Nearly three years after his appeal, High Court, on Sunday, upheld the Criminal Court’s order to rearrest former parliament representative of Meemu Atoll’s Dhiggaru constituency Ahmed Faris Maumoon.
Faris, son of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who ruled for 30 years, was first arrested in 2017 over accusations of bribing a parliamentarian regarding a no-confidence motion against the then-Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Maseeh.
Criminal Court released Faris in January 2018, after six months in custody, only to order his rearrest two days later, over additional accusations of bribing MPs.
The High Court’s verdict read that Faris had requested to overturn the Criminal Court’s order based on procedural issues, but maintained that such shortcomings do not affect the validity of the court’s order and, therefore, concluded that there was no reason to overturn the lower court’s verdict.
Although Faris had highlighted parliamentary regulations which prohibit the arrest of parliamentarians during the process of no confidence motions against presidents, cabinet ministers and heads of state institutions, the court asserted that such provisions did not extend to the issuing of arrest warrants and were only applicable pertaining to their enforcement.
The High Court’s verdict also read that the Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office had requested Criminal Court to order Faris’ arrest with statements by a secret witness, which contains enough evidence to back up the allegations against him.
Judge Fathimath Faruheeza, Judge Abdulla Hameed and Judge Hassan Shafeeu presiding over the case unanimously decided to uphold the Criminal Court’s 2018 verdict, based on the aforementioned points.
However, the appeal of Criminal Court’s order to remand Faris till the end of his trial, following his arrest over the bribery case in 2017, is still pending. High Court just recently concluded the hearings of the appeal, but has yet to deliver the verdict.
Faris was arrested for a second time when he was released, along with all the politicians in custody, under the controversial ruling by Supreme Court on February 1, 2018.
He was then arrested again, two days later, under the State of Emergency declared in the country at the time. In his third arrest, he faced terrorism charges with the allegation of attempting a coup.
Faris was finally released after President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih took office after the 2018 presidential elections, and the terrorism and bribery charges against him were dropped.
The High Court had also annulled a prison sentence of four months and 24 days, imposed on Faris by the Criminal Court over using the flag and logo of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) without permission.
Sign In
