Gaddhoo MP

Department of Immigration and Emigration has withheld the passport of Gaddhoo MP Zahir Adam.

Sun is aware that the MP came to know of his withheld passport when he arrived at the airport tonight to leave to Singapore. MP Zahir said that the Controller of Immigration has informed him that the passport was withheld through an order by an island magistrate court.

“Found out that the passport was being withheld when I went to the airport to leave to Singapore for treatment. I called the immigration controller. He said that it was over an order by a magistrate court from some island. But he said he (Controller of Immigration) didn’t know which island court exactly. He said that I can get the information when I go to their office, when they open,” MP Zahir Adam said.

The MP said that he does not have a pending case in the courts and that the courts could have easily reached him, if the need arose.

MP Zahir said that withholding passports is a tactic of intimidation used by the government against members of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Department of Immigration and Emigration was unavailable for comment at the time of press.