Lawyers of jailed former president Mohamed Nasheed
announced Friday that they are working on to file the appeal of their
client's sentence to the Supreme Court on Sunday.
He had backtracked on his decision to not appeal his prison sentence by opting to go to the Supreme Court.
Hisaan Hussein, from Nasheed’s legal team, said on twitter that they were working on to finalise the documents related to the appeal.
The government on Monday welcomed the decision by Nasheed to appeal his sentence but quickly urged to cease calls for sanctions to allow the judicial process to take its natural course.
In a statement welcoming the decision, foreign ministry pointed out that the appellate courts are the appropriate forum for Nasheed to raise his concerns over his trial and subsequent sentence.
The ministry was also quick to highlight that the former president has not at any time been precluded from filing an appeal, and has consistently been reminded of his right to do so, and further encouraged to embark upon this course of action.
"The government of Maldives respects the rule of law, and reaffirms the position that its judiciary is fully independent and impartial," the statement read.
"The fact that the former president is now seeking to file an appeal reaffirms this position."
In late October, the Prosecutor General’s (PG) office said the Supreme Court had been asked to start proceedings in a separate case filed by the prosecution seeking to overturn a High Court decision to reject the state-initiated appeal of former president Nasheed's prison sentence.
The office made the claim when asked by Nasheed's lawyers to confirm whether or not the Supreme Court had accepted the case.
In a letter sent in response to Nasheed’s lawyers, the PG office said at the time that the case was filed with the Supreme Court on September 17. The court was asked on October 11 to begin proceedings in the case, it had added.
The PG office had in September asked for the Supreme Court's intervention after the High Court rejected the state initiated appeal of Nasheed's sentence.
State had initiated the appeal based on the “procedural irregularities” flagged by the defence during the trial. Nasheed had waived his right to appeal after claiming that the lower court had failed to provide trial records within the window for appeal.
The appellate court had made the decision after a pre-trial hearing to decide whether to accept the appeal.
Though the right to appeal was a constitutional right, as the appeal had not been filed by Nasheed, it cannot be accepted, High Court's decision had said.
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