Appeal of the 10-year sentence given to former Vice President and Minister of Tourism – Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Gafoor – over possession of an illegal firearm ended on Monday, with only the verdict remaining.
During the hearing held this Monday morning, Adeeb’s attorney Moosa Siraj said that the pistol in question had not been found with Adeeb.
He said the defense had not been awarded sufficient time to prepare for the case – as was stated in Article 51 (e) of the Constitution, and that Adeeb had been declared guilty and given the prison sentence based only on witness testimony.
In response to that, state prosecutor Ahmed Hisham said that defense’s argument that the pistol had not been found with Adeeb was moot as it was a case of terrorism and the prosecution only had to satisfy the criteria involving terrorism.
He said that Adeeb had not been prosecuted for smuggling an illegal firearm, but that he was prosecuted under Anti-Terrorism Act.
Hisham also said that claim defense had not been allowed sufficient time to prepare was also moot as the second hearing was held five months after the first hearing and witness testimony had been re-scheduled three times.
He also said that Adeeb had not been found guilty based solely on witness testimony, and that one of the witnesses had a photograph of the weapons, which had been included in the forensics report.
Chief Judge of High Court, Judge Abdulla Didi announced that the verdict would be issued during the next hearing, if nothing else needed to be clarified.