The Judicial Service Commission has launched a fresh investigation against Supreme Court Justice Dr Azimralda Zahir for issuing press statements about her other cases of alleged ethical misconduct under investigation by the watchdog.

Detailed press releases about the ongoing probes issued by her lawyer Ibrahim Shameel together with his comments to the media constitute a violation of ethical standards, the JSC decided at a meeting on Tuesday, Mihaaru and Dhauru reported. 

The meeting grew heated when the judiciary’s representatives on the 10-member watchdog opposed the move, according to the media reports. But a majority of members voted to proceed with the new ethics probe, citing prohibitions in the Judicature Act for judges to directly respond through the media regarding a court case or the judiciary.

The decision followed Justice Azmiralda’s lawyer releasing a press statement earlier on Tuesday after the JSC shared an investigation report with the legal counsel concerning her alleged influence over a detention order.

The statement rejected allegations of Azmiralda exerting influence over criminal court judges to free her husband from police custody. Dr Ismail Latheef, an anaesthesiologist at IGMH, had been arrested in December during a raid of a spa suspected of operating as a brothel. 

All three criminal court judges who testified during the JSC inquiry denied any contact from Azmiralda either personally or through an intermediary, according to the statement. But the JSC investigation falsely attributed statements to judges that conflicted with their actual testimonies, Shameel alleged, 

Complaints about Azmiralda’s suspension and the JSC’s alleged due process violations have been made to various foreign embassies and to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, the statement noted.

At a JSC hearing last week, Azmiralda accused Attorney General Ahmed Usham of threatening to initiate disciplinary hearings against her after the Supreme Court accepted a constitutional challenge to anti-defection rules that empowered parties to unseat lawmakers.

Azmiralda was suspended along with Justices Husnu Suood and Mahaz Ali Zahir on February 26, minutes before hearings were due to resume in the case, effectively blocking the pending judgment as a minimum of five justices must preside over constitutional cases. 

Azmiralda and Mahaz are due to appear before the JSC’s investigation committee on Wednesday in a separate case involving the Supreme Court summoning High Court assistant registrar Hussain Mohamed Haneef in October 2022 over the alleged withholding of documents. According to the complaint, Suood berated Haneef using obscene language, for which Azmiralda and Mahaz must also bear responsibility since it occurred in their presence. 

Suood resigned in protest earlier this month. He has since alerted the UN Human Rights Commissioner, the European Union, and the Commonwealth to the government's alleged interference.

On Sunday, the JSC advised the president to appoint High Court Chief Judge Hussain Shaheed to fill the vacancy left by Suood’s resignation. After the president nominated Shaheed, parliament’s judiciary committee decided to approve his appointment during a meeting on Tuesday that lasted under five minutes.  

No interviews or further vetting process were required, the oversight committee decided and forwarded the matter to the floor. Shaheed is expected to be confirmed at today’s sitting of parliament as the judiciary committee’s report is the first item on the agenda.