Criminal Court had hastened the scheduled hearings of the obstruction charges against Jumhooree Party Deputy Leader Abdullah Riyaz to Thursday night.

The hearing was not placed on the schedule for Thursday. Following the decision to hold the hearings on Thursday night, Riyaz has been given the chit to attend the hearings.

The first hearings of the case were held on the 13^th of this month, at the end of which, Judge Ahmed Shakeel had announced the next hearing will be held on 23^rd April at 3.00pm.

In the previous hearings state had raised charges of obstruction on Kimbidhoo Constituency MP. The charge read that Police officers had approached the Parliamentarian at around 2139hrs on March 27th and had requested him to unlock his phone as part of their investigation. The Parliamentarian had denied to comply with the request and therefore the prosecution claimed that MP Riyaz had obstructed the duties of the police officers, deliberately.

Riyaz’s legal representation Ali Zahir said that his client will not confess to the crime.

The state prosecutors had requested the Court to detain Riyaz for the duration of the trial, citing that he can influence the ongoing investigation. After noting that Riyaz was a former Commissioner of Police and that he had not attempted to influence the investigation, the prosecutors said they had received a letter from Police stating that Riyaz had attempted to influence the investigation.

Responding to the state’s request to detain Riyaz for the duration of the trial, Lawyer Ali Zahir said the case was already investigated and sent for prosecution and has no connection to any other case. Therefore, he said there was no legal grounds or justification to hold the former Commissioner for the duration of the trial

Judge Ahmed Shakeel decreed that there was no correlation between the current trial and another case. And, as there was no action on part of Riyaz that suggested an attempt to influence the trials, the Judge decreed that Riyaz cannot be held for the duration of the trial