Thursday night’s event where the Chief Justice chose to praise incumbent President Abdulla Yameen ‘was clearly a campaign event’ and was ‘only missing the President Yameen 2018 banner,’ says MP for North-Maafannu constituency MP Imthiyaz Fahmy.

Speaking on RaajjeTV’s Fala Surukhee programme on Saturday night, the spokesperson of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said that the Chief Justice ‘should have spoken about the lack of justice in the Maldives,’ rather than praising the President. Fahmy added that the lack of justice in the Maldives ‘is apparent to the whole world’.

The Chief Justice chose to flatter the President at the ceremony held to mark the anniversary of the day the Maldives embraced Islam, last Thursday night.

Noting that Chief Justice Saeed had expressed concern over alleged reports that work is being done to spread other religions in the Maldives, MP Fahmy said that ‘he is doing this to hide what they are doing’.

The lawmaker added that the Maldives has been practicing Islam for years and that ‘no one is trying to spread any other religions here’.