The High Court has overturned the 2022 murder convictions of Ismail Haisham Rasheed and Ahmed Zihan in the Yameen Rasheed case, ordering retrials in Criminal Court. Both defendants have been remanded in custody pending the new trials. The High Court also reversed acquittals of two other individuals and ordered their cases retried.
Yameen Rasheed was stabbed to death in the early hours on 23 April 2017 in an attack that shook the nation.
Ismail Haisham Rasheed and Ahmed Zihan have been taken back into custody after the High Court overturned their earlier convictions and ordered that their cases be retried in the Criminal Court.
Haisham and Zihan were convicted by the Criminal Court in 2022 in connection with the murder of blogger and social media activist Yameen Rasheed. However, following an appeal, a three-judge panel of the High Court unanimously set aside the lower court’s verdict.
On Wednesday, after the cases had remained in the appeals process for three years, the High Court issued separate rulings for each defendant, nullifying their previous sentences and instructing the Criminal Court to proceed with fresh trials.
In response to the High Court’s decision, the Criminal Court on Wednesday ordered that both Haisham and Zihan be remanded in custody pending the outcome of the retrial.
The Prosecutor General’s Office stated that the case relates to Yameen’s murder.
After reviewing the appeals filed by Ismail Haisham Rasheed of H. Annaarumaage and Ahmed Zihan Ismail of Hulhumalé Lot No. 11399, the High Court annulled the findings that had been proven against them and referred the matter back to the Criminal Court for further proceedings.
Following the High Court’s ruling, the Prosecutor General’s Office requested the Criminal Court to determine the detention status of the two suspects. The Criminal Court subsequently ruled that Haisham and Zihan should remain in custody until the conclusion of the newly ordered trial.
In addition to this, the High Court overturned the acquittals of two other individuals, Mohamed Dhifran from Gadhdhoo island of Gaaf Dhaal atoll, and Ismail Rasheed of M. Thaif, whose charges had previously been dismissed by the Criminal Court, and ordered that their cases also be retried.
