Parliament committee to review appointment of judges for Nasheed

An issue has been submitted to the Parliament Committee on Independent Institutions questioning the legitimacy of the manner in which judges, who are presiding over the case of former president Nasheed, were appointed to the Hulhumale’ Court.

The committee held an extraordinary meeting today regarding the issue which was signed by 3 members from the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). The committee unanimously decided to look into the issue, with votes in favour by the five MDP members who participated in the voting.

Three members who support the current government also attended the committee meeting. They however left before the issue was asked for vote.

Presenting the issue to the committee, MDP parliamentary group member Dhidhdhoo MP Ahmed Sameer said that the Hulhumale’ Court, which was established as a branch of Male’ courts on 11th March 2007 following a letter by the President’s Office, was later changed into Magistrate Court following a decision made by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which has established a bench of judges to preside over a particular case. He said that this done against the laws governing the courts, judges and the JSC.

Shedding more light on the issue, Sameer said that when the two judges Shiyama Mohamed and Amjad Abdul Ghanee who were permanently appointed to the court by JSC left for further studies, the court was temporarily handed over to Kaafu Atoll Huraa Court Chief Magistrate Moosa Naseem. He said that while the Hulhumale’ Court was under the care on Moosa Naseem, the appointment of a three judges bench to preside over Nasheed’s case by the JSC was against Article 68 (c) (i) of the Judicature Act.

In reference to the Judges Act, Sameer said that it is the responsibility of the chief magistrate of the in-charge of the area to appoint judges to courts where the seats are vacant. He pointed out that the power did not lie at the discretion of JSC. He also said that in an instance where a magistrate court does not have judge, the seat shall be filled by a judge from the area and said contrary to this, the judges appointed to the Hulhumale’ Court were Gaafu Alif Chief Magistrate Shujau Usman, Alif Alif Chief Magistrate Abdul Nasir Abdul Raheem and Alif Dhaalu Chief Magistrate Hussain Rameez.

Therefore, Sameer said that the judges bench established to preside over the case against former President Nasheed, former Defence Minister Thol’hath Ibrahim Kaleyfaanu, former Chief of Defence Force Major General (Rtd) Moosa Ali Jaleel, Brigadier General (Rtd) Ibrahim Mohamed Didi and Colonel Mohamed Riyaz does not have legitimacy.

After debating on the issue, the committee decided to send a letter to chief judge of Huraa Court under whose care the Hulhumale’ Court is currently under, to clarify the manner in which the judges were appointed. They also decided to request via letter from JSC, to send to the committee the minutes and decisions of the meetings held regarding the establishment of the Hulhumale’ Court judges bench. The two decisions were passed by unanimous vote from all MDP members present.

The committee then decided to obtain the documents before 3:00 pm coming Wednesday, and to hold a committee meeting afterwards.