Ex-CP Areef's terror trial hearing cancelled again

The Criminal Court has cancelled a hearing on former police commissioner Ahmed Areef’s trial on terrorism-related charges.

The hearing was scheduled for Monday morning and later cancelled for undisclosed reasons.

Areef is charged with conspiring to overthrow the government for trying to implement a controversial Supreme Court ruling on February 1, which ordered the release of political prisoners.

At the last hearing on May 13, Areef denied the charges and said that he had served in the police service for 29 years and had never done anything illegal.

While President Abdulla Yameen has claimed that the February 1 Supreme Court ruling was an attempted coup, Areef said that it was the duty of the police service to abide by court orders and that there would be no room to question the ruling of the Supreme Court.

The state has presented 31 pieces of evidence against Areef, which include police statements. While numerous evidences have been made secret, the defense requested that they be given the content of the statements without revealing the witnesses’ personal information, since it is the right of the accused.