MPs can be arrested at crime scene, High Court rules
01 Dec 2012, 8:15 PM
The High Court on Thursday ruled that MPs could be arrested at crime scenes despite a provision in the parliamentary rules stipulating that MPs could not be arrested while there was a pending no-confidence motion.
The ruling (Dhivehi) was made after the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) appealed a decision by the Kulhudhufushi Magistrate Court to release MPs Abdulla Jabir and Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, who were arrested on an uninhabited island on charges of alcohol consumption.
While it overruled the magistrate court decision to release the suspects, the High Court however ruled that there were no grounds to detain the MPs any further.
In its appeal, the state had requested authority to arrest the MPs again. But the High Court noted that the only reason police had given for requesting extension of detention was that the suspects might attempt to influence witnesses, ruling that such a possibility no longer existed.
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