The courts do not have the power to transfer detainees to house arrest and that the detainees are in jail because they might tamper with evidence, says President Abdulla Yameen.

The President said this at Tuesday night’s rally at the ruling party PPM’s campaign site, Rumaalu-2.

During his speech, President Yameen said that many have asked him why the detainees are not being transferred to house arrest and that he, being the highest authority of the state, has to give an answer.

President Yameen said he tells them that it is the responsibility of the accused and their lawyers to disprove the allegations and not the job of state prosecutors, and that they are in jail because they might tamper with evidence.

He said that the accused should not refuse to give their phones to authorities as the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice did. He also said that the Constitution states that people should be arrested if there’s a chance that he might tamper or erase evidence and so it was not in the court’s power to decide to transfer them to house arrest, nor is it done on his orders.

President Yameen said that when the international community calls on the Maldives to uphold the rule of law, he does not understand which law was overstepped to justify such calls. He added that no one was jailed on the orders of the home ministry or a notice send by the police.