Court finds Defence Minister Jaleel not guilty

Criminal Court has sentenced the Defence Minister, Moosa Ali Jaleel, not guilty of the terrorism charge against him for his involvement in the unlawful arrest of the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed.

The sentence today from the Criminal Court said that if there is lack of evidence against a man and it cannot be proven without reasonable doubt, he does not have to bear the responsibility of a crime according to the Article 51-A of the constitution.

The statement of the sentence said that looking at the evidence presented, Moosa Ali Jaleel played no part in taking Judge Abdulla to Girifushi.

The sentence said that the prosecution did not prove that the Defence Minister took part in the arrest with either action or words.

The state charged Jaleel saying that he took part in meetings regarding the Commander in Chief’s decision to arrest Judge Abdulla and on the night of 16 January 2012, taking Judge Abdulla Mohamed to Girifushi by force. The court said that there is no evidence to support that Jaleel took part in either one of those things.