News

Ex-pres Yameen’s appeal hearing scheduled for Wednesday

An appeal hearing has been scheduled over the case of former President Yameen Abdul Qayoom's money laundering verdict that jailed him for five years. The closing statement of the appeal case will be heard during the hearing. After that, a hearing will be held in which a verdict will be delivered by the High Court.

The state responded to most of the issues raised in the appeal hearing on March 5 - the most recent hearing held in the appeal trial. After, that a hearing was scheduled for March 22, which was cancelled due to the government been closed upon declaring a public health emergency amid COVID-19 pandemic. While some court proceedings were held virtually during the lock down, they were mostly on child abuse cases. Government offices has now resumed normal operations after more three months of closure on Sunday, including the hearings.

The opposition had raised concerned over the delay in appeal proceedings of President Yameen’s case. They requested a meeting with the High Court’s Chief Judge Usman Shujau. However, Usman declined to meet with the opposition.

While the former President Yameen has been serving 5-year imprisonment, another case of money laundering has been filed against him along with a case of bribing. The case has now been forwarded to Criminal Court.