Politics

Former police intelligence head sues for “unlawful dismissal”

27 Aug 2012, 5:39 PM

Ahmed Nazeer

The Former head of the Police Intelligence Department Mohamed ‘MC’ Hameed has filed a lawsuit in the Civil Court against the Maldives Police Service, claiming that his dismissal from the institution was unlawful.

Hameed was dismissed from his position over allegations that he provided confidential information to an opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) report written by the former government’s Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam and National Security Advisor Ameen Faisal.

Speaking to Minivan News today, Hameed said he had signed and filed documents relating to the case in the Civil Court on Saturday (August 25).

“I have noted that the dismissal was against the constitution and the Police Act,’’ he said. ‘’We have noted many articles that were violated in the dismissal.”

Earlier this month, the Police Disciplinary Board decided to relieve Chief Superintendent ‘MC’ Mohamed Hameed and Superintendent Ibrahim Adhnan of duty.

At the same time, the Disciplinary Board also announced it was demoting Superintendent ‘Lady’ Ibrahim Manik to Chief Inspector of Police, removing the disciplinary badge on his uniform.

in June, Police arrested Hameed over allegations he had contributed to the MDP’s report, the publication of which was derided by the government as an “act of terrorism”.  The Criminal Court later extended his detention period to five days before releasing him on the grounds that it did “not believe the detention should be extended any further.”

The Criminal Court’s decision to detain Hameed was appealed by his family in the High Court, which ruled that there was no grounds to rule an extension of his detention was unlawful at the time.

Hameed’s lawyer Ismail Visham argued during the High Court hearing that his client had been subjected to discrimination.

Visham told the court that there were police officers accused of more serious crimes who had not been detained, alleging that in one instance, a senior colleague presently stood accused of attempting to rape a woman.

He further contended that the Criminal Court judge had extended Hameed’s detention period not based on police evidence, but the judge’s own view.  Visham contended that Hameed had therefore lost the right to respond to the accusations against him.

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