Supreme Court upholds Nasheed’s 13-year sentence

Supreme Court, on Monday, upheld the 13-year jail sentence for former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed.

Nasheed was sentenced to 13 years after he was found guilty of using military officers to unlawfully arrest former chief judge of Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed, during his tenure as Maldivian President and Head of Defense Force.

He was sentenced on March 13, 2015 by Criminal Court.

The sentence was upheld by High Court, though the appeal was rejected.

Prosecutor General’s Office filed the case with Supreme Court to ensure the validity of the sentence.

Reading the verdict, Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed said that Nasheed had been given sufficient time to prepare his defense.

He said that the trial had dragged on at Hulhumale’ Court for three years before the charge was changed and the case re-filed with Criminal Court. And that Nasheed had been given documents pertaining to the case when the trial first began at Hulhumale’ Court, and that the same documents had been used during the Criminal Court trial as well.

He also noted that the Nasheed had the same lawyers, now and then.

Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed said that Nasheed had been provided the opportunity to hire lawyers. And that the lawyers he hired had refused to attend court halfway through the trial.

He said that Nasheed had been provided the opportunity to hire lawyers even after that, but had not hired one within the given time period.

He noted that Judge Abdulla Mohamed had not been involved in the trial in any way, but that there was no legal reason why the judges working at Criminal Court when the incident took place, could not preside over the case.

Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed said that Nasheed had been provided the opportunity to summon witnesses, but that judges had decided to veto that using the power vested upon them as the whole case had been cleared out, and sufficient evidence received to determine Nasheed’s guilt.

He said that Nasheed had been provided all the rights he was due, and that the Criminal Court trial was just.

The Chief Justice said that the decision by High Court to reject the file for appeal and rule to uphold the Criminal Court sentence was right. And that all Supreme Court judges felt there was no need to change the sentence.

The case was presided over by Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed, joined by Judge Ali Hameed Mohamed, Judge Abdulla Areef, Judge Adam Mohamed Abdulla, and Judge Ahmed Abdulla Didi.

Nasheed is currently in UK, having been granted “political refugee” status there.