Court cancels three-year-old order to detain Faris Maumoon

High Court has repealed the Criminal Court order from three years ago to bring former Member of Parliament for the Dhiggaru Constituency Faris Maumoon into custody, following political upheaval under then-president Abduall Yaameen Abdul Gayyoom's administration.

Faris Maumoon initiated a motion of no-confidence against the Speaker of Parliament for the 18th People's Majlis under the Yaameen administration, triggering a wave of political unrest. In addition to this, following the controversial Supreme Court verdict of 1 February 2018 which ordered the release of high-profile political prisoners, the Criminal Court had been issuing detention orders for opposition leaders and those engaging at the top-level.

The detention order released against Faris Maumoon, who had been the Member of Parliament for the Dhiggaru Constituency at the time, had been one such politically-motivated detention order, Faris had been a leader for the opposition political movement in 2018, representing his father and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom within the opposition coalition.

Faris went on to appeal the arrest order at the high court, along with the order to extend the period of his detention. Some of those appeals have been resolved by the High Court, which includes the High Court's decision from June last year to repealed the order to have Faris Maumoon remain in custody until the conclusion of his trial at a time the nation had been placed in a state of emergency.

Faris Maumoon is alleged to have attempted to execute a terror plot, and to be the mastermind behind the 1 February Supreme Court ruling and attempts made to forcibly overthrow Yaameen's government. The Prosecutor General's Office had requested an arrest order for Faris Maumoon on the grounds that he had been influencing the vote of other members of parliament in relation to the no confidence motion Faris had initiated against then-Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Maseeh. The arrest order against Faris was issued on 19 July 2017, and he remained in prison until the results of the Presidential elections of 2018 placed opposition candidate and current President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in a clear lead over Yaameen.

In addition to Faris, many other opposition leaders who had been detained for various reasons under the Yaameen administration have since been released from prison after Yaameen's defeat in the 2018 Presidential elections, with the upper courts repealing orders issued by lower courts to detain opposition leaders