UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has recommended the government of Maldives to free colonel Nazim and to accord him with an enforceable right to reparations.
Nazim was sentenced to 11 years in prison after a pistol was found in his bedroom. High Court upheld the sentence of the criminal court, while Supreme Court refused to accept the appeal case by Nazim and decided that the Criminal Court’s ruling shall be upheld.
Due to this decision of the Supreme Court, Nazim exhausted all legal remedies from the Maldives. Hence, his family decided to take up the case to UNWGAD. They worked with Amnesty International and submitted the case to UNWGAD last February. UNGWAD gave a three-month period on June 2016 to the government to answer the case. The government requested for an extension and they extended the deadline till September.
UNWGAD decided on the case last Wednesday after listening to both sides. According to UNWGAD, starting from the point where Police entered his house to the Supreme Court ruling, Nazim’s rights have been violated. Also, the 17-page report says that rights ensured by International Convention on Political and Civil rights, and rights ensured by Universal Declaration of Human Rights were violated throughout the process.
Also, it says that the police acted outside their standard operating procedure and keeping Nazim in detention even when they found DNA of another person on the pistol shows that Nazim was framed. In addition, the report highlighted that Nazim was not provided with 26 documents related to the case during the trial and not enough time was given to prepare, considering the magnitude of the case. The report also noted that while Nazim submitted 50 witnesses from his side only three were summoned to the court. They also highlighted that Nazim’s medical condition while he was in prison was not reported to the family and his condition worsened as a result.
UNWGAD says that Nazim’s case and cases of other ‘political detainees’ have similarities and there are various procedural misconducts in his case like others. In addition, they stated that Nazim’s trial was conducted not in accordance with international best practices.
UNWGAD recommends to free Colonel Nazim
