Judge was arrested and released following Nasheed

Former Defence Minister Tholhath Ibrahim Kaleyfaan has said that Chief Judge of Criminal Court Abdullah Mohamed was arrested in his home by a team of armed forces and released on 7 February 2012, as ordered by former President Mohamed Nasheed.

Tholhath said this at the trial regarding the charges against him under Article 81 of the Penal Code for arresting an innocent person, held at Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court today.

Tholhath spoke in detail in court today regarding the arrest of Judge Abdullah.

He said that the order to arrest Judge Abdullah came from former President Nasheed, which meant that Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) had to implement the order. He said that Nasheed should be the main person to be held accountable for this incident.

Tholhath said that Nasheed gave the order to arrest Judge Abdullah after discussing the matter with the attorney general and several lawyers, and that he thus believed that the order was issued legally.

He said that Nasheed was in Muliaage when he ordered to arrest Judge Abdullah.

“I was in Defence Ministry when he asked me to go to Muliaage,” he said.

Tholhath said that Nasheed’s order to arrest Judge Abdullah was informed to former Male’ Area Commander Ibrahim Mohamed Didi, former Chief of Defence Force Moosa Ali Jaleel and Colonel Mohamed Ziyad.

Tholhath said that there was nothing he could do about the arrest or the release of Judge Abdullah. He said that he did the only thing that he could do, which was to ensure that Judge Abdullah was provided the basic services.

Responding to a question by the bench, Tholhath said that only Nasheed had the authority to implement the order by the courts to release Judge Abdullah.

When asked if any efforts were made to identify the national threat imposed by Judge Abdullah, Tholhath said that no such efforts were made as it is not part of the mandate of MNDF to do so.

After Tholhath’s statements, the lawyer representing the State, Assistant Public Prosecutor Abdullah Rabiu noted that Tholhath had confessed to several claims of the case, and said that he needed to discuss the matter with the Prosecutor General. He thus requested to delay the next session of the trial until the State notifies the court in this regard.

A witness by the State, First Lieutenant Ali Ihsan presented his statement in court today.

Ihsan said that Tholhath had told him after the court had ordered to release Judge Abdullah, that regardless of the severity of a verdict given by the court, Judge Abdullah cannot be released.

Judge Sujau Usman said while concluding today’s session of the trial that a date for the next session will be announced later.