Former Judicial Administrator at the Department of Judicial Service (DJA) Hassan Saeed Hussain has been sentenced to a total of four months and 24 days in prison after the Criminal Court found him guilty of hiding from the police as they sought to arrest him.
Saeed was sentenced on Thursday following the Criminal Court having found him guilty of obstruction of law enforcement declaring he had attempted to hide from police after an order was issued by the Criminal Court to locate him on the 04th of February. Saeed was slapped with four months and 24 days in prison after the court had looked into witness testimonies made against him declaring that he had withheld from presenting himself to police headquarters deliberately.
Presiding judge over the case, Ali Adam had stated points noticed by the court during the court proceeding. As such, the judge had highlighted that police officers attempts to reach Saeed after having arrived at his residence to arrest him, had been to no avail, adding that witness statements prove that Saeed had not been inside his residence when the officers had broken the door down and searched the place.
The judge had claimed that Saeed should have abided by the court order to locate him, asserting that not turning himself in is an act of obstruction of law enforcement.
While the Supreme Court had later annulled the Criminal Court order to locate Saeed, Judge Adam said that till the order’s annulment, it would have been effective.
Adam said that albeit former Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Justice Ali Hameed’s names being included as defense witnesses from the DJA Administrator’s side, the court had decided not to take their testimonies as they are convicted criminals doing time for their offences.
Speaking about sentencing after declaring Saeed guilty of the charges against him, the state requested to impose the basic prison sentence of four months and 24 days in prison as stated under the Maldives Penal Code.
Saeed’s lawyers had appealed at court to transfer him to house arrest as well as to issue the verdict in such a way that Saeed would not have to do more time in prison as he has already spent over five months in incarceration. However, the Judge had dismissed the appeal saying that he had been held in police custody for different allegations against him, asserting that his transfer to house arrest cannot be done.
Saeed was dismissed from the post of administrator on the 10th of July and was one of the first people to be arrested after the government declared the nation-wide state of emergency on the 05th of February regarding a Supreme Court ruling ordering the release of opposition politicians and the reinstatement of opposition MPs.
The former administrator was initially arrested upon allegations of bribing Supreme Court Justices and the police had stated that they had found a large number of cash under his bed upon searching his residence in February.
