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Friday, 27 February 2015 00:15 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Judge criticised President Nasheed for appearing late and dishevelled at the hearing even though he was clearly hurt, caused by Police officers who manhandled him as they forcefully dragged him into the Court
By Imthiyaz Fahmy
Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed was arrested at his home at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Sunday 22 February on an arrest warrant issued approximately two hours prior on trumped up charges of ‘terrorism’.
Just over a week ago, the Prosecutor General had withdrawn charges of unlawful arrest against President Nasheed on 16 February only to re-prosecute on trumped up charges of terrorism. 
His arrest warrant lacked key information prescribed by law, such as where or the duration for which he would be detained. The warrant was issued by the Criminal Court at the request of the Prosecutor General who personally attended the Court to seek the order.
Maldivian law does not give the Prosecutor General authority to seek the detention of any person. Further, the warrant was based on a classified Police intelligence report, which is highly irregular as such reports are submitted only during the investigative stage of a case.
It is disappointing that the Maldivian Foreign Ministry has chosen to not adequately brief their officials during an incident of such international profile. For Minister of Foreign Affairs Dunya Maumoon and Maldivian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Zahiya Zareer to label President Nasheed’s denial of a fair trial as simply ‘political melodrama’ is baffling.
Surely, both Minister Maumoon and High Commissioner Zareer, while defending their Government’s treatment of President Nasheed as due process, must have been aware of the following facts:
President Nasheed was taken to court on Monday 23 February, approximately 26 hours after he was arrested. The law states detainees must be brought before a judge within 24 hours of the arrest. President Nasheed’s right to appeal, as provided under the Constitution, was impeded. The Criminal Court refused on Monday to provide President Nasheed’s lawyers with the forms needed to lodge an appeal.
During the hearing, the judges commenced President Nasheed’s trial for alleged terrorism. According to new Court regulations, lawyers have to register 48 hours prior to the hearing. President Nasheed’s hearing was scheduled within 24 hours. It is Kafka-esque. Truly. President Nasheed specifically requested access to a lawyer but the Court refused this request.
The Judge also criticised President Nasheed for appearing late and dishevelled at the hearing even though he was clearly hurt, caused by Police officers who manhandled him as they forcefully dragged him into the Court.
President Nasheed was not given timely and adequate medical attention despite repeated requests in Court on Monday. He was finally transported from Dhoonidhoo Detention Centre to a private clinic in Male on Tuesday afternoon. His family and his legal team were not informed of this visit. The clinic was blockaded by the Police.
In a further twist to the ‘due process’ that President Nasheed is being accorded, the Prosecutor General’s case documents have revealed that three of the State’s witnesses include two of the three Judges presiding over President Nasheed’s case and the Prosecutor General himself.
President Nasheed has been arrested over 19 times in his lifetime. He has spent 18 months in solitary confinement in a corrugated tin cell. He has undergone torture at the hands of the Police under the previous Gayoom’s Government and has been manhandled by the Police under the current Gayoom Government. There is little hope President Nasheed can be afforded anything approaching a fair trial.
High Commissioner Zareer is doing a grave injustice to her post and the Maldivian Constitution if she and her colleagues are happy to defend such a farcical trial by simply washing the State’s hands off of it. The High Commissioner should be gently reminded that the State is accountable for the actions of the Police and for the safety of President Nasheed while he is in their custody.
(The writer is Deputy Leader of the Maldives Democratic Party Parliamentary Group.)
