Former Defence Minister Colonel (Rtd.) Mohamed Nazim, sentenced to 11 years in prison, has been transferred to house arrest.

According to the Maldives Correctional Services (MCS), Nazim was transferred to house arrest due to maintenance work at the cell he is being kept at, at Maafushi Prison.

He was shifted home at around 4:15 pm.

The transfer come a day after Nazim’s brother and former managing director of State Trading Organization (STO) shared his situation with Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The United Nation’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) had, in January, called for Nazim’s immediate release, citing several discrepancies in the court proceedings leading up to the 11-year sentence.

This includes restriction of opportunities to fully put forth a defence, and how prosecution had failed to prove that the firearm belonged to him beyond reasonable doubt.

Nazim was tried and sentenced for possession of dangerous weapons after a late-night raid into his home resulted in officers discovering a pistol, three bullets, and a magazine. Officers pulled said items out of a black bag that Nazim had denied was his. Former Vice President Adeeb has since claimed that the weapons found in Nazim’s residence was planted there to frame him, adding that he knew the individuals responsible of doing so.

The Maldivian government responded by maintaining that the trials were fair, the sentence was justified and by ‘assuring’ the United Nations that Nazim was not a ‘political rival or threat’ to President Abdulla Yameen, or any other senior members of government.