President Mohamed Nasheed has said that the government will not encourage any illegal activities, and that the arrest of the Criminal Court’s Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed by the Special Forces last Monday night was not intended to “hurt” anyone. “My only intention is to bring the justice system up to the expectations of the people and I assure you that I will do everything in my power to reform the justice system within my term in office” he added. He also said that the judges had been granted permanent status in 2010 against standards stipulated in the constitution and were sworn in without proper procedure, standards or criteria compulsory to the appointment as a Judge. President Nasheed also highlighted that the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) who had been silent despite many complaints against Judges until recently, had declared behavioral issues with Judge Abdulla but the civil court had issued an order preventing any action being taken against the Judge. If the rule of law is to be maintained, the person to overrule the civil court order should not be a judge, but the head of the State, he added. Many parliament members, government and MDP officials participated in the rally to criticize the judiciary and called for the independence of the justice system.