The Maldives Police Service violated the parliament's rules of procedure in the detention of Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) Vice President and Naifaru MP Ahmed Shiyam, Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla said on Tuesday.
Opening today's parliament session, the North-Galolhu MP Eva said although Shiyam was released within four hours of being detained, the parliament was not informed.
She referred to Article 236 (b) of the parliament regulations and said that if a member is arrested, the parliament has to be notified within an hour. The police acted in violation of this regulation, she clarified.
The article states that if a member is being detained for a criminal offense or in situations where the investigation cannot be conducted unless he is kept in custody, the Speaker or the parliament's Secretary-General must be notified within an hour of making the arrest.
"We are very concerned that the parliament was not informed of the arrest, which was made in violation of the rules of the parliament," she said.
The police have yet to make a statement on this issue.
Even though MP Eva claimed that MP Shiyam was arrested, as per the law, he was not officially arrested, but rather taken into police custody and detained for a short period. There are procedures to be followed, such as issuing Miranda warnings if a person is arrested. Many of those taken into custody by the police during the protests are also such detainees.
Eight men and nine women were arrested in connection with the protest. Only Shiyam has been released so far.
Four others were also arrested for stopping the president’s motorcade from crossing the area during the opposition's protest on Monday night.
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