Court asks Mahloof to apologize over letter requesting judge change

The court has asked Member of Parliament (MP) for Galolhu Dhekunu Constituency Ahmed Mahloof to apologize for sharing the letter sent to Criminal Court requesting to change the presiding judge for one of the cases raised against him, with the media.

MP Mahloof requested Criminal Court's senior judge Ahmed Arif to change the presiding judge Ali Adam for the case raised against MP Mahloof for falsefully accusing the authorities of killing prisoners due to their failure to provide adequate medical treatment.

However the parliamentarian informed RaajjeMV that he had not received a response to the said letter by the time he attended the hearing scheduled for Thursday.

Hence, at the beginning of the hearing held on Thursday, MP Mahloof brought his previous request into the court's attention.

Regarding which the presiding judge Ali Adam said that even though the section in charge of the trial has received the letter, the judge himself was neither aware of what was written in the letter, nor has he seen it yet.

However, the judge claimed to have heard some information regarding the said letter from various media stations. When Judge Ali Adam asked MP Mahloof whether he had shared the information, the parliamentarian admitted to have shared the letter with the media.

With reference to media reports about the letter, the presiding judge ordered MP Mahloof to refrain from disseminating false information to the public through media. The judge also accused MP Mahloof of illegitimizing the court and attempting to influence the trial.

Judge Ali Adam also said that he had no intention of presiding over MP Mahloof's case and added that he is carrying out the trial according to procedure upon assignment. Judge Ali Adam also stated that he would willingly hand over the case if the senior judge decides to reassign it.

Furthermore, the presiding judge stated that no one should invalidate the court and ordered MP Mahloof not to repeat it again. The parliamentarian apologized for sharing the letter with the public upon court's order. However he said that he did not believe demanding for rights assured by the constitution to be something he needed to apologize for.

The hearing scheduled for Thursday was supposed to discuss evidence provided by the prosecution. Nevertheless, MP Mahloof stated that the hearing was held without a lawyer. Therefore, he requested to reschedule the hearing given that the relevant documents of the case were also with the previously assigned lawyers, which he has not received yet.

As the prosecutor did not oppose to that, Judge Ali Adam concluded Thursday's hearing after scheduling the next hearing for 11:00 am on May 30th.