Criminal Court remands lawyer Siraj for six days

The Criminal Court of the Maldives has remanded former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb’s legal representative Moosa Siraj for six days.

Jailed Adeeb’s defence lawyer was arrested on Thursday night under a court order decreeing that publicizing his client’s statements was a criminal offence.

The police raided his apartment on Friday morning and seized some documents, a pen drive, and a hard disk.

Upon being presented before the judge later in the evening, he had been remanded by six days after he confirmed publicizing his client’s statements. At the remand hearing Siraj had declared that he had done whatever needed to be done in his client’s defense as he is a law practitioner.

“Have any of you heard of a thing called lawyer-client privileges?” asked Siraj, going on to challenge the police service to present a law that states what he had done is illegal, which the police had failed to do. The officer investigating Siraj’s case had then claimed that the rights of President Yameen and General Shiyam had been compromised due to the statements.

Highlighting that President Abdulla Yameen is a candidate vying for Presidency in the Sunday election, the officer had stated that Siraj posed a threat to national security.

Responding to police statements, Siraj said that it would be much wiser for them to investigate the alleged infringement of President Yameen and General Shiyam’s rights under anti-defamation laws.

Presiding judge Ali Adam had reached the verdict to remand the law practitioner for six days.

The said statements were published by Siraj from Adeeb last week, with various allegations against President Yameen including sorcery. Siraj's arrest order accuses him of spreading ‘fake news’ regarding state institutions and using ‘vulgar’ language in said statements. Following the release of the statements, authorities blocked Adeeb and some other political detainees from meeting with lawyers.