Maduvvari Constituency MP Mohamed Ameeth has narrated the harsh conditions of his stay in prison to Supreme Court.
Elections Commission had stripped MP Ameeth from his seat on July 18th. He was jailed in Dhoonidhoo island by Police following his attempt to enter Parliament grounds. Criminal Court had set a 15-day remand for him.
Prior to narrating his conditions, MP Ameeth said that to date, he had not been informed either by Elections Commission or the Parliament that he had been stripped from his seat.
MP Ameeth said he was arrested on the grounds that he was no longer a Parliamentarian and on top of that he had been deprived from the most basic of rights. As such, he said he was given access to fresh water after five days. Prior to that he said he had to drink water from the tap in the toilet.
He added that he had been kept in solitary for the first seven days, deprived from sunlight. This was granted after he had begged. MP Ameeth said that cell had no air circulation and he was exposed to the elements.
MP Ameeth had appealed the Court to take into account his rights as a Parliamentarian and an elected representative of around 5,000 citizens when delivering a verdict.
Ameeth’s lawyer Ibrahim Riffath said that MP Ameeth was no longer a member of the ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), after the Ethics Committee had voted to boot him from the Party. As such, his dismissal from the Party was automatic. He noted that both parties had the right to appeal the decision within the Party, within a period of 15 days; which was not done so. He further noted that MP Ameeth had not filed to become a member of the Party once again either.
Prosecution argued the Party had notified the Elections Commission of the dismissal after the Supreme Court had issued the ruling on floor crossing. As such, the prosecution said that EC had received a letter from the Party on July 18th, stating that MP Ameeth was dismissed in March and that he was notified of it. However, the lawyer stressed that this letter did not request that MP Ameeth should be removed from the Party’s register and therefore, it was not done so.
Due to this, the prosecution said MP Ameeth was not removed from the Party’s register. MP Ameeth, he said, was dismissed from the Party after he had refused to revoke his signature on the no confidence motion on Speaker Abdullah Maseeh.
Responding to that, Riffath stated that there was no way a member can be removed twice, without having become a member after the first dismissal. He added that MP Ameeth had on multiple occasions requested that he be removed from the Party and as such, he should not be penalized for EC not being able to carry out their responsibilities.
The defense stressed that EC had acted with bias over the issue of stripping the MP from his seat. He also said the Commission had acted against the Political Parties Act and failed to complete their procedures.
Prosecution in rebuttal, argued that requests for removal must first be sent to the Party. EC, he said, will act only when the member is not removed within a 14-day period. The Commission, the prosecution argued, was attempting to clarify the status, when MP Ameeth was removed from the Party for the second time on July 18th.
The hearings for the day concluded after the Judges bench announced that another hearing on the case will be held soon.
