The refusal from Criminal Court to accept a possible torture case involving local authorities and currently arrested officers of Maldives Police has been appealed at High Court for process.
Advocate representing the Special Operations wing officers who were jailed for apparently disobeying authority and state orders, said their heads were shaved off against their consent by the officers of Correctional Service adding this act would be regarded as torture under the Anti-Torture Act.
The officers' lawyer had appealed to Maldives appellate court after Criminal Court had ordered remand without addressing the torture claims - forced head-shaving of the officers - on Wednesday. The defendants' lawyer had also requested from High Court to summon Chief Prisons Officer Ahmed Abdul Wahhab Mohamed of Maldives Corrections Services' emergency support group.
According to their lawyer, Maldives Corrections officers cannot assault or make any physical contact with any of the prisoners without their consent though they have been jailed for alleged offenses; which is deemed as such by the local Constitution and prisoner rights act.
The advocate further claimed that any act of physical or mental taunting by prison officers would be identified as acts of torture, adding the case has been pushed to Maldives Police Service for probing.
