High Court of Maldives has annulled the conviction of former Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed over charges of failing to provide his mobile phone to the police.
Criminal Court had sentenced Saeed to 1 year and 7 months in prison over charges of refusing to provide his phone to the police after he was apprehended inside the Supreme Court on February 6, 2018. Upon appeal, High Court has ruled that Criminal Court did not follow due process in obtaining witness statements and that the state had been unable to clarify which phone Saeed had refused to provide to them and what evidence they were looking for in the phone. The court ruled that Saeed cannot be convicted simply because he did not provide his phone to the police.
During the appeal hearings, the former Chief Justice explained to the court the events that led up to the police asking for his phone. He said he did not have his phone with him when the police asked for it.
Following the annulment of his sentence, Saeed has now been released. Prior to the sentence over refusing to provide his phone, the former Chief Justice had served two other sentences in relation to the Supreme Court order to release nine prisoners on February 1, 2018. He had been serving his sentences in house arrest.