Previous government exerted most influence on judiciary, action taken against 56 judges: Usham

Attorney General Ahmed Usham has said that the previous government exerted the most influence on the courts or the judiciary.

On February 18, the Supreme Court decided that it has jurisdiction to hear a case regarding an amendment to the Constitution brought through the procedure specified by the People's Majlis for amending the Constitution.

This is a constitutional case filed by Ali Hussain, former MP for Kendhoo constituency, to invalidate the amendment, claiming it was unconstitutional. The case was submitted to the Supreme Court on November 24, 2024, and was accepted on the 27th of that month.

When the case was submitted to the Supreme Court, the state raised a procedural point that the Supreme Court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case. However, the Supreme Court decided it has jurisdiction and gave the state 10 days to respond to the case.

After the Supreme Court made this decision, the People's Majlis passed a bill to change the Supreme Court bench from seven to six judges. Subsequently, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) suspended three Supreme Court judges - Justice Husnu Al Suood, Justice Mahaz Ali Zahir, and Justice Azmiralda Zahir - in connection with a case being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). The JSC is also investigating cases related to these three judges. However, opposition parties have claimed these are baseless cases created by the government to influence the Supreme Court.

Responding to these claims, Usham said in a post on X today that looking at the measures taken by the JSC against judges from 2019 to date, it will be clear which period saw the most influence exerted on the judiciary.

"'Ethical violations' for words spoken or decisions made by judges in court proceedings were ended from November 2023," Usham said.

Usham has published statistics on cases investigated by the JSC regarding judges during the previous government and the current government so far.