Azmiralda sends letter to President claiming JSC report not factual

Supreme Court Judge Dr Azmiralda Zahir has sent a letter to President Dr Mohamed Muizzu stating that the Judicial Service Commission's committee has compiled a report which includes non-factual statements.

JSC is conducting two separate investigations against Azmiralda, who is currently under suspension. One of these is concerning allegations that she attempted to influence Criminal Court judges to release her husband after he was arrested.

The report states that it has been proven that with the collaboration of Supreme Court Judge Mahaz Ali Zahir, influence was exerted through Criminal Court Judge Sofwath Habeeb on Criminal Court Judge Ibrahim Zihuny, who was presiding over the remand hearing of Azmiralda's spouse, Dr Ismail Latheef. With this, the committee has decided that the actions breach judge's ethical standards, hence deciding to propose to parliament the removal of Azmiralda and Mahaz from the Supreme Court bench.

In a statement issued in response by Azmiralda's lawyer Ibrahim Shameel, he said that the committee has reached this decision without there being any evidence, and based solely on their own convictions.

It said that the committee had acted against the basic right of defence. The report compiled on the matter includes factual errors that are evident, it said.

The lawyer's statement further said that a letter has been sent to President Muizzu to bring this to his attention as the committee that heard the case consisted of three members appointed by the President himself.

Some factual errors in the report were included in the statement.

As such, the lawyer wrote that despite the evidence submitted by the judge showing that Dr Ismail Latheef had not been in a state of undress when arrested, it said otherwise in the report.

The lawyer further said that Judge Azmiralda had repeatedly reiterated that she had not made phone calls to judges or attempted to influence them in any way regarding Dr Ismail's detention, and there is evidence that she did not call any judges during the time of detention.

With this, the committee then changed the accusation to read that she had done so through Judge Mahaz Ali Zahir, the lawyer said. The lawyer denied that events had occurred as stated.

Dr Ismail was released from detention at 10:38am, with Judge Zihuny signing the order at 10:55am. However, Azmiralda did not contact Mahaz in any way before 6:28pm on the day, the lawyer stated.

The statement said that there is no one that accuses Azmiralda of having influenced the Judge who presided over the remand or any other judges. It further said that Judge Zihuny's statement also makes it clear that no influence was exerted, stating that this is an irrefutable fact.

The committee decided not to accept all the evidence submitted by the judges, citing as a reason that the evidence does not show what they wish to prove, and because findings of the investigation cannot be negated based on these, the lawyer said.