After spending 24 hours in detention, former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed on Wednesday walked out of police custody as his trial for alleged illegal detention of a judge has been deferred by four weeks.
During the hearing, which lasted for over a one-and-a- half hours, 45-year-old Nasheed sought deferment of trial till the Presidential polls in September. The prosecutor too had agreed to the proposal. However, noting that the Elections Commission is yet to announce Nasheed as a presidential candidate for the elections, the Bench postponed the trial by four weeks.
“Nasheed has walked out as a free man. He was taken into custody on orders of the court because he was evading court summons and not because of any vendetta as he claims,” said President Mohamed Waheed’s Press Secretary Masood Imad.
He added, “We have maintained right from the beginning that we cannot interfere in judicial matters. Even the trail against him has been postponed by four weeks only because of the wishes of the court.”
Nasheed was arrested on Tuesday less than a fortnight after he left the Indian High Commission in Male where he was holed up for 11 days to evade arrest in a case concerning the detention of the Chief Criminal Judge during his Presidency.
Nasheed claims the trial is “politically motivated” to bar him from contesting in the presidential elections.
If convicted in the case, he will face a maximum sentence of one year in jail. He will also be barred from contesting elections for three years.
Speaking over Nasheed’s arrest, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday expressed concern over the political instability in Maldives and hoped that it will have “free, fair and credible” elections in September, which India would support.
With Maldives witnessing a tussle between the Waheed Government and former President Mohammed Nasheed, Singh said India wants all stakeholders in the island nation to resolve the issues “through dialogue”. He said that India would work closely to strengthen the relations with the island nation. “We remain concerned about critical political instability in Maldives. It is our hope that Maldives will have free, fair and credible elections in September to elect their President,” Singh said replying to the debate on Motion of Thanks on the Presidential address.
“India will support all efforts to ensure free, fair and credible elections...We are closely monitoring the developments. We will work closely to strengthen our relations with Maldives,” the Prime Minister said.
In the meanwhile, accusing the Waheed Government of selective victimization, Amnesty International has said that the arrest of former President Mohamed Nasheed is an example of selective justice from the Maldives authorities and highlights their failure to investigate other serious human rights abuses in the country
“Of course political leaders, including Nasheed, should be held to account but targeting of Nasheed is an example of selective justice,” said Abbas Faiz, Amnesty International’s Maldives Researcher yesterday. “The Maldivian authorities must carry out a full investigation into alleged abuses by anyone and not just target political opponents,” he said.