Supreme Court Justice Husnu al Suood who had initially sent his resignation letter to President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, has also submitted the resignation letter to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
Some media outlets had reported that JSC decided against accepting Suood’s resignation, owing to the fact that the resignation letter was sent to the President and not the Commission.
According to Judges Act, a judge who wishes to resign must inform their intention to resign and last date of service via a written letter. The law states that their resignation will come into effect from the date stated in the letter.
Suood made huge allegations against the government in his resignation letter addressed to the President and JSC.
In this regard, Suood said the Supreme Court had faced numerous pressures from the administration ever since the court established it has jurisdiction to hear a case challenging the contentious amendment to add anti-defection provisions to the Constitution.
The constitutional amendment in question was submitted, passed and ratified in quick succession on November 20. The controversial amendment added three more circumstances where parliamentarians will lose their seat, including if they are expelled from their political party.
Suood and two other Supreme Court justices – Dr. Azmiralda Zahir and Mahaz Ali Zahir – were suspended by JSC citing an ongoing criminal investigation against them by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Their suspension came less than one hour ahead of the 11:00am hearing scheduled at the Supreme Court regarding a request for an injunction to suspend the enforcement of controversial anti-defection clauses
Suood alleged that the suspension of three Supreme Court justices and the passage of a bill to downsize the court’s bench were part of unconstitutional efforts by the administration to subvert judicial independence and block the constitutional case.
“…As you continue to intimidate the entire bench of the Supreme Court of Maldives and exert influence to produce a verdict that you desire in the aforementioned case in violation of Article 144 (c) and (d) of the Constitution, I hereby immediately resign as a justice of the Supreme Court in protest,” wrote Suood in his resignation letter.
At 10:00am on the same day, the Parliament passed the government-backed amendment to the Judicature Act to downsize the Supreme Court bench from seven to five justices.
While 79 MPs were in attendance for the sitting, the bill passed with a majority vote of 68-9.
Opposition parties, including the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and the Democrats, questioned the timing of the bill, and accused the government of attempting to influence the country's highest judicial authority and subvert judicial independence.