Muthasim as CJ, Suood officially appointed to SC

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has officially appointed Husnu Al Suood to the Supreme Court and Muthasim Adnan as the Chief Justice.

The pair were approved to the posts in the Parliamentary session held earlier this week and were sworn in at a ceremony in the President’s Office yesterday. Husnu Al Suood was appointed to the top court first and was sworn in by the temporary senior justice of the Court, Dr. Esmeralda Zahir.

Suood then swore in Muthasim as the Chief Justice and was awarded the letter of appointment by the President.

Muthasim was one of the first justices of the Supreme Court when it was introduced in 2010 with the green constitution. He has a Masters of Philosophy in Transitional Commercial Law from the University of Glasgow. Muthasim was removed from the Supreme Court when the number of justices on the bench was reduced from seven to five during the administration of former President Abdulla Yameen.

The post of Chief Justice was vacated after the Parliament impeached the former Chief Justice Dr. Ahmed Abdulla Didi in November based on ethics and disciplinary investigation of the Judicial Service Commission.

Husnu Al Suood worked as a prominent lawyer after attaining his Bachelors from the Malaysian International Islamic University. He obtained his Masters in law from the University of Queensland and even worked as the Attorney General. He was serving as the President of the Presidential Commission on Deaths and Disappearances before he was approved by the Parliament for the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court currently consists of five justices. Two more justices are expected to be appointed to the court after Justice Ghani was impeached last Thursday and Justice Areef retired due to health issues.