Supreme Court has postponed an appeal hearing into the High Court's decision to reject a case seeking to put a stop to the online hearings in the sexual assault trial against Tourism Minister Ali Waheed.

While Waheed traveled to the UK after the Criminal Court released his passport on "medical referral" this February, the disgraced former minister failed to return when the period ended and instead had requested to proceed the hearings online. He claims that the treatment is incomplete.

The Criminal Court accepted the request, and has commenced online hearings in the trial.

While the Prosecutor General (PG) expressed disappointment in the lower court's decision, the Office filed an appeal case at the High Court which was rejected. The Office then filed a case at the top court.

The Supreme Court on Monday revealed that a scheduled hearing in the case has been postponed to August 11, due to administrative issues.

The PG stressed that a court hearing should be held where the state can implement the verdict of a Maldivian court, adding that holding the hearing for a criminal trial online with the accused currently outside of the Maldives was in violation of the Maldives Criminal Procedure Code.

Waheed, who traveled to UK after signing a guarantor deal with State Minister Assad Ali, was given a four-month medical leave.

While the former minister is accused of sexually assaulting ministry employees, seven charges were raised against him in November 2020; including one count of attempted rape, one count of sexual abuse, one count of indecent exposure, one count of sexual harassment and one count of attempted sexual harassment. He is also charged with two counts of solicitation of sexual favors.

Following the allegations against Waheed, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih ordered him to resign and consecutively stripped him from the ministerial post after he failed to forward a resignation letter.

Waheed claims that the sexual assault allegations against him were “politically motivated”.