PG Office appeals Wisam's acquittal
State levied obstruction charges against Wisam last year, over an arrest made while covering an opposition rally in March 2015
Wisam with his father
Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office has revealed that it has appealed Criminal Court’s not guilty verdict on RaajjeTV’s senior video journalist Mohamed Wisam.
Criminal Court had, on March 28, acquitted Wisam of obstruction charges.
Speaking to RaajjeMV, an official at the PG Office said that the ruling was appealed at the High Court on April 5. Previously the medial official at the PG Office said that is had not made a decision to appeal the ruling as it can only be done after ther officer receives the summary report of the court’s ruling.
State raised obstruction charges against Wisam on the 5th of April 2016, over an arrest made while covering an opposition rally on the 25th of March 2015.
Denying the charge, Wisam had submitted four witnesses on his defence, with the state presenting two, as well as video footage and a map of the area cordoned off by police on the night of his arrest.
At the sentencing hearing, presiding judge Ahmed Shakeel ruled that the chain of custody of video evidence submitted by the prosecutors cannot be verified, and that the video evidence put forth against Wisam failed to show the circumstances under which he was apprehended. The ruling further noted that as journalists were present at the scene, that the court cannot deem that Wisam had obstructed police duties.
RaajjeTV’s senior videographer, Zareer was arrested with Wisam, and charged with obstruction as well. While Zareer's sentencing hearing was held on February 27, the Court found him guilty of obstruction, and sentenced him to pay a fine of MVR 3,000.
Criminal Court found Wisam guilty of a separate obstruction charge, on January 24, along with journalist Leevaan Ali Nasir, over an arrest made while covering a bomb scare in the capital Male' City in November 2015. They were both fined MVR 28,800 each.
They were found guilty of the charges on December 19, 2016. Prosecutors had requested the Court to sentence both journalists to four months and 24 days in jail, the maximum punishment.
The two were arrested with RaajjeTV’s COO Hussain Fiyaz Moosa, who was charged with “touching an officer without consent” and is awaiting sentencing.
