Court to finalize a decision on case on Sunday

Jumhooree Party Deputy Leader Abdullah Riyaz has handed over the lock codes to his phone to Police, in the middle of the hearings of obstruction charges raised against him.

The obstruction charges were raised against Riyaz, who serves as the Parliamentarian for Kimbidhoo Constituency, for having refused to give the lock codes to the phone. The hearings of this case was held on Thursday night.

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.

When presented with the lock codes, Judge Ahmed Shakeel decreed that the Court will announce a decision on the case in another hearing on Sunday 3pm.

Riyaz’s lawyer Hisaan Hussain said that the Judge had noted that Riyaz had complied with the request by the Court.

Speaking to press afterward, Riyaz said that these cases are politically motivated and carried out to shut the opposition from talking about corruption in the nation. He added that this was also done to disrupt the reform process started by the opposition, which he said was an exercise in futility.