Committee passes against allowing the parliament the authority to decide if MPs are arrested unlawfully

The Committee has rejected the amendment to parliament procedures that proposed to give the parliament the authority to decide if an MP is arrested according to the law, in the event that an MP is arrested for a criminal offence.

This amendment to article 202 (d) of the parliament procedures, which relates to the arrest and release of MPs, was proposed by Kudahuvadhoo MP Ahmed Amir. The amendment states that even if an MP is arrested after a no-confidence motion has been submitted against the president, a minister, a judge or a person holding an independent post, an MP cannot be arrested such that it prevents him from participating in no-confidence voting conducted at the parliament or a committee.

The clause added to article 202 states that a decision on whether an MP was arrested in accordance with the law should be made by submitting the a report prepared in this regard by the Privileges Committee to the parliament, which will then vote whether to pass the report. It also states that the Parliament Office must notify the Police to produce arrested MPs at necessary committee meetings and parliament sessions.

The decision to reject this amendment and send the report to the parliament floor was passed by unanimously by the eight members present at yesterday’s General Committee meeting, which was chaired by Kudahuvadhoo MP Ahmed Amir who submitted the amendment. Parliament procedures state that the Chairman of the committee cannot participate in the voting.

The General Committee’s report will be presented at the parliament, where a vote will be taken on to whether to pass the amendment.

Meanwhile, article 7 of the constitution states that the judicial power is vested in the courts of Maldives, and article 42 of the constitution is applicable when determining if a person is guilty of a criminal offence.