Yameen summoned to Police, released after two hours

Mulaku MP and Parliamentary Group Leader of opposition party PPM Abdulla Yameen has been released after being summoned to the Police for questioning.

Yameen said that he received the notification last night, requesting for his presence at the Police office at 11.00 today, regarding police investigations into certain statements made by him at the series of ongoing protests in Male’.

Speaking to reporters after the more than two hour-long session of questioning, Yameen said that the Police inquiries were regarding statements he had made at the protests, such as why he said certain things and what he meant by them.

Yameen said that during today’s investigation, as explanation for a statement he made during the protests indicating that the Police should comply with the existing laws, he said that speaking in his capacity as a member of the Parliament and as someone involved in making laws, the Police should obey the law, and that he plans to make the same statement in the future as well.

“I said that I do not believe that every command issued to the Police is lawful. The Police have to comply with lawful commands. The Constitution obligates every citizen to obey,” Yameen said.

Yameen said that he was questioned about the arrangements he would make for a Police Officer who is dismissed due to disobedience to an unlawful command, as he had mentioned during the protests. Yameen replied by saying that he had the idea of finding employment for that person one way or another, and would make efforts in this regard. He also clarified that he did not mean that he will make arrangements for Police Officers while they are in employment, and that his intention was not to create unrest within the Police institutions.

“I repeatedly call for the Police to obey commands which are within the legal system. They do not have to obey unlawful commands,” Yameen said.

The Police asked Yameen if his comment that there are offenders among Police Officers was aimed at a certain person, and what he is basing this accusation on. Yameen replied that this was not aimed at a particular Officer, and that he mentioned this because there must exist Officers who are offenders out of necessity. He also said that several people had been dismissed from employment.

Yameen further said that he gets cooperation of the Police in most situations, and since he is departing to Sri Lanka today, the Police agreed to meet him earlier than what was first proposed by them. Yameen said that he will share information of the current situation in the Maldives with diplomatic missions and international media. He also said that he will inform foreign groups of the current government’s refusal to comply with the existing legal system. He also said that the information given by the government to international organizations is not entirely correct.