The Maldivian high court on Monday stayed temporarily the trial against former President Mohamed Nasheed in an abuse of power case till it decides the legitimacy of the bench of the lower court.
The temporary injunction was granted after Mr Nasheed’s counsel challenged the legitimacy of the bench, asking the high court to declare the composition of the Hulhumale court bench unlawful.
The HC order comes three days ahead of Mr Nasheed’s hearing at the Hulhumale court over the arrest and detention of chief criminal judge Abdulla Mohamed during his term, the Haveeru, a daily, reported. The MDP, headed by Mr Nasheed, welcomed the order. “We welcome this order. Till now it was suspected that he would summarily be sentenced by the kangaroo court. But we can’t rule out that the government may drag him into some other case,” MDP MP Hamid Abdul Gafoor said.
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Output of 8 industries contracts
Age Correspondent
New Delhi, April 1
The eight core industries contracted by 2.5 per cent in February, their worst performance in decades, due to poor electricity generation and crude oil production.
This will have a bearing on overall industrial production data as the eight core industries have a combined weight of 37.90 per cent in the index of industrial production (IIP). It may be worrying as industrial production had grown by 2.4 per cent in January, leading some economists to predict that the slowdown in the economy may have bottomed out.
The core industries are coal, crude oil, natural gas, petroleum refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity.