The Criminal Court has announced that a verdict will be delivered on 9 January 2014 on the case against Kaashidhoo MP Abdulla Jabir for using drugs.
This was announced by Judge Abdulla Didi at the trial held at Criminal Court today, following the presentation of the concluding statements on this case.
Presenting her concluding statement, State Prosecutor Niuma Mohamed said that the Drug Act states that a person would be guilty of possession if more than 4 grams of drugs are found at a location that is under his control.
She said this with reference to earlier claims by Jabir’s lawyer Ishhar Thaufeeg that no one witnessed Jabir using drugs, and that the police did not find any drugs on his person.
Niuma claimed that the location in Hondaidhoo from which the police arrested Jabir and several others was temporarily under the arrested group’s control – which means that they should be held responsible for drugs found in this location.
Three police officers have testified that drugs were found about ten feet from the location where Jabir and several others were arrested on 16 November 2012.
Presenting his concluding statement, Ishhar said that documents had been presented to court to prove that the island of Hondaidhoo was not under Jabir’s control.
He has earlier presented documents to support his claim that Hondaidhoo had been leased to Yacht Tours Maldives Private Limited, and the maintenance of the island had been handed over to Mohamed Hamdhaan Zaki.
Ishhar further said that an investigation report by the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) states that excessive force was used against Jabir by the police during the incident in Hondaidhoo, and that the court should therefore not accept testimonies provided by police officers regarding this case.