Adeeb seeks medical leave from prison

Jailed former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb has sought permission to travel overseas for the treatment of glaucoma, kidney stones and internal cysts.

“His eyes are worsening by the day due to glaucoma. Adeeb’s family is also extremely concerned about the internal cysts because his brother died from cancer formed from a cyst,” his lawyer Moosa Siraj told the Maldives Independent.

Ahmed Lugman, the spokesman of the Maldives Correctional Services, said the prisons authority is not presently responsible for Adeeb as he was transferred to a police custodial centre in March.

“As long as he is in the custody of police there is nothing we can do about this,” he said.

But Siraj said the police told Adeeb’s family that the MCS is responsible for arranging medical leave for convicts.

“Legally speaking Adeeb cannot even be held in police custody in a police detention center,” he contended.

Adeeb was transferred to the police detention centre on the island of Dhoonidhoo near Malé reportedly on the instruction of Home Minister Mohamed Azleen. A police spokeswoman confirmed Adeeb’s transfer to the Maldives Independent at the time but was unable to explain whether the prisons authority is authorised to transfer an inmate serving a jail sentence to police custody.

Siraj at the time denied media reports alleging that Adeeb was transferred to Dhoonidhoo after an attempt to escape from the high-security Maafushi prison.

Adeeb is serving a 33-year jail sentence on multiple counts of corruption and terrorism. In addition to a conviction over the theft of US$5 million from state coffers, he was also found guilty of masterminding a bomb attack on President Abdulla Yameen’s speedboat and of plotting to use a firearm during an opposition protest last year.

Adeeb is also on trial over a weapons cache that was discovered submerged in the reef of an uninhabited island in late 2015.

Siraj said Adeeb has also requested to be transferred to house arrest after former Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim and Adhaalath Party leader Imran Abdulla were sent home from prison for Ramadan.

“We believe that he should have fair chances as other prisoners,” Siraj said.