Trial against Athif, for forging ballot papers, begins in High Court

The trial against Ahmed Athif, Maavina, Haa Dhaalu Kulhudhuffushi, for forging ballot papers, has commenced in High Court today.

In addition to Athif, the State has also charged Ahmed Abdul Raheem, Benisan, Haa Dhaalu Kulhudhuffushi, for the same crime.

Presenting the case against Athif in court today, the State prosecutor accused Athif and Abdul Raheem of having printed and laminated ballot papers similar to the original ballot papers used in the first round of the presidential election held on 7 September 2013.

The State charged Athif with the crime of advertising the ballot paper, under the General Elections Act.

In court today, the State prosecutor presented the statement provided by Athif to the police investigation.

Athif said in the statement that the forged ballot papers were printed based on a sample on an announcement by the Elections Commission.

He said that the forged ballot paper was designed by Abdul Raheem, following which he (Athif) took the forged ballot paper on a pen drive to MOC Trading in Kulhudhuffushi, a printing shop, and printed 15 copies.

He said that the 15 laminated ballot papers were kept in the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) office in Kulhudhuffushi.

After this statement was presented, Athif’s lawyer, Abdulla Haseen, acknowledged that this is a valid statement.

Haseen, however, denied the charges, and requested to be allowed to present evidence in Athif’s defence.

Haseen said that the purpose of printing the ballot papers was to provide information to the public on how to vote for their preferred candidates, in order to reduce the number of invalid votes.

He said that the ballot papers printed by Athif were not the same as the original ballot paper, and therefore not a crime; and that Athif did not make any efforts to advertise the ballot paper.

Responding to Haseen’s defence statements, the State prosecutor said that ‘advertising’ [ishthihaaru kurun] in Dhivehi refers to verbal or written communications with the purpose of passing information to a large group of people. She said that Athif made efforts to show the ballot papers to a large group of people.

She said that the forged ballot papers were essentially the same as a normal ballot paper, and that it included the letterhead of the Elections Commission, the national emblem, the names of the presidential and vice presidential candidate in the same order as on the original ballot paper.

The trial was adjourned after announcing that the next session will be held tomorrow.