A hearing in the case of obstruction of justice against former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Justice Ali Hameed has been scheduled at 01:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
The hearing in the trio’s obstruction trial was initially scheduled for 11:00 a.m on Tuesday, however it was cancelled since signing court documents was taking too long. The cancellation came one and a half hours since journalists and family of the accused had arrived in court.
An official at the court had announced the postponement of the hearing to Wednesday afternoon after announcing the hearing’s cancellation.
At the last hearing in the trial of the trio held on Sunday night, the presiding judge Hassan Najeeb had decided not to accept witness statements in their defense. At Sunday’s hearing, state presented two police officers against Saeed, two against Gayoom and a secret witness against Hameed.
Giving their testimonies against SC justices, officers of Maldives Police Service (MPS) Ismail Wildhan and Mohamed Samih who had been present on the night their arrest, said that both justices had been arrested while they were inside a room on the second floor of the Supreme Court on the night of 05th February and that upon their refusal to hand over their phones, police had searched the entire building to no avail.
Also giving their testimonies, officers Mohamed Latheef and Hussain Azmeel who had been active in the arrest of Gayoom on the same night, had said that Gayoom had said that he did not have his phone on him at the time he was taken into police custody following which officers had inquired if his wife Nasreena Ibrahim or daughter Dunya Maumoon had a hold on his phone.
After Nasreena and Dunya had said that they did not have his phone, officers had searched the entirety of Endherimaage, Gayoom’s residence to no avail.
According to court schedule, a sentencing hearing will follow after the one scheduled for this afternoon.
