Mohamed Nazim, who had served as the defence minister under former president Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik and incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, is serving an 11-year prison sentence for smuggling and possessing dangerous weapons. When the appeal proceedings resumed at the High Court Thursday afternoon, Nazim’s lawyer Husnu Suood said his client had received several calls from a number registered in Malaysia. After Nazim did not answer, he received a message from the same number that contained threats and profanity, Suood said, adding that a message received afterwards also claimed that the weapons discovery was a result of Nazim’s failure to respond to the calls. Suood reiterated defence’s previous claims that then tourism minister Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Ghafoor had threatened Nazim. Adheeb, who went onto become the vice president before being ousted following an assassination attempt on the president, made the threats two days before the calls from the Malaysian number, he said. In Thursday’s appeal proceeding, the defence echoed their previous accusations that the weapons found from Nazim’s room were likely planted by police officers who conducted the raid. Suood said police officers spent time alone inside the room after forcing Nazim and his wife out. While being dragged off from the room, Nazim saw a police officer walking towards the nightstand from where the police claimed to have found the weapons, suggesting that the handgun was planted there by the police, Suood added. Another point the defence reiterated was that the room, which according to the Nazim’s lawyers was always unlocked, was accessible by outsiders. Suood said an Indian maid had a key to the room, while Nazim had also given the key he had to his two bodyguards two days before the raid. Suood stressed that possession of an illegal item cannot be the only basis for a conviction. Legal precedents set by the High Court and the Supreme Court as well courts in other countries require a conviction to be backed by secondary evidence as well, he added. The defence also reiterated their previous claim that fingerprints found from the handgun was not a match to that of Nazim or any member of his family. In Wednesday’s hearing, Prosecutors submitted as evidence a fresh classified document implicating Nazim. The High Court had previously held two hearings over Nazim's appeal in June, but the case had been stalled ever since. The court had last week scheduled a hearing at 1.30pm Thursday after a five-month long hiatus. But the hearing was called off at the last minute upon request by the defence. The case stalled after three out of the five judges were removed from the bench that had been looking into the appeal. Judge Abdul Ghani Mohamed, who had presided over the case, and judge Shuaib Hussein Zakariyya were transferred to the court’s branch established in the southern part of the country, while judge Abbas Shareef retired. Judges Abdulla Didi and Shujau Usman were on the Criminal Court bench that ruled against Nazim. They have since been promoted to the High Court, but are not on the bench that had been constituted to look into the appeal filed by Nazim. With the absence of both Didi and Usman from the bench, Nazim’s appeal is presided over by judges Ali Sameer, Abdu Rauf and Abdulla Hameed. In May, Nazim was allowed to get treatment in Singapore for blurred vision. He spent 45 days in Singapore, and upon his return was re-taken to the Asseyri Prison in Hinmafushi island. Following another request but this time to get Nazim to India, the government had granted permission for him to go to Singapore for medical treatment After Nazim was not allowed to travel to India for medical treatment, his younger brother Adam Azim and legal counsel Husnu Al Suood travelled to Indian capital New Delhi in September to meet with officials of the International Red Cross Committee to apprise them of the status of prisoners. Nazim’s family had also announced their intention to follow jailed former President Mohamed Nasheed’s lead and file a case with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The statement by Nazim's family, who claim that it was the only way for him to get justice, came after the UN group had ruled that former president Nasheed's imprisonment had been arbitrary. The Maldives government, however, has refused to accept the opinion.