Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) on Thursday has temporarily suspended Sheikh Nasrulla Musthafa's practice of law at Maldives courts.
The religious scholar presented candidacy form as a running-mate to independent candidate Naseer for the crunch presidential elections slated for September 2018.
DJA stated Sheikh Nasrulla's license was suspended over criminal charges pressed against him at local courts. The suspension on his law practice will remain until the courts decide on a verdict regarding his cases.
Prosecutor General is charging Sheikh Musthafa for misleading pilgrims in their pilgrimage journey arrangements. This had resulted in several locals who traveled for the sacred ritual getting stranded in a foreign land without proper resources or method of communicating back home.
Four pilgrims who traveled to Mecca, Saudi Arabia in August 2017 were stranded within the the country without the means to transport within the country due to lack of proper documentation. These individuals had each paid an amount of MVR 70,000 as part of their travel arrangement.
Following the news making headlines about their grieving condition, government owned Hajj Corporation took responsibility of the four pilgrims.
Sheikh Musthafa was arrested on November 28 regarding the case, however was released to house arrest the following day. He would later be witnessed by several from the venue PPM's prime office during an event directing harsh criticism from opposition due to his free movement despite a house arrest.
He is also charged with gross negligence, production and distribution of pornographic contents as well as obstruction of justice.
