Prominent lawyer Mahfooz Saeed said Supreme Court judges must be penalized for not abiding by the Criminal Procedures Act, which came into effect earlier this year.

Mahfooz is referring to the Criminal Procedures Act’s clause stipulating that the Supreme Court determine regulations for conducting trials.

He said that entirety of the Supreme Court bench is liable for penalty and that a disciplinary case against them is appropriate.

While the Supreme Court was mandated to draft trial regulations, the law mandated the police with determining regulations on conducting investigations.

Both the Supreme Court and the Maldives Police Service have yet to do so, despite the Criminal Procedures Act giving only a three-month window for it. The law came into effect in early July.

Mahfooz said this at a press conference of lawyers involved in a petition calling for judicial reform that resulted in the mass suspension of 56 lawyers.

Former Attorney General Husnu Suood and lawyer Hisaan Hussein had spoken at the conference on Tuesday as well.

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