Supreme Court of the Maldives has sentenced former Minister of Tourism Ali Waheed to two months and 12 days in prison.
Supreme Court issued the sentence on Ali Waheed for contempt of court after he failed to appear at a scheduled court hearing. The Supreme Court hearing was regarding the appeal submitted by the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) on the decision by the Criminal Court to allow him to attend his sexual assault and harassment trial online.
At the hearing, Justice Husnu Suood said Ali Waheed had left the country after being charged and without providing any details on how to contact him or the specific location he was travelling to. Justice Husnu Suood said Ali Waheed has deliberately hindered the trial as he had agreed to appear at the Supreme Court hearing but has failed to do so.
Ali Waheed left the country in February after citing a need for urgent medical treatment and later requested Criminal Court that he attend the court hearings via videoconferencing. Criminal Court accepted the request and allowed the former minister to attend the first hearing of the trial on June 22 via videoconferencing.
PGO objected to the arrangement, stating that conducting a criminal trial with the defendant in a location where the laws of the country do not apply violates the Criminal Procedure Act. The former minister is facing charges of sexually assaulting and harassing some of the female employees at the Ministry of Tourism.
He has been charged with two counts of sexual abuse, two counts of unlawful sexual contact, a single count of attempted sexual abuse, indecent exposure, and a single count of attempted rape.