Supreme Court overturns conviction against Nasheed

Supreme Court has overturned the 13-year prison sentence issued against Leader of Maldivian Democratic Party and former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed.

Nasheed was found guilty of illegal detention of former Chief Judge of Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed and sentenced to 13-years in prison by the Criminal Court in 2015.

The court completed its review of Nasheed’s conviction and issued its sentence this Monday.

A review of Nasheed’s conviction and a stay order on Nasheed’s sentence was requested by the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The Supreme Court granted the stay order on October 30, allowing Nasheed to return from exile without fear of prosecution on November 1.

Judge Abdulla Mohamed was arrested under Article 22 of the Military Act after Maldives Police Service submitted a request of assistance to the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) alleging the judge obstructed police officers and that the Criminal Court under the judge’s guidance, refused cooperation to the police.

The Supreme Court noted in its verdict that Article 12 of the Judges Act clearly states the procedure for arrest of a sitting judge, which is that a judge can only be arrested for a criminal investigation through an arrest warrant issued from a court superior to the court the judge in question belongs to, and that the investigator must request the arrest warrant from the Prosecutor General’s Office, and that only the Prosecutor General has the authority to request such a warrant at the court.

The court ruled that though Judge Abdulla Mohamed was arrested in violation of the Judges Act, there wasn’t any room to charge any one individual from the MNDF for the arrest.

Nasheed was charged under Article 2 (b) of the old Anti-Terrorism Act, which states kidnapping, enforced detention and holding a person for ransom or conspiring to commit such an act as an act of terrorism.

The court said charges cannot be pressed for an act which isn’t codified and punishable in Islamic Sharia or Maldivian laws. And that such circumstances require the Prosecutor General’s Office to file the case.

The Supreme Court ruled that the Criminal Court accepted the charges and issued its verdict in violation of judicial and legal procedure, and the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine applies. And overturned the Criminal Court’s sentence.