Unfolding Maldives Judicial Melodrama

Senior MDP Officials and the President is in Criminal Contempt of Court.

With little hope of a negotiated settlement on the unfolding Melodrama of President Nasheed’s rule of Maldives, he now appears to be bracing in for the ultimate fight like Colonel Muamar Gadhafi, Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak did during their last days in office. Self-proclaimed democrat Mohamed Nasheed’s short period in office has been mystified with arbitrary arrest of opposition leaders, seizures of Judges and forceful shutting of the Supreme Court of Maldives.

On the wee hours of 16^th January the nation was plunged into yet another chaotic situation with the abduction of the Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed (Abdulla Qazi) from his house and holding him in involuntary confinement without any legal basis by the military. This action was prompted after Judge Abdulla Mohamed released an opposition leader who was detained by the police without a warrant for allegedly defaming the government.  

The High Court and the Supreme Court issued judgment to release Judge Abdulla Mohamed immediately without precondition.  President Nasheed has failed to comply with the ruling thus far. The opposition claims “The President is in Contempt of Supreme Court” and demands legal action. A Joint anti-Nasheed demonstration is now making its way into the second week in Male. 

Mr. Umar Naseer Vice President of PPM claims, they will continue the demonstrations until Judge Abdulla is released, the authority of the Judiciary established and those guilty of criminal offences against the constitution and the people of Maldives are punished.

In his weekly radio address to the nation the President claimed Constitutional Authority over the Judiciary and the Legislature to ensure smooth functioning of the Constitution, but stopped short of declaring Martial Law and suspension of the Constitution, although on previous occasions he has been quoted as saying that the Constitution is in state of Suspense. 

The wrangling over interpretation of the 2008 constitution’s definitions on the rights and responsibilities of the three separated powers amongst the political parties continues, with each side differing in their interpretations. Refusal of the Government and failure of the opposition to follow constitutional guidelines set out for the interpretation of the Constitution through the Supreme Court is fuelling the Oppositions March now, well into its eighth day.

Chapter II - Fundamental Freedoms Article 69 of the  2008 Constitution states “ No provision of the Constitution shall be interpreted or translated in a manner that would grant to the State or any group or person the right to engage in any activity or perform any act aimed at the destruction of the rights and freedoms set out in this Constitution”.  

Chapter IV - The Judiciary, Article 145c goes on to state; “The Supreme Court shall be the final authority on the interpretation of the Constitution, the Law, and any other matter dealt with by a court of law ” .

In a leaked recording of the President’s address to the Police on January 26, 2012, he expresses his decision to instruct the Ministry of Finance to withhold the salaries of all the Judges in all the lower courts of Maldives. This is without doubt an attempt to disrupt the process of Justice in the country which tantamount to nothing short of criminal contempt of Court. 

Contempt of Court? Yes indeed! Any willful disobedience to, or disregard of, a court order or any misconduct in the presence of a court; any action that interferes with a judge's ability to administer justice or that insults the dignity of the court; is a contempt of court.  It is a charge which can result in fines and jail time and should not stop short of an Impeachment in the case of a President being in contempt of Court.

There are two types of contempt civil and criminal contempt. In addition, contempt can be either direct (occurs in front of the judge and disrupts the court proceedings) or indirect (occurs outside the presence of the judge). Civil contempt occurs when a person refuses to obey a court order. Civil contempt can be "purged" by following the court order. A fine, confinement in jail, or both can be imposed for civil contempt. Criminal contempt involves conduct that interferes with or obstructs justice. Examples of criminal contempt include threatening or insulting a judge or witness and disobeying a subpoena to produce evidence. With criminal contempt, the act of contempt has been completed and the contempt cannot be "purged." The punishment is imposed to vindicate the court's authority.

On a sad note it appears that the Maldivian honey moon with democracy has turned into a wild lusty Demon-cracy with the police forces by night.  The fear of this scenario repetition in subsequent administrations is beginning to baffle the public.  The question that remains to be answered is how could this lunacy be stopped, and what measures need to be taken prevent repetition of abuse of power by subsequent leaders? 

President Nasheed in contempt of Court over case of abducted Judge Abdulla Mohamed

Police Brutality in Maldives

The heavy handed approach of Nasheed is showing signs of leaks and cracks in his government.  On Sunday, the Foreign Minister supposedly asked the United Nations to mediate in the ongoing standoff with the opposition that is making its way into the second week.  Ahmed Naseem wrote to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights the notoriously popular Navanethem (Navi) Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights asking for a team of senior foreign jurists to mediate.

In his letter Mr. Naseem wrote, “The opposition protests by roughly 300 people have resulted in minor violence and scores of arrests, and follow a series of similar struggles over the past year which has begun to feature hardline Islamic rhetoric”.  It remains for the UNHCHR team to see and witness the protests of “roughly 300 people” or a gathering in their thousands, congregating and protesting peacefully every night tirelessly wowing to continue their struggle until President Nasheed toe the line.

Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed 

The Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed’s summary abduction by the Military on orders from President Nasheed sparked the nationwide protests.  However, it was the cumulative result of anger and discontent of the public over the government’s aristocratic type rule and its refusal to accommodate the demands of the December 24^th 2011 peaceful demonstration, which also demanded an apology from Navi Pillay for her blasphemous speech addressed to the Maldivian Parliament in 2011. 

Navi Pillay UNHCHR

Navi Pillay is a catalyst to the current situation; it was her little speech to the parliament that sparked this situation which has now spun out of control and is causing much pain, suffering and hurting both the government and people. It is unlikely that a positive outcome will result from any mediation which will fall short of an apology from Pillay.  The more concerning question that awaits an answer is if the UN can mediate a legitimate and amicable solution on the case of Nasheed government’s contempt of Court and its standoff with the Supreme Court Ruling. Mr. Nasheed is in contempt of the Supreme Court ruling to release Justice Abdulla Mohamed.

A comment by an anonymous reader of this blog makes me wonder if “Nasheed's actions actually have the features of a well-designed agenda”. Perhaps it does, the reader states, “It all started with the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Navi Pillay's little speech to the parliament - It has now again gone back to her with a request from the Dictator to involve what Foreign Minister Naseem calls ‘UN legal expertise’”. Will the opposition yield to anything short of an apology?

Scary comments from the public include, “The bells continue to ring an unless Maldivian opposition leadership take heed of these warning bells, depose the Dictator and drum out the entire regime, the word ISLAM will be totally erased from the Maldivian constitution.” Could that be true? It remains to be seen if Mr. Nasheed can muster sufficient votes in parliament pass such a bill.

President Nasheed Commander -in-Chief

Anger over abusive statements made by the President towards Islam and mockery towards Prophet Mohamed is at an all-time high among both the population in Male and more so in the Islands.  Nasheed, who has been President for little over 3 years, has virtually destroyed the constitutional government of the country. By the end his five years in office he would be leaving behind a legacy of greed, corruption and debt that Maldivians would struggle for decades to overcome. Mohamed Nasheed has begun a dirty and vicious campaign to gain control of all the three powers of Government in Maldives with the help of a revolutionary group of military commanders in the MNDF.

Like his predecessor, Nasheed enjoys to pause for a photograph in Uniform as Commander -in-Chief.