Officer fails to wake up on time to take MPs Faris, Ilham and Sinan for parliament sitting

Lawyer Hussain Shameem has said that MPs Ahmed Faris Maumoon, Abdulla Sinan and Ilham Ahmed were not presented to Monday’s special parliament sitting because a police officer ‘overslept’.

In a tweet posted Monday night, Shameem disclosed the name of the said officer- Abdulla Abdul Raheem, SN 1397- and said that it was ‘unfortunate that [he] could not wake up on time to send Faris, Ilham and Sinan for the parliament session’.

Shameem emphasized that they had requested for the MPs to be sent for the sitting ‘in writing and in person the previous day,’ adding that it is ‘sad’ that he overslept.

Dhiggaru constituency MP Faris, Dhan’gethi constituency MP Ilham and South-Mahchangoalhi MP Sinan are all in police custody, but according to the Constitution, they have to be presented to parliament sittings unless convicted of a criminal offence and is serving a sentence of more than 12 years.

An extraordinary sitting of the parliament was held on Monday, where the government proposed to extend the state of emergency by an additional 30 days. While the motion was forwarded to the Committee on National Security, the committee passed to extend the state of emergency to 45 days.

A sitting was scheduled for later on Monday night to take a vote, but was cancelled. A total of 43 MPs must be present for the motion to pass, but today’s sitting showed that the government coalition currently has the support of just 41.