Commission can now facilitate the arrest of those involved in coup: Naseem

Former Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem said last night that he believed that the National Enquiry Commission (NEC) set up to investigate the events before and after the transfer of power on February 7, can facilitate the arrest of those involved in the "coup". Speaking in an interview on the ‘Raajje Miadhu’ program aired on Television Maldives (TVM) he said that following the re-composition of the NEC due to the pressure from the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) the commission would now be able to access photographs, videos, and bank statements related to the day and summon people to the commission for questioning more so than before.

“There are several factors to the coup and this commission now would be able to facilitate the arrest of those responsible for it. We have no doubt that what happened was a coup,” Naseem said.

He alleged that several high profile members of the government were involved in the overthrow of former President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration, and that it was the reason why the government at first refused to include an international judge in the NEC.

Naseem said that the government complied with the call by CMAG because “it had run out of options” as the NEC was not endorsed by the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and the international community.

He claimed that the government only talks about half of the Commonwealth’s mandate leaving out the part that raises conflict with their agenda.

“Tradition here is that the Attorney General (AG) or some other official will give a judge a call and tell them to deliver a particular verdict and it would be done so. A commission won’t run that way,” he said.

He stressed that the Commonwealth is well aware that “this government is unjust.” He said that the government re-composing the NEC shows there’s a chance justice would finally prevail.
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