UN human rights chief expresses strong concern over “hasty and apparently unfair” Nasheed trial
18 Mar 2015, 5:46 PM
Zaheena Rasheed
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has expressed “strong concerns about the hasty and apparently unfair trial” of former President Mohamed Nasheed and called on the Maldives to enable international jurists to observe an appeal.
In a statement today, Zeid said Nasheed was sentenced to 13 years in jail on terrorism charges following “a rushed process that appears to contravene the Maldives’ own laws and practices and international fair trial standards in a number of respects.”
The Criminal Court on March 13 found Nasheed guilty of using the military to “forcefully abduct” the court’s Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed in January 2012.
The surprise trial began one day after Nasheed was arrested on February 22, and was completed after 11 hearings in 19 days.
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