Hassan Saeed

Dr. Hassan Saeed (Dhivehi: ޑރ. ޙަސަން ސަޢީދު) was Attorney General of the Maldives from 11 November 2003 to 5 August 2007.^[1] He ran as an independent candidate for the Presidency of the Maldives, and placed third of six candidates.^[2] Saeed was appointed as the Attorney-General at the age of 33 by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on 11 November 2003.

Education

Educated in International Islamic University Malaysia before earning his Ph.D. at the University of Queensland in Australia, Saeed served as the Chief Justice of the Criminal Court before being appointed as Attorney-General.

Political career

New Maldives Trio

A leading member of the New Maldives faction of the governing Maldivian People's Party (DRP), Saeed was elected as the Vice President of DRP in April 2006. The same month he also co-founded with Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, a fellow graduate of the University of Queensland and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Mohamed Jameel Ahmedl.

Saeed was thrust in to the limelight as President Gayoom began a new term of office committed to a rapid overhaul of the country's archaic governance system and legal framework, shortly after riots rocked the capital in the aftermath of the killing of four persons in prison, discrediting the country's archaic penal and legal system.

Saeed supported a reform agenda proposed by President Gayoom. He proposed a 5-year plan to reform the criminal justice system, beginning 2005, to overhaul the nation's legal framework, penal system and the judiciary. He tabled a new Penal Code before the parliament.

Together with Foreign Minister Shaheed and the Information Minister Mohamed Nasheed (not Mohamed Nasheed), Saeed is also the chief architect of the alleged Road map for the Reform Agenda published in March 2006 by President Gayoom regime.^[3]

With the defected faction

After 7 years in the cabinet the then Attorney General Saeed and Justice Minister Mohamed Jameel Ahmedl resigned from the government in what was viewed as a setback for the reformist credentials of President Gayoom. The resignations were submitted at August 5, 2007, 2:30 pm, and Saeed and Jameel arrived at Daabaurgue for a press conference just after 3:30 pm. Accusing Gayoom of misdeeds, Hassan Saeed said “I have resigned because the reform agenda, which I joined the government for, has failed, and it is not appropriate for me to stay in the cabinet.”^[3] Following his resignation from the Cabinet, Saeed, along with former Foreign Minister Ahmed Shaheed and former Justice Minister Mohmamed Jameel Ahmed has set up a corporate and business law firm called "Raajje Chambers".

Presidential Bid

Gayoom's defected New maldives trio with Hassan Saeed as the front runner contended for 2008 Maldives Presidential Election as an independent candidate, Hassan Saeed as the presidential candidate chose Ahmed Shaheed as his running mate.^[4]

Islam

A madrasa student and Islamic Scholar, Saeed is an advocate of liberal Islam and is the co-author of the book Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam, a book that elucidates the position of Muslim scholars on apostasy and practice prevailing in the Muslim community. In the book the authors Abdullah Saeed and Hassan Saeed argue that the law of apostasy and its punishment by death in Islamic law conflicts with a variety of fundamentals of Islam. They contend that the early development of the law of apostasy was essentially a religio-political tool, and that there was a large diversity of opinion among early Muslims on the punishment.^[5] Saeed has argued in the newspaper Indian Express that Islamic anger over the U.S. invasion of Iraq, along with increasing Internet access to the Maldives, has caused a shift towards greater fundamentalism.^[6]

Saeed is also a Barrister-at-Law in the High Court of Australia. He is also an Advocate and Solicitor in the Republic of Maldives. He has written editorials in the British newspaper The Guardian advocating democracy in the Maldives.^[7]

References