The Criminal Court has on Tuesday released a cautionary statement asking the public to refrain from making comments that reflect negatively on judges and constitutes contempt.
The statement follows the court’s decision to suspend lawyer Husnu Al Suood, who has been representing Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed, was suspended.
I have been suspended by the criminal court and banned from defending the Chief justice of Maldives Mr. Abdulla Saeed in the on going criminal trial against him. The voice of justice cannot be silenced. pic.twitter.com/QS7uroHpY6
— Husnu Al Suood (@hsuood) March 20, 2018
Suood was suspended after he told journalists that the trial against his client, the Chief Justice of Maldives’ apex court, will likely be decided ‘at the whim of the judge’, given that the Criminal Procedures Act has been suppressed under the ongoing state of emergency.
The decision has been contested on the grounds that the Judicial Services Commission, the local judiciary’s oversight body, conventionally has the authority to suspend those in the legal profession.
The Criminal Court’s suspension only applies to cases ongoing under it.
