The defence lawyers representing the former President and opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) leader Mohamed Nasheed، had withdrawn from the current ongoing case of Nasheed regarding the State-pressed terrorism charges.
The legal team of Ex-President Nasheed consists of Uz. Hisan Hussain، Uz. Abdulla Sha’iru، Uz. Ahmed Abdulla Afeef and Uz. Ibrahim Rif’ath.
The legal team stated on a statement today that، they withdrew from the case as they were not granted enough time to evaluate the whole case، and were not allowed provide the necessary legal counsel for President Nasheed. The legal team further said they do not believe if they are given the opportunity to extend legal assistance to Nasheed in this case.
They said President Nasheed only requests the assistance of the legal counsel he had chosen، enough time and necessary documentations for the legal team to advocate for him in the trial.
The legal team highlighted that while Ex-President Nasheed was pressed with charges of ‘kidnapping an innocent man’، in 2012، the charges were withdrawn and altered to ‘terrorism charges’ and pressed against him again this year، yet in both the cases، the evidences presented were the same.
“Therefore،” the legal team said، “we prepared all the documentations and were preparing to defend against those charges from 2012 till February 2015، based on the evidences provided by the State against President Nasheed.”
The legal team said due to the change in the case، the charges، the direction and the nature of how they are to provide legal assistance to Nasheed had changed، and therefore، they need time to start over with their evaluations، and preparing for the case.
They further said as they do not believe they can provide the necessary legal assistance to Nasheed for a fair and just trial، and have enough time to evaluate for the case، they have completely withdrawn from the case. “We have already notified our decision to the Criminal Court as well.”