MNC gathering international lawyers to pursue Gayoom in court
18 Jan 2010, 6:26 PM
Ahmed Nazeer
The Maldives National Congress (MNC) today claimed it was gathering a group of lawyers with the intention of bringing former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom before court, over allegations of human rights abuses under his administration.
President of the MNC Mohamed Naeem claimed Gayoom had killed “many innocent people” during his 30 years as president of the Maldives.
Furthermore, Naeem alleged that when MDP candidate Mohamed Nasheed became president, “there was nothing left of the government’s money.”
“Otherwise, today Maldivians would be living very happily,” Naeem said.
The MNC’s legal team would include lawyers brought from abroad, he added.
Gayoom’s spokesman Mohamed Hussain ‘Mundhu’ Shareef replied that “even if the MNC brings in lawyers from space, they cannot charge Maumoon for something he did not commit.”
Mundhu further added that Gayoom intended to file a lawsuit against Naeem for spreading “untrue stories” about the former president.
“We don’t consider the MNC a political party,” Mundhu said. “They have no supporters. I can say this because I have never met a member of that party from any part of the Maldives.”
The MNC also demanded that Gayoom “must not receive a single penny from the Maldivian government.”
Opposition party DRP spokesperson Ibrahim Shareef responded that if President Nasheed was receiving his monthly salary, Gayoom should receive his allowance for being former president of the Maldives.
Shareef added the MNC “did not know what were speaking about” and that they “had gone crazy.”
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