Thinadhoo. Similar scenes erupted in Addu Atoll, the second most populated area in the Maldives after the capital.

In March, spokesperson for new President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan, Abbas Adil Riza, said “the government will not negotiate in releasing those arrested and charged for terrorism, and will not let them be considered political prisoners,” in reference to MDP protesters held in custody following the riots.

In May the MDP claimed that the Prosecutor General (PG) had  filed charges against 60 MDP members for obstruction of police duty during the party’s three-month series of protests. If charges are proved, the accused may be jailed for six months or fined up to Rf 12,000 (US$800) each.

Some of the MDP supporters charged during that time have been summoned to the Criminal Court, and trials are ongoing.

Meanwhile, the MDP has been continuing its calls for the government to release  MDP supporters charged for their participation in MDP rallies.

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AG denies Commonwealth pushing government to drop criminal charges against Nasheed

Attorney General (AG) Azima Shakoor has today denied reports that the Commonwealth is pressing the government to drop criminal charges against former President Mohamed Nasheed.

Local media reported yesterday that the Commonwealth had requested that President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s administration assure Nasheed’s freedom, citing a government official whose identity was not divulged.

Nasheed could face prosecution over charges relating to both the alleged discovery by police of alcohol at his former residence and the detention of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed. The Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest immediately after the controversial change of government on February 7, however this was not acted upon.

Pointing to a government statement, Shakoor claimed today that there had been no discussions with the Commonwealth over dropping these charges against Nasheed. She added there would be no further comment on matter until discussions with Commonwealth Special Envoy Sir Donald McKinnon were concluded.

Mckinnon has been holding talks with several government representatives including the attorney general, Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, Gender Minister Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed, Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim and Dr Hassan Saeed, Special Advisor to the President.

Nasheed alleged following his resignation that he had been deposed in a “coup” on February 7.

Criminal charges

Minivan News reported last month that former President Mohamed Nasheed could face separate criminal charges for his alleged role in the Maldives National Defense Force’s (MNDF) detention of Judge Abdulla and the alleged confiscation of alcohol bottles at his home.

Prosecutor General (PG) Ahmed Muizz said at the time that he had expected a decision to be made by his office on whether to prosecute Nasheed by the end of April. A decision on these charges has still yet to be taken.

Muizz was not responding to calls at the time of press.

Quoting an anonymous government source yesterday, local newspaper Haveeru reported that Commonwealth representatives had shown strong concerns that Nasheed not face charges.

“They (Commonwealth) want us to assure Nasheed’s freedom without any action or charges more than they want us to hold early presidential elections,” the official told the paper.

“We informed, [the Commonwealth] that we cannot impede or influence the justice system of this country. If a crime is committed than the guilty must be duly punished and that cannot be stopped even if the government wished to do so.”

In its statement March 15, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) expressed “continued concern” that “former President Nasheed receive the freedoms and privileges due to a former head of government. CMAG urged that all political parties and their leaders should be able to participate fully and freely in future electoral processes.”

“Pure injustice”

Speaking last month after police forwarded the Nasheed charges to the PG’s Office, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Imthiyaz Fahmy claimed that the move was “pure injustice”, representing the “broken” state of the national criminal justice system.

Fahmy contended it was ironic that Nasheed, who had worked to foster a reputation for championing human rights in the country, could now potentially face prosecution by a judiciary that he himself alleged to be guilty of several of counts of corruption.

“This is injustice. Justice is not ensured simply by a judge’s verdict on an issue, it has to be publicly accepted that it is justice,” he argued.

“For the last thirty long years, the regime [of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom] tortured and suppressed the people. They systematically tortured the people. Those that were at the helm of torture and corruption are made as clean as ‘pure white cotton’ by the crippled judiciary.”

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High Court rules against keeping Muheeth murder suspect under house arrest

The High Court has overturned a previous Juvenile Court ruling to keep the main suspect in the murder of Abdul Muheeth under house arrest, declaring that the minor should be detained in accordance with the Home Ministry.

The High Court said yesterday that it had been notified by the Prosecutor General (PG’s) Office that the original Juvenile Court decision had not properly considered the present charges against the suspect or his criminal record.

In overruling the Juvenile Court, the High Court said the minor might become a threat to the society if detained under house arrest.

The PG also claimed during the High Court ruling that the Juvenile Court had not properly considered that the suspect, who is a minor, might influence the trial’s witnesses should he be released from police detention.

It was noted yesterday that the Juvenile Court has issued five warrants related to the case, with the most recent requesting that the suspect be put under house arrest.

The four previous warrants issued requested the suspect be kept in a place determined by the Home Ministry over concerns he might influence witnesses should he be released from detention.

The High Court said that when keeping a suspect in detention, the presiding judge in the case is required to refer to several different factors, such as the crime involved and the challenges faced in investigating the offence.

Other factors a judge needed to consider were the number of persons involved in the crime, the nature of the crime, the penalty for the crime, the probability that the accused might flee and the probability of influencing witnesses.

The High Court stated that the suspect had a criminal record with five previous offences.  The court said that these cases included involvement in an unlawful gathering whilst in possession of a violent weapon, a charge of assault using a violent weapon and one case of terrorism. In considering the suspect’s record, the High Court said it could be believed he might be a threat to the society if released from detention.

The PG requested the High Court to keep the minor in pre-trial detention until the court reaches a verdict on the case.  However, the High Court said the police had earlier requested the Juvenile Court grant an extension of detention for 15 days and it could only refer to police requests made at that time.

Muheeth, of G. Veyru, was stabbed to death near the Finance Ministry building on February 19.  Five suspects were arrested in connection with the case.

Police Inspector Abdulla Satheeh has previously told local media that the investigation into Muheeth’s death showed that the victim had not been involved in gang related crimes and this was not being considered a motive for the attack.  Satheeh added that the victim had no police record and was working in a responsible job at the time.

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PG expects decision on prosecution of Mohamed Nasheed by next week

Prosecutor General (PG) Ahmed Muizz has said that a decision on whether to press charges against former President Mohamed Nasheed over the arrest of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed is expected to be made by next week.

Earlier this week, the Maldives Police Service sent the case of the arrest of the chief judge to the PG’s Office. Minivan News reported at the time that under the submitted case, former President Mohamed Nasheed could face charges for his alleged role in the Maldives National Defense Force’s (MNDF) decision to detain Judge Abdulla.

The country’s judges and their conduct became a major focus for Nasheed in the run up to his replacement by Dr Waheed in February.  The former president had raised concerns over allegations of perjury and “increasingly blatant collusion” between senior judicial figures and politicians loyal to his predecessors, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

However, Nasheed himself came under criticism from some international bodies after detaining the chief judge whilst he claimed to be awaiting international assistance from bodies like the UN and the Commonwealth with the judicial reforms.

Speaking briefly by phone today about the Judge Abdulla case and its relation to the former president, PG Muizz said that a decision had yet to be taken on whether to press criminal charges or not.

In addressing the decision-making process concerning the prosecution of a high-profile figure such as a former president of the nation, Muizz said that he would apply the same criteria that was used against any other Maldivian citizen.

MDP response

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), of which Nasheed is a member, has responded to the filing of the case against the former president by claiming the decision was “pure injustice”, representing the “broken” state of the national criminal justice system.

MP Imthiyaz Fahmy commented that it was ironic that Nasheed, who had worked to foster a reputation for championing human rights in the country, could now potentially face prosecution by a judiciary that he himself believed to be guilty of several of cases of corruption.

“This is injustice. Justice is not ensured simply by a judge’s verdict on an issue, it has to be publically accepted that it is justice,” he argued.

“For the last thirty long years, the regime [of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom] tortured and suppressed the people. They systematically tortured the people. Those that were at the helm of torture and corruption are made as clean as ‘pure white cotton’ by the crippled judiciary.”

Charges

According to sources linked to the Judge Abdulla case, the charges levelled against Nasheed relate to the violation of article 46 of the Constitution of the Republic of Maldives, and for violation of Article 12 clause (a) of Judges Act (Act no 13/2010).

Article 44 of the Maldives Constitution states: “No person shall be arrested or detained for an offence unless the arresting officer observes the offence being committed, or has reasonable and probable grounds or evidence to believe the person has committed an offence or is about to commit an offence, or under the authority of an arrest warrant issued by the court.”

Article 12 clause (a) of the Judges Act states that a judge can be arrested without a court warrant, but only if he is found indulging in a criminal act.

The same article also states that if a judge comes under  suspicion of committing a criminal act or being about to commit a criminal act, they can only be taken into custody with a court warrant obtained from a higher court than that in which the judge presently sits.  This warrant has to be approved by the PG.

A police official confirmed on Sunday – April 15 – that the case regarding the judge’s detention had been submitted to the PG’s Office .

“Today at around 9:30am, we have submitted the case [the arrest of Judge Abdulla] to the prosecutor general. We have completed all the necessary investigations required,” the police official said at the time.

An official from the PG’s Office also confirmed to Minivan News that the charges sent to it by the police were against Nasheed. However, the official refused to explain the exact nature of the charges, stating that the case was still being assessed by their legal team.

Alcohol case

A second case involving Nasheed has also been sent to the PG by the police, involving the confiscation of bottles of alcohol allegedly found at his residence shortly after his presidency ended.

In a press conference, Deputy Head of the Drug Enforcement Department, Sub-Inspector Ismail Fareed, noted that all people questioned regarding the case had cooperated fully.

However, Nasheed maintained that he had no part to play in the confiscated liquor bottles.

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Hearing held into deaths of Emma and Jonathan Gray at Kuredu Island Resort

The Prosecutor General’s Office (PG) has pressed ‘disobedience to order’ charges against 23 year-old Swedish national Filip Eugen Petre, the driver of the King Quad 700 that crashed into a tree and caused the death of a tourist couple honeymooning at Kuredu Island Resort last year.

The first hearing of the case was held in the Criminal Court yesterday.

Petre’s lawyer Areef Ahmed contended that his client could not be charged under Islamic Sharia because his client is non-Muslim, local newspapers reported.

State Attorney Ahmed Nashid told the court that every soul was protected under Islamic Sharia and that Petre was charged for disobedience to order because it was a case involving two deaths.

Nashid also contended that under Islamic Sharia, if an offender’s action caused the death of a person, the offender shall be punished.

He told the judge that the crime Petre was accused of committing was carrying people on a vehicle which was not intended to carry passengers, and that his criminal actions started from that moment.

Judge Abdul Baary Yousuf asked Areef to explain this action of his client, to which Areef replied that this was the normal procedure at the resort.

The judge told Areef that he was not asking about the procedures of the resort, but was asking whether his client had acted right in the incident.

The judge kept repeating the question to Areef, and said that one’s disobedience was not a reason for others to disobey.

Areef then told the judge that he need time to answer the question.

According to Article 88 of the Penal Code, disobedience to order is a crime and According to Article 88[c], if the result of violating the article resulted a death, the case shall be dealt with according to Islamic Sharia.

While this can include the death penalty, in practice the Maldives commutes this to up to 20 years imprisonment.

The young tourist couple from West Yorkshire, Emma and Jonathan Gray, were riding on the quad-bike as passengers when it collided with a tree around 4:00am on August 6.

On August 6 last year police were informed by resort management at 4:15am that two guests had been found with injuries beside one of the resort’s roads

A statement from police that day stated that a third individual, later identified as Petre, was injured in the incident and was taken to hospital.

Jonathan’s mother Cath Davies recently told the Halifax Courier that the prospect of Petre facing the death penalty was “shocking. It’s absolutely horrendous,”

“We never expected there to be an outcome like this. It’s good they have dealt with it. It’s great they have investigated it properly. But I wouldn’t want it to be carried out. It’s not going to bring Jay and Emma back. It’s not going to make us feel any better. It doesn’t seem right. I just find it quite abhorrent,” she told the paper.

Following the incident in 2011, Filip’s father Lars Petre, a shareholder in the resort, provided a statement to Minivan News in which he described the accident as “by far the most tragic event in my life, and words cannot describe how saddened we are. I and my family are deeply concerned with errors on some of the media reports and we are also deeply saddened by some accusations made at my son.”

“My son Filip Petre (23 years) was taking the two guests home, to the other side of the island, when he experienced some difficulties with the bike, and crashed headlong into a tree on the road. The crash took two lives and badly injured my son.

“He fell unconscious with the crash and woke up some time later to find the two deceased also lying on the road. He immediately called for help and worked alongside with the doctor who arrived to try and save the victims of the crash, while he was bleeding himself.

Another British national, 42-year old Sharon Duval, died on Kuredu in October 2010, also while honeymooning with her husband, after her body was found on the beach by another guest.

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