Criminal Court of the Maldives has rejected the request by the state to seize the passport of former Minister of Tourism Ali Waheed, who is facing trial on charges of sexual assault and harassment.
The request to seize Ali Waheed’s passport was submitted to the Criminal Court by Maldives Police Service (MPS) on June 23, after he fled the country and failed to show up for trial. However, Criminal Court Judge Hassan Saeed has ruled that there are no grounds for an order to re-seize Ali Waheed’s passport.
In an audio post on his personal blog, Prosecutor General (PG) Hussain Shameem revealed the state will appeal the decision at the High Court of the Maldives. Shameem said the state believes Ali Waheed is a person at large who has eluded the authorities, as evident in all documentation. Therefore, he said the state believes there is a legitimate reason to re-seize Ali Waheed’s passport.
The Criminal Court had released Ali Waheed’s passport after approving him for an urgent medical leave abroad in February this year. He is yet to return to the Maldives, despite the Criminal Court approving him for four months of leave, which expired on June 9.
After failing to show up to court for the trial, Ali Waheed requested the court to allow him to attend the trial online. Criminal Court accepted the request, and allowed the former minister to attend the first hearing of the trial on June 22 via videoconferencing.
However, the PG Office 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 decision has also been appealed at the High Court.
The former minister is facing charges of sexually assaulting and harassing some of the female employees in the tourism ministry. 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.