State Prosecutor: Judges in Nazim

State Prosecutor Adam Arif has said at the appeal hearing in High Court, of the prison sentence against former Minister of Defence Mohamed Nazim, that there were no grounds to support the claim that the lower court judges who presided over the trial were biased.

Nazim was convicted of possession of weapons and sentenced to 11 years in prison on 27 March 2015.

Arif said that Nazim’s lawyers had not been able to prove their claims that the verdict had been decided in advance, and that judges had violated the laws.

Referring to Nazim’s lawyers’ claim that enough time was not allowed to questions the witnesses, Arif said that this opportunity was given and the process had to be halted by the judges when the questions became irrelevant.

He further said that the lack of forensic evidence analysis by an independent institution, as requested by Nazim’s lawyers, does not mean that the verdict was in violation of the Constitution.

Nazim’s lawyer Husnu Suood requested two hours to prepare the defence to the claims made by the State.

The judge announced that the next hearing will be held at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow.

The judges presiding over this case are Abdul Ghanee Mohamed, Abdulla Hameed, Shuaib Hussain Zakariyya, Abdul Raoof, and Abbas Shareef.