UN Group Finds Nasheed's Detention Arbitrary; Amal Clooney, Wife Laila To Comment On Ruling | News World India

United Nations (UN) Working Group’s ruling on jailed former president Mohamed Nasheed will be made public on Monday, October 5. The Working Group has ruled in favour of Nasheed on his arbitrary detention in March this year.

Nasheed’s wife Laila Ali along with counsel Amal Clooney will comment on the ruling and will advocate Nasheed’s case of trumped-up terrorism charges and why he should be released immediately from detention in London on Monday.

However, the Maldives government has quickly said it would not accept the decision of Working Group, Haveeru Online reported.

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Nasheed was sentenced to 13 years in prison in March this year over the alleged arbitrary arrest of chief criminal judge Abdulla Mohamed during his presidency.

The ex-president through his high profile legal team had filed the case with the UN group in April claiming that he has been arbitrarily detained through seriously flawed trial. Maldives’ international partners including the US, UK and the UN had backed Nasheed’s claims by voicing concern with the process that led to his ultimate conviction.

The government had also hired international counsel to submit points in its defence to the UN group.

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Earlier, Nasheed’s daughter Meera Laila Nasheed, addressing the United Nations Security Council on September 24, said that his arrest was made on fabricated charges of terrorism and his safety situation concerns family.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has cited the “flagrant irregularities” of the trial, describing it as “a rushed process that appears to contravene the Maldives’ own laws and practices and international fair trial standards in a number of respects.” Amnesty International has called former President Nasheed’s trial a “travesty of justice.”