Wisam’s sentencing hearing postponed

Sentencing hearing for RajjeTV reporter Mohamed Wisam in the obstruction charge he was found guilty of has been postponed due to lack of signatures by witnesses for defense in their statements.

Criminal Court was due to read its sentence during the hearing scheduled for 11 am, this Thursday.

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nformation officer at Criminal Court, Ahmed Mohamed Manik reported to “Sun” that the witnesses who testified for the defense failed to turn up at court to sign their statements.

Wisam was charged with obstruction of law enforcement officers for an incident which took place on March 25, 2015 during a protest in Male’ City.

The charge reads that Wisam forced his way through barricades put up by police between the streets Boduthakurufaanu Magu and Mohamed Ismail Didi Goalhi and obstructed police officers when they arrested a protester, demanding to know why he was being arrested.

Wisam denied the charge, and both the State prosecution and the defense provided witness testimony to prove their case.

State prosecution also submitted video footage as evidence.

Wisam’s lawyer, Abdulla Haseen said that neither State witness testimony nor video evidence showed what exactly Wisam did to obstruct law enforcement.

Wisam and his co-worker Leevan Ali Nasir were both fined MVR 28,800 each after Criminal Court found them guilty of obstruction in a separate case.

Their co-worker, RajjeTV video journalist Adam Zareer was also slapped with an obstruction charge and fined MVR 3,000.