The Rasdhoo island magistrate court has fined a man MVR8,000
(US$520) for snatching back from the police a large pair of white
underwear hung outside the courthouse in September 2013.
The white underwear was a reference to Justice
Ali Hameed’s infamous sex tapes.
It became a symbol of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic
Party’s protests against the Supreme
Court’s intervention in the 2013 presidential polls.
Some 14 people were arrested
on the island of Rasdhoo in Alif Alif atoll on September 25, 2013,
during clashes with the police, who were dispatched to remove the
two-foot-long underpants.
Ahmed Kamal was found guilty yesterday of snatching a police
evidence bag in which the underwear was kept after it was
confiscated.
The 14 people arrested from Rasdhoo over the underwear were held in
remand detention for 15 days at the time. The High Court also upheld the
remand order upon appeal.
Lawyers had claimed at the appellate court that the youngest detainee was beaten by the police after his arrest.
Ibrahim Nishan, who was 19 at the time, was alleged to have been
beaten while he was handcuffed and lying face down on the floor.
The judicial watchdog body in June 2014 meanwhile cleared Justice Hameed of misconduct, citing lack of evidence and the police’s failure to confirm the identity of the man in the sex tapes.
The spy cam footage showed a man closely resembling Hameed engaging
in sexual relations with three prostitutes in a Sri Lankan hotel room.
The room and date stamp in the sex tapes appeared to be the same as that in previously leaked footage of Hameed meeting local businessman Mohamed Saeed, the director of ‘Golden Lane.’
In that video, Hameed asserted that he was one of
the then-Progressive Party of the Maldives presidential candidate
Abdulla Yameen’s “back-ups”.
Hameed is heard saying that his stand was “to do things the way Yameen wants”.
Following the scandal, Hameed was one of the four justices forming the majority in the Supreme Court’s decision to annul the initial first round of the 2013 presidential election.
In January 2015, he was appointed to the Judicial Service Commission. Hameed now chairs the oversight body for the judiciary.
Source-http://maldivesindependent.com/politics/man-fined-mvr8000-over-white-underwear-protest-125879
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