Ex-judicial administrator released

The criminal court has released former judicial administrator Hassan Saeed after nine months in prison.

The court ordered Saeed’s release Monday after lawyers filed a habeas corpus motion noting that he has completed serving a five-month sentence for obstruction of justice.

The court counted the period Saeed spent in custody before he was convicted on July 19, his lawyers told the press.

Saeed was arrested along with two Supreme Court justices hours after President Abdulla Yameen declared a state of emergency on February 5. The security forces stormed the court building after constitutional rights and legal immunities for judges were suspended.

In July, Saeed was found guilty of obstruction of justice for refusing to answer a police summons before the state of emergency was declared.

He was hiding out at the Supreme Court building when his home was raided by police.

Police also sought a warrant from the criminal court for Saeed’s arrest but the Supreme Court quashed the warrant and ordered the lower court to hand over all the case files.

Earlier this month, the criminal court dismissed bribery charges against Saeed and the two former justices. 

On Thursday, the Prosecutor General’s office decided not to appeal the decision.

President Yameen claimed the justices and the judicial administrator accepted bribes and instigated a coup with the Supreme Court’s February 1 order for the release of his jailed opponents.

Photo from Shiham Waheed