A team of 19 defense lawyers representing the case of the mass arrest of main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) supporters in Kolamaafushi following a dispute with supporters of ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives, has arrived in Gaaf Alif atoll on Thursday.
In late August, 18 supporters of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) were arrested following a dispute that flared between them and supporters of ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) who had disrupted the MDP supporters’ preparations for opposition coalition’s candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s arrival in the island.
Terrorism charges were raised against the arrestees and they were remanded for 15 days by the Villigili magistrate court. While their remand ends on Thursday, they are to be brought to the Villigili magistrate court on Friday for their remand hearing. It was understood that they were remanded the first time round at a closed-door court hearing without being given legal representation.
While the team of defense lawyers comprises of 19 lawyers, a lawyer for each arrestee, leading the team is former Attorney General Husnu Al Suood.
This is the biggest team of lawyers to be comprised thus far in Maldives history regarding one case.
The team in comprised of:
- Mahfooz Saeed,
- Ahmed Nazim Abdul Sattar,
- Ali Abdul Latheef,
- Hussain Shameem,
- Sayyah Khaleel,
- Adam Zalif,
- Moosa Siraj,
- Ibrahim Shiyam,
- Masthoor Husni,
- Thoha Mohamed,
- Aishath Sheena Mohamed,
- Husnu Al Suood,
- Abdul Salaam Arif,
- Afsal Abdulla Zuhair,
- Safa Shareef,
- Mohamed Faisal,
- Ahmed Thalib,
- Nadheem Ibrahim
- Hassan Waheed.
Those arrested include Abdulla Rasheed, Ahmed Saleem, Niyaz Hussain, Hussain Farhath, Ahmed Waheed, Mahooth Ismail, Abbas Abdulla, Ahmed Rauf, Hassan Najeeb, Muslim Najeeb, Ziyad Rasheed, Mohamed Rasheed, Razeen Rasheed, Ahmed Shuzan, Shahudh Mohamed, Ismail Shareef, Riffath Ibrahim and Amjad Ibrahim.
