The Democrats on Monday condemned the failure to ensure justice three years after the bomb attack to assassinate former President Mohamed Nasheed on May 6, 2021.
The Democrats said in a statement that the party was extremely concerned over the failure to ensure justice for Nasheed to date.
“We repeatedly condemn the MNDF’s [Maldives National Defense Force's] failure to ensure the protection mandated by the Constitution to President Mohamed Nasheed after MNDF received intelligence information about the planning and attempts to assassinate him on three previous occasions,” the statement added.
In addition, The Democrats also noted the stalled trials of suspects other than a person who confessed as well as the release of detained suspects, the acquittal of some suspects and the failure to identify those behind the attack to date.
“The Democrats see this is as an act of considering serious cases as small matters, undermining the seriousness of the case and ‘normalizing’ it,” the party said in concluding the statement.
Parliament recently sought additional details gathered by the Defense Ministry about the bomb attack to kill Nasheed.
The request was made after Defense Minister Ghassan Maumoon said in Parliament that there was further information about Nasheed’s case. However, he did not disclose the additional information.
“From what I’ve seen, there is really some information in this case at the Defense Ministry to further share with this Majlis. However, we can only share that information when you attempt to seek that information,” Ghassan said.
The case
Adhuham Ahmed Rasheed was found guilty of remotely detonating the bomb from the Athama Palace building as Nasheed walked to his car on the night of May 6, 2021. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
In addition to Adhuham, Abdulla Ali Manik, another suspect arrested in the case, was convicted of supporting a terrorist organization and sentenced to five years in prison.
But co-defendant Mohamed Thasleem was found not guilty of the same charge.
Following their arrests, police said at the time that they were the architects of the bomb attack on May 6, 2021. However, after the investigation, they were only charged with supporting the terrorist group Islamic State (IS).
The Prosecutor General’s office decided not to raise charges against Ahmed Fathih over lack of evidence to convict.
Trials are ongoing on various terrorism charges raised against Thahmeen Ahmed, Mujaz Ahmed, Ali Haisham, Mohamed Nazim, Ishaq and Fahmy Ali. The last hearing of the case took place in February 2024.
