High Court overturns lower court

The High Court has overturned the six-month prison sentence against Henveyru-South MP Hamid Abdul Gafoor, given by the Criminal Court.

Following this ruling today, the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services (DPRS) has released Hamid from prison.

The High Court said that Hamid had sent a letter to the court, apologising and stating that he forgot, after being summoned by the court, to attend the first trial of the case against him for refusing to provide a urine sample.

The High Court said that the documents of the Criminal Court indicate that Hamid’s apology was accepted by the court.

The ruling also states that the Supreme Court’s annulment of Article 11 (a) of the Parliament Powers and Privileges Act, which states that MPs shall not be summoned to court if doing so obstructs them from attending the parliament, came after action was taken against Hamid; and since this article was still in place when Hamid was sentenced, it should have been followed.

The three judges of the High Court who presided over this case agreed that there was no legal basis to support Criminal Court’s sentence.