Ex-VP Adeeb’s trial was carried out in an interrogation room, says family

Judicial proceedings against former vice president Ahmed Adeeb were carried out in a make-shift courtroom at the state-run detention facility in Dhoonidhoo island, his family has said.

Adeeb’s wife, Mariyam Nashwa said in a tweet on Thursday that his remand hearing and trial proceedings were carried out inside an interrogation room with a sign board that said ‘Criminal Court’ hung outside.

Nashwa said that lawyers and the presiding judge were at the Criminal Court in capital city Malé and they communicated with Adeeb, who was inside the make-shift courtroom, through video conference call.

The former vice president was convicted of weapons possession, attempted assasination of the president, and embezzlement through the Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation. He is currently facing additional charges of corruption.

Adeeb's case has been highly politicized, with his lawyers claiming that he did not recieve a fair trial and was in fact a 'scapegoat' used by President Abdulla Yameen to hide his involvement in the embezzlement cases.

In multiple statements released from prison, Adeeb claimed to have intimate knowledge of high profile judicial proceedings that were influenced by the Yameen administration.