Court rejects ex-defence minister’s request for medical treatment

The civil court has rejected a request by jailed ex-Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim for medical treatment abroad and a transfer to house arrest.

Nazim’s lawyer, Husnu Suood, said the court claimed it had no jurisdiction on the issue.

The retired colonel’s family has repeatedly raised concerns over his health, claiming he may lose his eye sight if the government fails to allow him the proper medical care.

Nazim has been brought to Malé on several occasions for consultations with doctors. He was last brought to the Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital on Wednesday and Friday last week.

Nazim’s family has requested the Maldives Correctional Services (MCS) for the details of his medical treatment.

The former minister was found guilty of smuggling weapons and sentenced to 11 years in prison on March 26. He maintains that police planted a pistol in his apartment on the orders of then tourism minister, now Vice President, Ahmed Adeeb, an allegation that Adeeb denies.

Suood told The Maldives Independent that they have requested the MCS to provide copies of prescriptions and instructions from previous doctor’s appointments, because one doctor last week had said he is reluctant to prescribe medication without referring to Nazim’s medical history.

Prisons officials had failed to take documents on Nazim’s medical history to doctor’s appointments, Suood said.

Moosa Rameez, an MCS spokesman, dismissed the claim saying: “Medical documents are always taken while consulting doctors, we also try to obtain the convicts past medical documents from the family.

“Since the family has requested for details of Nazim’s treatment, we will be providing these documents to them as well,” he said.

Suood said that Nazim has been complaining of discharge in his eyes. The doctor suspects this to be a result of kidney damage, he said.

On August 30, Nazim’s brother Adam Azim had told The Maldives Independent that the retired colonel’s eyesight was rapidly deteriorating and that doctors at the IGMH were unable to reach a definitive diagnosis.

Azim said problems with Nazim’s vision was first noticed when he was kept at the Dhoonidhoo detention centre for the police investigation in February.

“Since then fluid kept building up in his eyes, affecting his vision,” he said.

Azim also said doctors have recommended that Nazim be sent abroad for treatment.

Nazim left for Singapore on April 10 after the MCS authorised a 45-day medical leave based on a doctor’s recommendation for Nazim to undergo tests that are unavailable in the Maldives.

Suood said that Nazim had also been treated for heart problems in Singapore.

“We have done all that we can, now all we can do is to be continue to ask the government,” he said.

An appeal of the weapons smuggling conviction at the High Court meanwhile remains stalled after the Supreme Court transferred two judges on the five-judge panel to a newly created regional branch in the south.

In August, Suood petitioned the Supreme Court to issue an order the appellate court to reconstitute a bench to hear the appeal.

Nazim’s trial coincided with the terrorism trial of ex-president Mohamed Nasheed. The opposition leader was sentenced to 13 years in jail over the military detention of a judge during his tenure. The pair’s imprisonment sparked a six-month-long political crisis with daily protests.

The president of the religious conservative Adhaalath Party, Sheikh Imran Abdulla, is also under state custody, awaiting trial on terrorism charges.