The lawmaker of Dhiggaru constituency, Faris Maumoon, was released from jail early Tuesday morning.
Hussain Shameem of the opposition MP’s legal team confirmed his release in a tweet, saying that he was escorting his client to capital Male from the detention centre in Dhoonidhoo island.
Faris was first arrested over six months ago under bribery accusations and detained until the end of his trial. He was conditionally released on January 25 before a rearrest just two days later, under another allegation of bribery and conspiring a coup. His remand was extended by 15 days.
However, Faris was one of nine prominent political prisoners that the Supreme Court had ordered to free in its landmark ruling last Thursday night. While the government has been delaying the order’s execution over “legal concerns” it has with the Supreme Court’s unprecedented ruling, Faris’ lawyers had filed at the top court on Monday against the acting police commissioner Abdulla Nawaz and other police officers for refusing to release their client.
Later on Monday night, the judges of the Criminal Court unanimously overturned Faris’ remand and ordered his immediate release, as per the Supreme Court’s verdict.
Faris was later seen with his lawyers in capital Male on Tuesday morning, after the police released him from Dhoonidhoo.
Meanwhile, his father, the former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, and brother-in-law Mohamed Nadeem, were arrested and taken to Dhoonidhoo in the early hours of Tuesday during a crackdown that followed the state of emergency declared by President Abdulla Yameen.
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