Maldives High Court has sentenced the former Police Commissioner and deputy Jumhoory Party leader to jail for 4 months and 24 days of being found guilty of obstructing the legal duty of a state official.
Police had summoned Riyaz in March last year to seize his phone under a court order to check his chat and call logs. The former police chief was charged with obstructing the legal duty of a state official after he refused to give the pass code of his phone to the police.
The criminal court however had acquitted the outspoken lawmaker who remains jailed over the alleged plot to overthrow the government.
At the hearing on Tuesday afternoon the appellate court had reverted Criminal Court's earlier sentence and found Riyaz guilty of the said offense.
The defence had urged the court for a minimum sentence possible which could up to four months and 24 day prison sentence.
Riyaz remains among the four lawmakers including Dhiggaru MP Faris Maumoon, Dhangethi lawmaker Ilham Ahmed and South-Machchangoalhi lawmaker Abdulla Sinan to be charged with terrorism for conspiring to overthrow the government. All four remain remanded until the end of the respective trials.
At the sentencing hearing Maldives High Court had agreed to rule in favor of Prosecutor General's request to order the highest punishment according to the Maldives Constitution.
