Committee: Police had reasonable grounds to arrest Fayyaz, Azim

The Parliament Committee on Privileges has decided after review, that the police had reasonable grounds to arrest MPs belonging to Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Medhu-Henveyru MP Ali Azim and Gan MP Fayyaz Ismail, during recent protests.

This came in a report after the committee, in which majority is held by pro-government MPs, investigated the arrests of the opposition MPs.

The committee also said that the arrests were not politically motivated, and noted that the MPs were allowed to attend parliament sittings while in police custody.

The matter was discussed with the police prior to the compilation of the report, the committee said.

Both MPs have been released – Azim on 5 March on the condition that he does not participate in protests for 60 days, and Fayyaz yesterday after 15 days in police custody.