Dismissal motion of Hailam, 2 Magistrates sent to committee for review
The JSC came to a unanimous decision at a commission meeting held on Sunday night.
Suspended Criminal Court Chief Judge Ahmed Hailam
The 19th parliament has forwarded the Judicial Service Commission (JSC)'s motion to dismiss three members of the judiciary from their positions to the parliament's Judiciary Committee for further review.
JSC's motion to dismiss suspended Criminal Court Chief Judge Ahmed Hailam, Kaafu Atoll Thulusdhoo Magistrate Ainan Ali Mohamed and Raa Atoll Maakurathu Court Magistrate Adnan Hussain, was presented to the parliament on Monday.
The parliament has since forwarded the motion to the parliament's Judiciary Committee for further review.
The JSC came to a unanimous decision to recommend the dismissal of Hailam and two other magistrates for disciplinary issues at a commission meeting held on Sunday night.
Hailam was suspended for a period of 60 days on 5 November, following JSC’s investigations into a Victory Day message the judge had shared with a Viber group, which was leaked on social media.
Judge Hailam’s Victory Day greetings showed national hero and Victory Day martyr Corporal Hussain Adam pulling eight figures tied to chains. Those eight chained figures included Abdulla Luthufee, the mastermind behind the 1988 attack, in addition to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and former President Mohamed Nasheed. Hailam claims not to have seen Solih and Nasheed in the image.
Hailam was suspended on the same day as the verdict hearing in former President Abdulla Yameen’s money-laundering trial where he was the presiding judge.
Following his suspension, Judge Ali Rasheed was appointed as the interim chief judge of the criminal court.
Former president Yameen was sentenced to five years in prison on November 28 and fined USD five million, after being found guilty of laundering USD one million through the state-owned Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) via a private company SoF, during his presidency.
While the JSC has also recommended the dismissal of Ainan Ali Mohamed and Adnan Hussain, they have not disclosed the details of the disciplinary issues reported against them.
As such, the dismissals will only be finalized after they are approved by the parliament.
