Court acquits 3 men over MP Zareer attack

In a ruling on Wednesday, the Criminal Court acquitted three men who had been charged with the attempted assassination of Hassan Zareer, MP for Mathiveri Constituency.

Zareer, who was attacked in a violent assault to kill him after being struck in the head with a hammer on May 1, while sitting in a cafe with friends.

The case, which had been closely followed by the public, involved three individuals facing charges of participating in a fight with a weapon that caused serious injury. The prosecution's case was built around the claim that the accused were part of a group of five assailants who attacked Zareer. However, the court's verdict has cleared the defendants of all charges, citing several factors that led to the decision.

The three accused individuals in this case were:

In his ruling, Criminal Court Chief Judge Adam Mohamed provided a detailed explanation for the acquittal. He stated that the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence that Ibrahim Abdullah (Gabbarey) had participated in the fight with a weapon.

The court noted that Ibrahim was not identified by the injured party, Zareer, as one of the assailants.

The court found that the CCTV footage presented in the case did not clearly show the defendants' involvement in the attack, leaving doubt as to whether it captured them at all.

The testimony of the witnesses presented against Mulan Mohamed and Ahmed Ausham was found to be riddled with contradictions, weakening the prosecution's case.

The ruling also pointed to the lack of concrete evidence tying the accused to the crime. The court mentioned that while Ibrahim Abdulla had a criminal background, including his involvement in a 2007 murder case where he had been arrested but released due to insufficient evidence, there was no proof linking him to the attempted assassination of Hassan Zareer.