Over a week after the lift of the state of emergency, Maldives Police Service (MPS) has increased the time duration for lawyers to meet with detainees, from 30 minutes to one hour.
According to a notice sent out on Thursday, signed by the Head Superintendent of the police’s Custodial Department Ahmed Nafiz, the new regulation took effect from Friday.
According to the regulation, a detainee with an ongoing trial will be allowed to meet with a single lawyer for one and a half hours, while the time is to be extended if the detainee faces multiple charges.
Lawyer visits will be allowed from 9am to 6pm during week days, while meetings on Fridays and Saturdays are to be allowed if hearings are scheduled for the weekend, or the next day.
The change comes eight days after the President’s Office announced the lift of state of emergency, which was declared on 5th February. Later, on February 20, it was extended by an additional 30 days, through a vote held without the constitutionally required quorum of 43 parliamentarians.
Last week, lawyers had expressed concern over the continued time limit for meetings, noting that the 30-minute limitation was “supposed to be for the duration of the state of emergency as per [police’s] announcement”.
Police had, on 13th February, announced that “persons in custody will be allowed to meet their lawyers for a period not exceeding 30 minutes,” in order to ensure “equal treatment for all”.
READ MORE: 30-minute limitation on lawyer visits continue despite lift of state of emergency
