The United Nations (UN) will not accept an election that does not include former President Mohamed Nasheed, if the UN Human Rights Committee rules in favor of the imprisoned leader, lawyer Hassan Latheef has said.
Alleging the state of depriving Nasheed of the rights outlined in the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a case was submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee by Nasheed’s legal team to restore these rights.
Speaking on Raajje TV’s Fala Surukhee program on Saturday night, Hassan Latheef, who is a member of Nasheed’s legal team, said they were confident that the UN Human Rights Committee ruling will be in favor of their client.
Latheef said the government may reject the decision of the UN Human Right Committee, but will be forced to accept it as the UN will not accept the results of an election held without the involvement of Nasheed.
He added that the government will further face financial challenges and will be isolated from the international community if they reject the UN decision. Further speaking, he said Nasheed’s name will be on the ballot paper if an early election is held before 2018.
Nasheed was convicted of terrorism and sentenced to 13 years in prison on 13th March. He left the country in January, traveling to the United Kingdom for medical purposes and was later granted political refugee status in the UK.
Arrested on the 22nd February 2015 on terrorism charges, Nasheed’s fast tracked trial which lasted 19 days was criticized by the United Nations Human Rights Council as a “hasty and apparently unfair” trial that made a “mockery of the country’s own constitution.”
Amnesty International called the trial a “travesty of justice”, while the US Secretary of State John Kerry, during a visit to neighboring Sri Lanka said that Nasheed was “imprisoned without due process.”
