Privileges bill to be challenged in Supreme Court once it is ratified

Maldives Journalist Association (MJA) has decided to challenge the Parliament member's privileges bill on the basis that some of the clauses in the bill are in contradiction to the Constitution.

The bill was passed by the Parliament for a second time making it mandatory for the President to ratify the bill.

MJA, an association working for the rights of journalists, released a statement today stating that the association has now decided to contest the bill in Supreme Court once it is verified and said that lawyers Husnu-al Suood and Ali Hussain will be assisting the association with their case.

MJA’s statement stated that Article 17 (a) of the Parliament member's privileges bill states that the Parliament or a parliamentary committee has the power to summon anyone to Parliament or one of its committees, to give witness or to hand over any information which the parliament wish to seek, and that this article could force journalists to reveal their sources to the parliament, and that such a clause shatters an important safeguard granted to the journalists by the Constitution.

“As Article 28 of the Constitution allows certain rights to the press, the last sentence of the Article states that no person shall be compelled to disclose the source of any information that is espoused, disseminated or published by that person. Article 17 (a) of the privileges bill however does not recognize such a distinction, and that the fact that it allows the journalists to be summoned to the Parliament and to its committees, and be asked to reveal their sources of information causes to this Association to pose grave doubts about the legitimacy of this bill and its article, and the Association believes that the clause will impede one of the most significant rights granted to journalists by the Constitution.” stated the MJA statement.

The statement also noted many more concerning issues, including the article 4 (a) of the bill which states “any act which undermines the parliaments and its work is an act of violation”, but the statement stated that the clauses does not clearly stipulate the “act” which it intends to and thus, could leave questions as to how a person can violate the privilege of the parliament open to interpretation.

The Association also expressed concern saying that even though the legislation gives the authority for the Prosecutor General to prosecute and the Police to investigate some of the cases examined by the parliament, there are some clauses which can interpret in such a way the parliament and parliament committees can precede criminal investigations.

The Parliament members privileges bill, had been sent back to the Parliament by three different Presidents, stating on each instance that the bill contains unreasonable privileges to member of the parliament. The bill was first sent back by former president Maumnoon Abdul Gayoom in 2006 and then by former President Nasheed, followed by the current president Dr. Mohamed Waheed last December. The Parliament however has passed the bill without any amendments which will force President Waheed to ratify the bill.

When the bill was most recently asked for vote in Parliament, MP's from MDP and Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) voted in favour of the bill.