The Maldives Police Service revealed on Sunday that it is requesting Interpol’s cooperation in extraditing former Tourism Minister Ali Waheed to the Maldives to enforce his recent prison sentence.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court found Ali Waheed’s refusal to appear in court to constitute contempt of court, with the court sentencing him to two months and 12 days in prison for failing to appear before the court twice despite receiving court summons.
The Maldives is requesting cooperation from British authorities as well as Interpol in order to extradite Ali Waheed from the United Kingdom, a police official said.
Ali Waheed was dismissed as tourism minister in July 2020, following allegations of sexual assault by tourism ministry employees.
He is charged with seven counts, including attempted rape, sexual indecent exposure, sexual assault, attempting to commit sexual assault, and two counts of unlawful sexual contact.
On February 9, the Criminal Court temporarily released Ali Waheed’s passport and permitted him to travel overseas for medical treatment. He immediately left for the United Kingdom.
Despite the fact that the court-mandated four-month period for his overseas travel had expired in June, he did not return to the Maldives.
