High Court has scheduled another hearing for MP Ahmed Mahloof’s appeal of the obstruction sentence against him.
The first hearing was held on Monday, two months Mahloof had served one of the two jail sentences imposed on him by the Criminal Court. The second hearing will be held on Thursday.
MP Mahloof’s appeal asks that the superior court deem that the Criminal Court’s ruling against him is both unjust and unlawful.
The parliamentarian has asked that the High Court’s bench review witness testimony provided during the Criminal Court proceedings, while the prosecution has sought to uphold the initial ruling.
Mahloof was sentenced to two consecutive sentences amount to 10 months and 24 days on obstruction of police justice. He has already served the first six-month prison.
He is currently serving the second part of sentence and will be released in June. However, MP Mahloof’s family has also raised concern that the appeal process to overturn his sentence is yet to be follow through.
Mahloof is an independent parliamentarian who has been working with the opposition. Prior to his sentencing, he was also the spokesperson of the opposition alliance, Maldives United Opposition (MUO). The largest opposition party in the country, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has filed Mahloof's case in Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU).