The High Court has ended the appeal hearing of Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed over the termination of the Supreme Court’s Government E-Letter Management System (GEMS).
Chief Justice was found guilty of ordering to shut down GEMS in the wake of the landmark February 1 ruling to release high profile political prisoners. He has thus been convicted of obstructing state functioning, and sentenced to four months and 24 days in jail.
In the second hearing of the case on Wednesday, the defendant and plaintiff were given the last word before the judges bench concluded the hearing. The sentence hearing of the case is to be scheduled soon. The judges presiding over the case are Judge Shujau Usman, Judge Abdul Ganee Mohammed and Judge Hassan Ali.
The Criminal Court had also found Chief Justice Saeed, along with Judge Ali Hameed of the top court, guilty of undue influence on the judiciary, and sentenced them to one year, seven months and six days in jail.
The state had levied charges of influencing official duties against Saeed, accusing the chief justice of influencing judges of lower courts to manipulate verdicts since the beginning of 2016 until February 1 this year, when the apex court had issued its landmark order to free political prisoners.
As per the recently passed amendment to the Judicature Act, CJ Saeed will automatically lose his position at court if the High Court upholds the lower court’s ruling and finds him guilty within 30 days of the appeal.
The recently ratified amendment to the Judicature Act states that the appeal of judges who are found guilty of a crime is to be submitted and concluded within a period of 30 days. The new amendments further state that if an appellate court finds a judge guilty of a criminal offence, the procedures declared in Article 154 of the Constitution will not applicable and the judge will be removed from office.
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