Parliament Dismisses Criminal Court Judge Faiz

Parliament has voted to dismiss Criminal Court Judge Hussain Faiz Rashad following findings that he violated the Constitution and laws governing judicial conduct in his handling of a high-profile remand case involving an alleged drug trafficker.

The motion to remove Judge Faiz, submitted by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), was endorsed by the Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and tabled in parliament today. The decision was approved with 56 MPs voting in favour of the committee’s recommendation. Eight MPs voted against the motion. 

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In a letter to parliament, the JSC said it had investigated a complaint concerning Judge Faiz’s conduct in the case of Ali Anwar Mohamed, who is accused of involvement in large-scale drug smuggling into the Maldives. The commission concluded that Faiz had acted in breach of his constitutional and legal obligations.

The case centres on the remand and subsequent release of Ali Anwar. He was arrested last October and remanded for five days by the Criminal Court. However, when he was brought before the court for an extension of his remand, he was released without any conditions.

Following his release, an attempt was made to arrest him under a different order, but by then he had fled to Sri Lanka. Maldivian police later worked with Sri Lankan authorities to deport him back to the Maldives, where he was re-arrested on arrival.

Ali Anwar had previously been arrested in October 2019 in a joint operation involving the Maldivian Coast Guard and Sri Lanka Police, during which 70 kilograms of drugs were seized from two vessels – an Iranian boat and a Maldivian fishing vessel. The Criminal Court had earlier ruled that the case could not proceed on Ali Anwar, holding that the Maldivian military had violated international conventions in the course of seizing the vessel and bringing it into Maldivian jurisdiction.

In its report, the Judiciary Committee did not disclose detailed allegations against Faiz. Instead, MPs reviewed whether the JSC’s investigation had followed due process and complied with relevant procedures before recommending his dismissal.

Judge Faiz has also faced criticism over his decisions in the custody case of Haleemath Lamha, a suspect in the 2021 murder of nurse Mary Grace, who worked at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH). He is accused of ordering Lamha’s release from custody on two occasions, with the High Court overturning his decisions both times.

The JSC has additionally confirmed that it is investigating cases involving judges of the High Court, signalling a broader review of judicial conduct across multiple levels of the judiciary.