Court dismisses appeal of Qasim travel ban

High Court has refused to accept the appeal filed against confiscation of Jumhoory Party leader Qasim Ibrahim’s passport, reports Qasim’s lawyers.

Qasim’s legal team issued a press statement this Saturday, in which they said that according to Criminal Procedure Act, no court has the authority to issue a travel ban without a request from a relevant authority.

The travel ban was issued by Criminal Court.

The legal team said said High Court has “refused” to accept the appeal of the travel ban.

They said Qasim suffered from a life threatening cardiac and respiratory condition. And that he had been given doctor’s letter to undergo a surgery which is unavailable from the main State- hospital Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital or any private health facility in Maldives. They said any delay was life-threatening to Qasim.

“The doctor has instructed him to undergo a surgery called EPA +RFP for his heart condition. To go abroad for the surgery as it is not available from Maldives,” said the legal team in the statement.

The legal team said they made multiple requests during his hearings at Criminal Court to revise the travel ban.

They said the judge said he would deliberate on the travel during the hearing held on July 31, but that no decision has been made to date.

They expressed concern over the delay and appealed for the travel ban to be lifted as soon as possible.