The Supreme Court has overturned the High Court’s refusal to detain suspects in the murder of Nadheem Ibrahim (Nadey) and ordered the appellate court to hear the case again.
Murder charges over the fatal stabbing of Nadheem by a group of masked men inside the Terminal cafe were raised against Mohamed Mafaz Hussain Saleem. His alleged accomplices Hussain Shamin, Mohamed Karam Suhail and Ali Nifaz were charged with aiding the murder.
The Criminal Court found all four defendants not guilty of murder on November 14, 2022. The state appealed the not guilty verdicts at the High Court and sought an order to keep the suspects detained pending a ruling on the appeal. But the High Court declined to issue the detention order.
When the High Court’s rejection was appealed at the Supreme Court, the apex court decided today that to overturn the High Court decision.
The Supreme Court bench that heard the appeal decided unanimously to order the High Court to separately assess whether each individual posed a threat to society and to make a fresh determination on the state’s request for their detention.
Nadheem was stabbed in the head inside the Terminal cafe in Male' by a group of masked men around 6:30 pm on July 27, 2017. He died two days later while undergoing treatment at the intensive care unit of the ADK hospital.
Only two prosecution witnesses testified to having seen the faces of the masked assailants. But the two secret witnesses who testified anonymously later wrote to the court to retract their testimony.
The Criminal Court's acquittals were based on the retractions.
