Four women parliamentarians from the Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) and the Gender Minister of Maldives have come together with Civil Society Organizations in calling for justice following the unlawful release of Former Tourism Minister Ali Waheed's passport by the Criminal Court on Tuesday, which allowed him to travel to the United Kingdom despite the seven counts of sexual violence raised against him in on-going trials.

In the letter, members of parliament Eva, Hisaan, Rozaina and Jeehaan stated that the Prosecutor Generals Office (PGO) had protested the release of former minister Ali Waheed's passport by the Criminal Court due to him currently facing charges for seven counts of sexual violence, revoking an earlier order that prevented him from leaving the country until the conclusion of his trial.

The letter further calls for the Judiciary Committee to review the PGO's responses in this case, and to look into detail of how Ali Waheed's passport was released despite the charges against him.

The women members of parliement went on to express concern that a party who was charged with seven serious counts of sexual violence had been allowed to leave the country prior to the conclusion of judicial procedure and sentencing. The letter described this as a further violence against survivors of abuse on Ali Waheed's behalf. Members Eva, Hisaan, Rozaina and Jeehan went on to call for the PGO to share with the public steps the office had planned to undertake in order to ensure Ali Waheed could be brought to trial.

The letter also called for the review of the judicial justice system in the Maldives to prevent other such instances in the future, and asked for Speaker Nasheed's support in implementing changes to the judiciary so as to achieve that effect.

Minister of Gender, Family and Social Services Aishath Mohamed Didi also tweeted about the incident early on Friday morning, stressing the importance of transparent, unbiased judicial proceedings to ensure justice for survivors of sexual violence.

In addition to this, Thursday saw Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) active in the Maldives release a joint press statement condemning the release of former Tourism Minister Ali Waheed's passport, despite him facing seven serious charges of sexual violence in court. The press release by Transparency Maldives, Hope for Women, Uthema and Family Legal Clinic (FLC) highlighted that one of the charges raised against Ali Waheed by employees of the Tourism Ministry from the time he was in office include a charges of attempted rape, inflicting sexual injury and sexual assault, all considered serious crimes as under the Sexual Offences Act (Law: 17/2014).

The CSOs further noted in the statement that Ali Waheed had previously fled the country while under trial, and that he had attempted to destroy evidence pertaining to the case against him at the time, and that therefore, it would be legitimate to consider him at a serious risk of attempting to do so once more after fleeing abroad and seeking asylum in a foreign country.

The statement by Transparency MV, Hope for Women, Uthema and FLC went on to read that it was unacceptable for no travel restrictions to be placed upon Ali Waheed while his passport was released, and questioned how such a major decision had been made based on a medical assessment by only one Orthopedician Dr. Yoosuf Shan. The statement further highlighted that Ali Waheed's return to the Maldives was placed under the responsibility of a sole guarantor, appointed by him, namely one of the current State Ministers for Youth and Sports Assad Ali (Adubarey), who is a close known associate of Ali Waheed.

The statement declared that this biased decision went against precedent and standard procedure for the court, and that the decision could lead to more injustice against survivors of sexual violence in the Maldives, who already face so many obstacles in holding their abusers accountable through the legal system.

The statement by CSOs in relation to Ali Waheed's passport goes on to stress several points of concern in relation to this case, such as the government having claimed that they had come to know of Ali Waheed's departure to the UK from media sources, despite the Maldives Immigration having received and executed the court order to release Ali Waheed's passport.

In addition to this, the statement also noted that the judge presiding over Ali Waheed's case had been a perpetrator of sexual harassment, as assessed by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).

The statement ended with a call onto respective authorities to resolve all obstacles and serve justice against the women who were violated by Ali Waheed, and for the elimination of all barriers to justice for women and survivors of sexual crimes in the Maldives.

Ali Waheed, the disgraced former Minister of Tourism, faces seven counts of sexual violence in court. Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem and several courts have come under fire for the unlawful release of Ali Waheed's passport on Tuesday, which allowed him to leave the Maldives without the decision having been appealed. PG Shameem has said the Criminal Court and other parties had failed to follow precedent and standard procedures for such cases in releasing Ali Waheed's passport, and has declared that the PGO will be pursuing action in relation to this incident.