State lawyers have told High Court that the judges who issued politically influenced rulings have not lost their integrity.

During the hearing of the appeal filed by Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Justice Ali Hameed, the prosecution said that witness statements by judges who have issued politically influenced rulings should also be accepted in court. 

The appeal cases applied to High Court regarding the Criminal Court's decision which determined Chief Justice and Justice Ali Hameed guilty of influencing official conduct and obstruction of state duties are being held separately. Since both the individuals applied the same reasons to annul the lower court's decision, the response by the High Court regarding both the cases were also similar. 

One of the major reasons raised by the Justices to annul the decision was the witness statements provided against them by judges who lack integrity due to the accusations of issuing rulings upon order. The lawyers of both Justices also said that the lower court judges went against the judge's oath taken under the name of God which proves their lack of candor. Therefore added that the Criminal Court's decision should be annulled since it was determined on a trial in which the witness statements from the aforementioned judges were accepted. 

However, the prosecutor Ahmed Thaufeeq responded saying that none of the courts have determined that the lower court judges lack candor. He also added that the judges who issued rulings upon order are not compromised since they acknowledge that they had no control over issuing some court rulings according to orders and also because it was done under the influence of powerful individuals in the Maldivian judiciary.

When the defense said that the written documents provided as evidence against Chief Justice and Justice Ali Hameed were not provided to prove the accusations against them, the prosecutor said that the court rulings presented as written evidence prove that the two Justices manipulated the court orders issued by lower court judges. 

The prosecutor said that one of the secret witness statements talks about the time the individual had to travel back to Male' just to issue a court ruling as ordered by Justice Ali Hameed. He also added that the written evidence presented to the court would prove that. 

Furthermore, the defense raised the issue of not presenting any other witnesses to legitimize the statements provided by the two lower court judges. However, the prosecutor responded saying that there was no need to present any other witnesses since the statements provided by the lower court judges prove that they conversed with both the Supreme Court Justices.

The last hearing of the appeal case requesting to dismiss the one year seven months jail sentence against Chief Justice and Justice Ali Hameed under the allegations of influencing official conduct and obstruction of state duties will be held next. At the hearing held on Sunday, the defense was able to present 15 major reasons to annul the Criminal Court ruling and the prosecutor was given the opportunity to respond to them. The final hearing will include the defense's response to the prosecution's last arguments.