JP leader Qasim's detention appealed at High Court

Legal team of Jumhooree Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim has appealed his detention at the High Court on Sunday.

The opposition leader was arrested under a court order at around 8 pm on Thursday night, and was taken to Dhoonidhoo Detention Centre. He was issued a six-day remand by the Criminal Court on Friday.

Former deputy prosecutor general Hussain Shameem, part of Qasim’s legal team, told RaajjeMV that they had appealed Qasim’s detention on Sunday morning.

According to the court order, Qasim is accused of attempting to bribe lawmakers in order to win the no-confidence motion against parliament speaker which was scheduled for March 27, and attempting to influence the no-confidence motion against the deputy speaker scheduled for April 11, and attempting to hide the evidence to hinder the investigation being carried out by the Maldives Police Service (MPS).

Qasim is further accused of attempting to influence the security forces, and working to unlawfully topple an elected government, and has been deemed has a threat to public safety.

Lawyer Hisaan Hussain, from Qasim’s legal team, said that Qasim’s arrest ‘is unlawful’, which they had noted during the remand hearing.

Hisaan had also noted that no other evidence was presented by the Police, other than an intelligence report, adding that 'there is no correlation between the allegations and the clauses of law which the allegations correspond to'.

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.

The opposition maintains that Qasim was arrested in order to sway the no-confidence vote against the parliament speaker, as well as to halt their work to resubmit the no-confidence motion against speaker Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed.