The criminal court on Sunday rejected two pieces of evidence in the trial of Thahumeen Ahmed charged with terrorism in connection to the attempted assassination of parliament speaker and former president Mohamed Nasheed.
Nasheed sustained life-threatening injuries when an improvised explosive device planted on a motorcycle set off near his home at a busy junction of the main road of capital Male’ city on May 6, 2021.
Several suspects were charged with terrorism in connection to the blast. The current trial is connected to Thahumeen, Mujaaz Ahmed, Ali Haisham, Mohamed Nazim, Ishaag and Fahmee Ali.
Thahumeen is accused of planting the IED on the motorcycle that belonged to him. He is charged with participating in carrying out an act of terrorism, assisting in transporting explosives and supporting a terrorist organization.
His former attorney had failed to submit defense evidence within the timeframe and wrote a letter to the court requesting for an additional hearing to submit the evidence. He noted that the evidence was not submitted due to his negligence.
Judge Soffath Habeeb decided to allow Thahumeen to submit evidence. Sunday’s hearing was held to decide whether to admit the evidence.
Soffath rejected two pieces of evidence as Thahumeen had chosen to remain silent during the investigation.
The prime suspect in this case Adhuham Mohamed entered a plea deal and was sentenced to 23 years in prison last year. He confessed to detonating the device planted on the motorcycle.
