Defence Lawyer of blogger Yameen Rasheed’s murder case Maumoon Hameed has revealed some witnesses have withdrawn themselves from testifying against the state.
The purpose of the hearing scheduled for December 16 was taking defence testimonies although the defendant Ismail Rasheed rejected the testimony reports. Lawyer Maumoon said the defendant decided to not to submit witnesses given that the witness reports from the state would not prove his defendant guilty.
Ismail Rasheed had presented 11 witnesses to support his case and hence, although 7 witnesses distanced themselves from the case, 4 witnesses still need to testify in court. The court said only one of the witnesses has a clear and verifiable name and identity copy is Zahid Rameez who had posed death threats against Yameen Rasheed. The judge decided to summon Zahid Rameez to the court and dismiss others.
The state has charged 5 with the murder of blogger Yameen Rasheed. They are Ismail Haisham Rasheed, Ahmed Zihan Ismail, Mohamed Dhifran, Hassan Shifaz and Ismail Rasheed. All the mentioned are charged against murder.