The Parliament has approved the dismissal of two Supreme Court justices, Drs. Azmiralda Zahir and Mahaz Ali Zahir, following a disciplinary investigation by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
At Wednesday’s sitting, 68 members voted in favour of Azmiralda's removal while 11 members voted against it. The same number of votes were received for Mahaz’s dismissal. Following the vote, Parliament Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla declared both justices dismissed from the judiciary.
The JSC decided seek Azmiralda and Mahaz’s removal and referred the matter to the Parliament on the May 4. The motion to remove the two judges was tabled the next day, and the matter was referred to the Judiciary Committee for consideration on the same day.
A report issued by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) on Azmiralda’s disciplinary proceedings stated that when Azmiralda’s husband, Dr Ismail Latheef was arrested for an alleged crime, Azmiralda’s and Mahaz had used their influence to persuade Judge Ibrahim Zihunee, who was presiding over Ismail’s remand hearing, to release him. This was achieved via Criminal Court judge Sofwath Habeeb, according to the report.
Mahaz and Azmiralda have both denied the allegations. Both the judges also sought an opportunity to respond to the JSC report of the JSC and the Judiciary Committee’s report on the matter. However, the two judges were not given the opportunity to appear before the committee due to the objection of the committee members representing the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC).
The JSC was also investigating a separate disciplinary case against Mahaz and Azmiralda, where Mahaz and Azmiralda are said to have been present when High Court’s Assistant Registrar Hussain Mohamed Haneef was produced before the Supreme Court by a then-Supreme Court Justice Husnu Al-Suood and spoken to in derogatory language.