High Court Overturns Criminal Court Order Releasing Alleged Major Drug Suspect

The High Court has overturned a Criminal Court order that had led to the release of Ali Anwar Mohamed, who was arrested in connection with a major drug trafficking case.

Ali Anwar was detained in October last year as part of a police operation targeting drug smuggling. He had previously been arrested in 2019 over the alleged smuggling of 70 kilograms of drugs into the Maldives from an Iranian boat.

Following his arrest in October, the Criminal Court ordered his release without any conditions. The state appealed the decision, arguing that the release order was flawed and should be overturned. However, the High Court registrar initially rejected the appeal, stating that the prosecution had failed to justify why the Criminal Court’s ruling was incorrect.

Prosecutors subsequently challenged the registrar’s refusal, asking the High Court to allow the appeal to proceed. A High Court panel last month overturned the registrar’s decision and agreed to hear the state’s appeal.

The original release order was issued by Criminal Court Judge Hussain Faiz Rashad. He later dismissed Ali Anwar without imposing any conditions. Faiz was subsequently removed from office by a parliamentary vote after being found to have violated judicial ethics.

In its ruling delivered yesterday, the High Court overturned the Criminal Court’s decision, stating that the initial warrant for Ali Anwar’s arrest and detention had been issued in accordance with proper legal procedure. The lower court had earlier ruled that the arrest was wrongful, arguing that the order was not conditional, that it should have been executed formally, and that the arrest had taken place before a search was carried out.

Ali Anwar is currently being held in custody under a separate order issued by the Criminal Court. He was re-arrested by police after being denied entry to Sri Lanka and returned to the Maldives.