The Criminal Court has on Tuesday fined Abdul Aleem, secretary-general of the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives’s faction loyal to former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

The decision was made on the grounds that Aleem has refused to abide by a court order over a police investigation that has required officers to confiscate and withhold his mobile phone.  

Earlier this month, officers searched the apartment he lives in, where they had found and confiscated the phone.

Aleem was then ordered to provide the lock code and deactivate finger-print access to the device.

The warrant was issued on the grounds that all electronic devices may contain information relevant to the police’s ongoing investigation into bribery ahead of the no-confidence motion against parliament speaker Abdulla Maseeh.