Second hearing of the Maumoon’s case against Miadhu Daily Editor held

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

Second hearing of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s case against Maidhu Daily’s Managing Editor, Abdul Latheef was held last Wednesday. Former President is charging Miadhu Daily for publishing a news article based on a report by New York Times on corruption activities of the previous regime.

In the second hearing Abdul Latheef explained the judge how the report was published in Miadhu Daily and said that the article’s intention was not to discredit former president. The article was based on reports by the Auditor-General of the Maldives and noted that original NY Times article was reported in local media by other media companies as well.

“The article was mainly on actions by the government to recover stolen assets of the Maldivian people and we think it would be an interesting article to report to local media” Latheef stated.

“We have also eliminated some part of the original article in NY times which we believed inappropriate” Latheef also added.

Latheef also maintained that he do not believe that those information in the public domain through AG’s reports and AGO’s website and through presidential statements cannot be reported in the media. NY Times have referred to Auditor-General’s reports heavily in the article. “World Bank has confirmed that it is working on recovering stolen assets by the corrupt dictators and I don’t think we have to reconfirm it from the World Bank” Latheef maintained.

Judge then asked Maumoon’s lawyers to respond. However Maumoon’s legal team appealed for more time to respond to it.

Maumoon’s lawyers have said that Ali Fahudh, Miadhu Daily reporter and the writer of the article was a “fake” name. “Right from the beginning I have maintained that Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has been misled to take this case. Ali Fahud has been working at Miadhu Daily for years now” Latheef noted.

“Despite the claims by Maumoon’s legal team, Maumoon has never taken legal action against the Auditor-General for his reports and unless court decides otherwise, I think those reports are right and can be referred” Latheef also noted.

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