Nasheed asks for High Court order to suspend proceedings of his case before presidential elections

Former President Mohamed Nasheed has asked for a High Court order to suspend all proceedings of his case, before the presidential elections.

At the hearing held in High Court today on the case appealed by Nasheed regarding the Hulhumale’ Court procedural issue, Nasheed said that the case regarding the arrest of the Criminal Court judge does not only involve him, but is connected to the rights of a large number of people.

Nasheed said that if he is not allowed to compete in the Presidential Elections, a number of people’s rights will be infringed, and that it is for this reason that he is asking the High Court to order the lower court to suspend all proceedings of his case.

Speaking at the hearing, one of Nasheed’s lawyers Ahmed Abdulla Afeef said that even though the Hulhumale’ court has been declared legitimate, reflecting on a ruling made by the UK Court of Appeals, and a previous ruling made by the High Court allows room for litigation regarding the matter.

He said that while the constitution states that a person shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt”, the supreme court ruling stated that the person must only be proven guilty “without a doubt”. He also said that the High Court issued a ruling in contradiction to a Supreme Court ruling which stated that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) does not have the power to order an institution to proceed with a certain matter.

When given the chance to challenge the statements made by Nasheed’s legal team, the team from the Prosecutor General’s Office said that they do not have any challenges.

Concluding today’s hearing, the chair of the judge’s bench that oversaw today’s case Shuaib Hussain Zakariyya said that a ruling will be made tomorrow.

The case was submitted to the High Court by former President Mohamed Nasheed, questioning the validity of the bench of judges commissioned by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to rule on the case against him. He has also appealed to declare that all proceedings regarding him undertaken by the Hulhumale’ court as invalid, because the chit summoning Nasheed to court was sent against regulations.

Nasheed’s legal team has said that they will appeal the case in Supreme Court if the case is decided against him.