Malé, Maldives – Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem has stated that the prosecution will appeal High Court’s decision earlier today to free the alleged IS leader of Maldives Mohamed Ameen, Kariyyavilla, Maadhadu, Fuvahmulah.
The High Court negated the charges against Ameen after the state failed to file charges within the assigned duration.
However, PG Shameem said that everything was done according to the law, and the High Court has misinterpreted a Supreme Court ruling. The state will appeal the High Court sentence to dismiss the charges against Ameen and set him free.
The High Court decision was made while the prosecution was ready to collect witness statements to Ameen’s hearings progressing at the Criminal Court.
The state has charged Ameen on counts of joining a terrorist organization and planning terror acts under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Ameen denies all charges against him.
The Criminal Court had initially sentenced him to remand in jail until the trial was complete. However, following an appeal by the defendant the Criminal Court changed the remand to house arrest.
Ameen was arrested in October 2019 over allegations of spreading radical extremist ideologies and recruiting and dispatching fighters to other countries.
According to the OFAC bio, Ameen has assisted, sponsored, provided financial, material, and technological support for goods and services in support of ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) as observed from April 2019.
OFAC states that Ameen is a recruiter who has dispatched Maldivians to Syria and Afghanistan. He is actively engaged in leading ISIS recruitment through close lieutenants, under the guise of Islamic classes in Malé and other locations in the Maldives. He recruits fighters from the Maldivian Criminal Gangs. He directs terrorist fighters to Syria and more recently Afghanistan.
