Amal Clooney blasts Maldives human rights as she meets with the former President in his high-security jail cell

Amal Clooney blasts Maldives human rights as she meets with the former President in his high-security jail cell just days after his local lawyer was ambushed and stabbed 



She is leading another high profile case, and on Tuesday it was time for Amal Clooney to get to work.

The human rights lawyer was seen arriving at Maafushi jail in the Maldives to meet with jailed former president Mohamed Nasheed.

Amal, the wife of actor George Clooney, spent a number of hours with Nasheed in the high security prison, as part of her team's efforts to secure the release of the politician. 

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Getting to work: Amal Clooney visited Maafushi jail in the Maldives on Tuesday to meet with jailed former president Mohamed Nasheed
Amal and her team arrived by boat to Kaafu Atoll, the administrative division and location of the prison, from the Maldives capital of Male.













Joined by her co-counsel and members of her team, she made her way into the prison where she waited to meet with Nasheed, who is serving a 13 year jail term.



A large crowd of cameras were outside to greet the London-based lawyer, with Amal giving a brief statement to the press before being escorted inside.

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High profile case: A large crowd of cameras were outside the prison to greet the London-based lawyer, with Amal giving a brief statement to the press

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Noted presence: Amal's visit drew attention from locals as she arrived to meet with the ex Maldives leader

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She's arrived: Amal and her team arrived by boat to Kaafu Atoll, the administrative division and location of the prison, from the Maldives capital of Male

Dressed in a smart black dress and grey heels, it was Amal's first full day in the region after touching down in Male on Monday. 



She may have another difficult fight on her hands but the human rights lawyer received a warm welcome when she arrived in the Maldives to further pursue the case of Nasheed.



The 37-year-old greeted a large crowd as she touched down in the capital Male. Amal is part of the ex-leader's high-profile legal team who are fighting for the release of the politician





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Good spirits: Dressed in a smart black dress and grey heels, it was Amal's first full day in the region after touching down in Male on Monday

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Waiting game: The top human rights lawyer patiently waited for her meeting

Along with her legal team co-counsel Jared Genser, Amal has travelled to the island republic's capital to make the case heard.



On Friday Nasheed's defence lawyer Mahfooz Saeed was stabbed in the left side of his head while he was on his motorbike in capital Male, reports the Asian Tribune.



It is not known who the two men are who attacked him, but the knife missed his eye-socket by a few millimetres. 



He remains in hospital after surgery to remove the knife.



The United States, the European Union and India have all expressed concern at the jailing of Nasheed for 13 years for ordering the detention of a judge in 2012 when he was still president.



Last week the United States called for the Maldives government to release the former president after he was sent back to prison from house arrest. 



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Another international case: Amal and her team, who are based in London, tackle cases around the world

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Outcry: The team are pressing for the release of former president Nasheed, a case which has received international attention

Nasheed was Maldives' first leader after democratic reforms in 2008 but his presidency was cut short in February 2012 when, according to Amal and her team, 'he was forced to resign at gunpoint.'



Writing in the Guardian last month, under a piece titled 'Release Mohamed Nasheed – an innocent man and the Maldives' great hope', Amal called the 2013 conviction, 'a politically motivated show trial.'



'Nasheed’s conviction for “terrorism” and the crushing 13-year sentence are a mockery of justice, designed to punish him for criticising the government and remove him as a political threat...Nasheed’s conviction sends a loud and clear message to the Maldivian people: opposition to the ruling regime will not be tolerated,' she added. 





In a new statement released just before her visit to Male, Amal said, 



'President Nasheed's unjust imprisonment has led to the largest protest movement in Maldivian history, and protesters have in turn been added to the list of political prisoners in the country.'



'My co-counsel and I will continue to pursue all legal and diplomatic strategies to secure our client's release, including through the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.' 









After visiting the Maldives, Amal and her co-counsel will travel to Sri Lanka and India for further meetings regarding the case.



Amal, who was dressed in a smart black shirt and white trousers, looked in good spirits on Monday despite a difficult fight ahead.



She has been juggling a number of high-profile international cases this summer.



Just over a week ago the lawyer was representing Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy in an Egypt courtroom, who was charged, along with his colleagues Baher Mohamed and Australian Peter Greste, with operating without a press licence and broadcasting material harmful to Egypt.









The three men were each handed three-year jail terms at the hearing at Cairo’s Tora Prison.



Afterwards Amal, whose presence in court received more attention than her client’s from photographers and TV crews, denounced the jail terms as ‘sending a dangerous message that there are judges in Egypt who will allow their courts to become instruments of political oppression and propaganda’.



A week before that case, Amal was with her husband as she joined the Hollywood star at a bash to launch his new tequila in Ibiza, after flying in from their home in Lake Como, Italy, where the couple have spent much of their summer. 


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Engagement ring on the left hand.  Wedding band on the right hand.

Those are the only rings she wears she changes it up with them.

I'm more concerned about Amal's safety 
than how she wears her two rings.

She's certainly sticking her head above the parapet 
here alright. But I'm also sure that she knows what 
she's doing.

On her way in to talks with the present government today

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I think there is tight security with them at all times.

isogotit wrote:Engagement ring on the left hand.  Wedding band on the right hand.

isogotit,
 in my country people usually wear their wedding band on the right hand. I've got a few collegues with a very strong handshake  (and we always shake hands or hug each other in the morning) so I decided to wear my wedding band on my left hand because it's really painful.

A far-from-fluffy piece in People today

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Day 3 - or is it 4?

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High Court rejects state’s appeal of Nasheed’s conviction
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[url=http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=http://maldivesindependent.com/politics/high-court-rejects-states-appeal-of-former-president-nasheeds-conviction-117232&media=http://maldivesindependent.com/cmsMUIH10/../files/2015/02/High-Court-and-Nasheed.jpg&description=High Court rejects state%E2%80%99s appeal of Nasheed%E2%80%99s conviction][/url]
September 1023:062015 by Ahmed Naish
The High Court tonight rejected the prosecutor general’s (PG) appeal of former President Mohamed Nasheed’s conviction on terrorism charges.
Following a preliminary hearing held yesterday to decide whether to proceed with the appeal, the three-judge panel ruled unanimously that it could not accept the case because it was not filed by Nasheed.

The court said the PG’s appeal does not fit the circumstances specified in article 43 of the Judicature Act in which decisions of lower courts can be appealed.
Verdicts can be appealed based on procedural violations and if reasons exist to believe either that it was inconsistent with the law or if errors were made in interpreting or applying the law, the court noted.

The PG filed the appeal seeking a review of the proceedings at the lower court to ensure that Nasheed’s constitutional rights were not violated, including the right to adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence, to communicate with and instruct legal counsel of his own choosing, to examine the witnesses against him, and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses.

The High Court said none of the constitutional rights were violated during Nasheed’s trial in March.
Despite Nasheed’s lawyers maintaining they were unable to file the appeal within a shortened 10 day period due to the criminal court’s failure to provide a full transcript of proceedings, the High Court also said Nasheed could still appeal if he was unable to do so after the deadline for “valid reasons”.
Members of Nasheed’s legal team have reacted to the High Court’s decision on social media.


Rule of law
Nasheed was found guilty of terrorism in March over the military’s detention of criminal court chief judge Abdulla Mohamed in January 2012. The 19-day trial at the criminal court was widely criticised over its apparent lack of due process.
The PG office had meanwhile said in a statement yesterday that the appeal was filed to “show that the Maldives remains steadfast in upholding the rule of law,” address Nasheed’s complaints over the trial, and show that Nasheed has not been deprived of the right to appeal.
“The prosecutor general’s office appealing the case does not imply that [we] agree with all of the concerns raised by President Mohamed Nasheed,” the statement read.

The statement also noted that Nasheed had filed a petition at the UN working group on arbitrary detention, seeking a judgment declaring his imprisonment arbitrary and unlawful. A ruling is expected in October.

But the PG office “believes that if there are questionable matters in the criminal court trial, it could be resolved at the appeal process.”
The statement also insisted that Nasheed did not have any obstacle to filing an appeal at the High Court.
Speaking at a press conference today, Nasheed’s high-profile international lawyer Amal Clooney had said that Nasheed intends to pursue an appeal as yesterday’s hearing suggested that the High Court was “seemingly open to the idea of an appeal” despite the expiry of the 10-day appeal period in March,
Clooney explained that Nasheed’s lawyers were unable to file an appeal due to the criminal court’s refusal to provide the trial record.

“The door was slammed in their face because the court record that they needed in order to file that was not provided until after the deadline had expired. That’s why they could not appeal until now,” she said.
If Nasheed does appeal, Clooney said he must be “provided with a full record of what happened in the court so that he can mount a full and effective appeal of his conviction.”

“This hasn’t been provided to date. He has been provided with summaries that his local counsels have indicated are not complete. And he needs the full electronic copy or record of what happened in the court,” she said.
“In addition, international trial observers should be allowed into the court, there should be no re-arranging of the court room to limit it to sixteen people. And international counsel should be allowed to participate.”

Yesterday’s preliminary hearing was “an extremely peculiar situation,” she said, as the PG office did not acknowledge any flaws in the criminal court trial and was not seeking to overturn the 13-year jail sentence.
While the state prosecutor had said he was presenting arguments on behalf of the defence, Clooney said that it is “an elementary proposition in any criminal trial that the defence cannot rely on the prosecution to make any arguments on their behalf.”
“So President Nasheed does not accept that the prosecutor’s arguments and submissions constitute any form of appeal on his behalf,” she said.

Her colleague Jared Genser meanwhile told the press that the criminal court trial showed that the Maldivian judiciary is “neither independent nor impartial.”
“So while we are going to file this additional appeal, we are under no illusion that it is highly unlikely that the High Court will consider an application based on the Maldives constitution, Maldivian law and its obligations under international law,” he said.

BBC News

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Oh glory....No wonder George is concerned
for his wife's safety.

Our world is just not safe.

Regretfully, it's nothing new............. today is September 11th

I know the date and have watched a documentary 
about Fire Station Ladder 10.
Brings it all back and the feelings during that terrible time, even here in UK.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] Interesting. She sounds like the voice of calm..........

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Amal Clooney meeting with ex-Maldives president 'bugged'

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International human rights lawyers defending the ousted Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed have accused the country's government of spying on them.

Amal Clooney and her US-based colleague Jared Genser visited Mr Nasheed at the high-security Maafushi prison on Thursday.

Mr Genser told the BBC he believed the meeting was "bugged" after confidential details were leaked to the government.

Mr Nasheed was jailed for 13 years for ordering the arrest of a judge.

Mr Nasheed's wife received a phone call shortly after he met with his legal team on Thursday, from someone who had a key piece of information about the discussion, Mr Genser said.

"The only place it could have come from was that room," he added. "We therefore came to the conclusion that we had been bugged."

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A spokesman for the Maldives Correctional Service denied that the conversation had been recorded, according to the Maldives Independent.

Mr Nasheed's legal team claim the case against him is political and that any surveillance is a breach of domestic and international law.

"I am disappointed but I'm not surprised. It is indicative of the government's approach to this case."

The former human rights campaigner became the nation's first democratically elected leader in 2008, ending three decades of rule by former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

In 2012, he was detained after being accused of ordering the arrest of a judge.
He resigned months later amid an army mutiny and public protests over the judge's fate.

The UN said his rushed trial earlier this year was seriously flawed.

Mrs Clooney said on Thursday that she would push for sanctions against the Maldives unless it released her client.

"It is disappointing that it has come to this," she added.