Prosecutor general of Maldives has identified the 15-day presidential decreed state of emergency has been concluded, as per consolidate sources.
It has been come to knowledge that prosecutor general (PG) Aishath Bisam has ordered Maldives Police to summon individuals arrested during the emergency to court for their remand hearings on Tuesday night, as per sources.
PG had sent a letter to police authority around midnight of Tuesday night requesting to summon all individuals detained during the state of emergency to court for their remand hearing.
However authorities had declined to compliance to Bisam's orders following advice of attorney general Mohamed Anil, according to sources.
A senior level government officer had confirmed to local media of prosecutor general attempting to resign sometime on Wednesday following the noncompliance from authorities to her orders. Following this minister of legal affairs Azima Shukoor had visited prosecutor general's office in hopes to change the orders issued by PG.
Several sources confirm legal affairs minister Shukoor entering the premises of prosecutor general's office. However no official comment from the office has been available so far regarding the matter.
Moreover senior lawyers at attorney general's office had also advised to AG Anil regarding the conclusion of state of emergency on Tuesday night deeming it unconstitutional, as they had strongly pressed the parliament vote to extend the emergency was contentious as it had not met the constitutionally mandated quorum.
According to Article 87 (b) of the constitution, a parliament vote on any matter requiring compliance by citizens shall only be undertaken when more than half of the total membership of the parliament are present at the sitting at which the matter is voted upon.
After efforts to convince some of the opposition MPs to attend Tuesday's sitting failed, the parliament with only 38 government MPs voted to extend the state of emergency. The number is well short of the minimum 43 specified by the constitution. Speaker Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed before the vote had announced that only 20 votes in favour would be needed to extend the emergency. His argument was that the parliament rules of procedure does not specify a state of emergency as something that requires the compliance of citizens.
Several officers of attorney general's office had also confirmed the top level advocates had filed a petition against Mohamed Anil due to disappointment over his biased actions of late. Officers further reported that following this move by senior advocates, attorney general had blackmailed these advocates with job termination if they continued with their actions.
The island nation has been embroiled in fresh political turmoil after the Supreme Court on February 1 ordered the immediate release of jailed political leaders including self-exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed.
President Yameen had declared a 15 day state of emergency after his last ditch attempt to convince the top court to revoke the order failed as the apex court rejected the government's 'legal and judicial' concerns over the order.
