Former Supreme Court judge Ali Hameed was released on Monday, after serving his sentence following convictions in 2018.
Maldives Correctional Services' Spokesperson confirmed Hameed's release.
Hameed was arrested under a Criminal Court order following the landmark ruling by the former Supreme Court bench on February 2018, to release the then unseated members of Parliament and other political prisoners.
In addition to Hameed, Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed was sentenced to a three year jail time under two different convictions.
After his arrest in 2018, charges alleging obstruction of justice were raised against him, after he refused to hand over his phone to law enforcement officials. The charges which carried a jail term of one year and seven months, were later annulled by the High Court over lack of evidence and procedural inadequacies.
Hameed was convicted of unduly influencing the judiciary, where he was found guilty of influencing lower courts judgest to manipulate verdicts.
A number of additional charges were levied against the former judge including counts of terrorism and bribery. Hameed was not charged under the terrorism convictions while the charges of bribery were later dropped by Criminal Court.
Marking an unprecedented year of political turmoil between the former president and the current ruling party Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in 2018, many believe the arrests were in defiance of the unanimous verdict by the then-Supreme Court bench to release political prisoners including former President Mohamed Nasheed.
Having pledged to release all political detainees as part of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's bid for presidency, Hameed was transferred to house arrest for the remainder of his sentence.
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