The High Court, on Sunday, upheld the lower court’s ruling for Supreme Court judge Ali Hameed and Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and mitigated the sentences imposed on the two justices.
The top court justices were found guilty of influencing judges of lower courts to manipulate verdicts since the beginning of 2016 until February 1 this year, when the apex court issued its landmark order to free political prisoners. They were sentenced to one year, seven months and six days in jail by the Criminal Court.
Though the High Court decided to uphold the lower court’s ruling, the court has mitigated the sentence imposed on the justices to a serve time of one year and 2 months.
The legal punishment for the levied charges is jailtime of nine months and eighteen days.
As per the recently passed amendment to the Judicature Act, Chief Justice Saeed and Judge Hameed have automatically lost their positions at court, effective immediately, as the High Court upheld the lower court’s ruling 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 be applicable and the judge will be removed from office.
In addition to the duo's sentences, CJ Saeed was also recently found guilty of ordering to shut down the Supreme Court's Government E-letter Management System (GEMS) in the wake of the February 1 ruling. He has thus been convicted of obstructing state functioning, and sentenced to four months and 24 days in jail.
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