Supreme Court schedules appeal over dismissal of terrorism charges against Ameen for tomorrow

Supreme Court had scheduled the appeal case lodged by the Prosecutor General’s Office regarding High Court’s dismissal of the terrorism charges raised against Mohamed Ameen, Kariyya Villa, Maadhandu, Fuvahmulah City, for tomorrow. Ameen is suspected to the leader of the Maldivian faction of the terror organization, Islamic State, by the Police.

The hearing is scheduled for 9:00 in the morning.

High Court had dismissed the terrorism charges against Mohamed Ameen on September 16 – citing that the charges were filed after the expiration of the statute of limitation. 

PGO’s appeal states that High Court misinterpreted Article 26 (K) of the Anti-Terrorism Act in their decision as well as due to the failure to refer to the exceptions to the statute of limitations stipulated in the Act – for investigation and filing charges in terrorism-related cases.  

They also stressed in their appeal that the failure to refer to the exceptions to the statute of limitations stipulated in the Anti-Terrorism Act – leads for the stipulated exceptions to serve no purpose.

Even though High Court had dismissed the charges against Ameen, they issued a MoniCon order against Ameen just days after, barring him from traveling outside of Male’ City.

The order read that Ameen will not be allowed to travel outside of Male’ City without authorization from the Police. In addition to this – he will also not be able to leave his home from 18:00 in the evening to 06:00 in the morning.

Ameen is suspected of involvement in the Sultan’s Park bombing which injured a dozen tourists in 2007. He fled the country after the bombing, prompting an Interpol red notice against him.

He was located in neighboring Sri Lanka and brought to Maldives in 2012 but released by the court after two months of detainment.

He was rearrested in 2019 – under suspicion of spreading radical extremist ideologies and recruiting and dispatching people for jihad in other countries. Ameen was transferred to house arrest in February this year – due to complaints of not receiving adequate medical care the opportunity to exercise outside of his jail cell.

US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has Ameen flagged as a senior operative of IS, making him the first Maldivian national to be named on the OFAC’s terror list.

According to the US, Ameen was actively engaged in leading IS recruitment in Maldives. He is also accused of assisting the IS branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan by providing funding, assists and technological support.

He is the first person to be arrested and charged under the revised Anti-Terrorism Act.