No evidence against Qasim, will appeal: Lawyers

Qasim Ibrahim’s team of lawyers has stated that there was no evidence against jailed Parliamentarian, adding that they will appeal the six-day remand period set by Criminal Court on Friday.

Speaking in a press conference regarding the remand, lawyer Hisaan Hussain said that there were no legal grounds for the charges against Qasim, which they had raised in the hearings. Hisaan added that there was no reason for him to hide evidence as claimed by Police and that Police had no solid evidence on their client as well.

Hisaan said there was no correlation between the allegations and the clauses of law which the allegations correspond to.

She added there was no mention of any suspicious activity by the Parliamentarian which would suggest that he was attempting to bury evidence. Hisaan said they had noted this in the hearing, which was ignored by the Judge’s bench.

Hisaan noted that no other evidence was presented by the Police, other than the intelligence report. Adding that Police had said Qasim was being held solely to gather evidence, Hisaan said Police was given a period of six-days to bring up evidence. The Judge had also ordered Qasim to be transferred to another area for the duration of his stay.

His arrest order notes that that the Maamigillil constituency MP had attempted to bribe lawmakers in order to win the no-confidence vote against parliament speaker Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed, held on March 27, and is attempting to influence the no-confidence motion against the deputy speaker, which is scheduled for April 11. It also stated that Qasim has been attempting to influence the security forces as well.

Furthermore, noting that Qasim’s actions show that he is working to unlawfully topple an elected government, the Criminal Court deemed Qasim a threat to national security. It also said that Qasim posed a threat to the society.