Additional reporting by JJ Robinson
The religious Adhaalath Party (AP) has declared that the 15 year-old rape victim who was recently sentenced to 100 lashes and eight months of house arrest “deserves the punishment”, as this is the penalty for fornication under Islamic Sharia.
The party, members of which largely dominate the Maldives’ Ministry of Islamic Affairs, stated that the sentence of flogging had not been passed against the for being sexually abused by her stepfather, but rather for the consensual sex to which she had confessed to having on another occasion.
“The purpose of penalties like these in Islamic Sharia is to maintain order in society and to save it from sinful acts. It is not at all an act of violence. We must turn a deaf ear to the international organisations which are calling to abolish these penalties, labeling them degrading and inhumane acts or torture,” the statement read.
“No one has the right to criticise any penalties specified in Islam,” the party added.
Quoting verses from the Quran, the statement said that no citizen should be allowed to express ideas and opinions about a verdict made in accordance with the religion in a court of law in a 100 percent Muslim country.
The Adhaalath Party further cautioned that criticising issues like this would “encourage enemies of Islam, create confusion among the general public and open up opportunities for people who aim to stop the practice of similar penalties commanded in Islam.”
“Furthermore, Allah has decreed that expressing disapproval of issues such as this contradicts with faith in Islam,” the statement continued, quoting more verses from the Quran.
“Allah has also commanded that we show no kindness when implementing these penalties.”
The party also stated that it was saddened by the physical and psychological abuse the girl had suffered at the hands of her parents, calling the state authorities to ensure they were given the punishments they were due as detailed in Islamic Sharia.
“If such sinful activities are to become this common, the society will break down and we may become deserving of divine wrath,” the Adhaalath Party stated.
Flogging amounts to degrading punishment or torture: UN
United Nations has expressed concern over the case of the 15 year-old being sentenced to flogging.
“The child is allegedly a victim of long-standing sexual abuse. Under international legal human rights obligations of Maldives, corporal punishment, including flogging, amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment or even to torture,” read a statement issued by the UN in the Maldives.
“ The approach to sexual abuse which has been adopted in numerous international human rights frameworks is that governments should implement prevention, prosecution of perpetrators, and protection measures to ensure that sexual abuse does not occur. Where it has occurred, governments should put in place measures for rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration of victims.”
US “deeply disturbed”
The US Embassy in Colombo said it was “deeply disturbed” by the recent ruling, noting that the minor was “also a victim of rape”.
“We call upon the Maldivian government to recognise that she must be protected rather than punished by authorities. We welcome President Waheed’s statement that his government “will push for a review” of the decision. We urge the Maldivian judiciary to immediately drop all charges against the girl and for the Majlis to enact legislation that protects women and minors who have suffered sexual abuse.
“Promoting gender equality and advancing the status of all women and girls around the world remains one of the greatest unmet challenges of our time, and one that is vital in all countries to ensure full democratic rights, regardless of culture,” the Embassy stated.
President “saddened”
President Mohamed Waheed, who has previously insisted on the executive’s inability to interfere in judicial matters, stated on his official Twitter account yesterday: “I am saddened by the sentence of flogging handed to a minor. Govt will push for review of this position.”
The government is currently pushing for re-election to the UN Human Rights Council and launched its campaign in Geneva today (February 28), spearheaded by State Minister of Foreign Affairs Dunya Maumoon, daughter of former 30 year autocratic ruler Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
In a statement today, the Foreign Ministry said the Maldives had prioritised its term in the Council “by focusing on women and children’s rights and the rights of persons with disability, had been a vocal campaigner for the prevention of torture, and brought the issue of the right of all to live in a safe and clean environment to the forefront of the Council’s debate.”
In a second statement later today, the Foreign Ministry expressed “deep concern by the prosecution and the Juvenile Court’s sentence to flog a 15 year-old girl on the charges of pre-marital sex.”
“Though the flogging will be deferred until the girl turns 18, the government believes she is the victim of sexual abuse and should be treated as such by the state and the society and therefore, her rights should be fully protected. The Government is of the view that the case merits appeal. The girl is under state care and the government will facilitate and supervise her appeal of the case, via the girl’s lawyer, to ensure that justice is done and her rights are protected,” the Ministry stated.
“The Juvenile Court’s verdict has brought home the critical and severe need to review existing mechanisms, especially legal framework, available for protecting the rights of the children in the Maldives. The government calls on all stakeholders to view cases of child abuse and child-sexual abuse through a human rights lens and to base each case on the best interest of the child.
“In view of the urgent attention required for protecting the rights of the children, the government has established a Committee to review the existing child protection mechanisms, particularly the legal mechanism, in view of the universally accepted norms and principles, and recommend to the state areas that require urgent changes,” the Ministry said.
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Shinan! thank you for the clarification!
"the lady has willingly agreed upon fornication…. how can a child get pregnant and get children?"
There's the answer for everyone against child rape. No logical argument will make a difference when dealing with the backwards mentality of uneducated, brainwashed fundamentalists. Apparently any girl who can get pregnant is automatically considered a consenting woman no matter what age they are. Now we can close this case and sleep well tonight knowing that there's no such thing as rape or molestation.
As a Maldivian i am ashamed and disgusted with how this poor girl is being treated!
Vow, Indian judicary system is perfect? Indian judiciary system is one of the most corrupted system in the south east asia.
We have seen innocent Maldivian girl got arrested on suspicion of "spying indian nuclear project" and she was kept in the jail for many year before getting released?
In india, the elites are treated differently in front of Judiciary and poor people have different treatment in the judiciary .
Indian judiciary no difference than Maldivian and both consist of corrupt people and may be Maldives is following the steps of big brother India.
It really bemuses me how the courts have taken the decision to lash a female under 16!!!Moreover the poor girl was brought up being abused badly by her parents. Her whole life she has been sexually exposed so it is the duty of society to put her back on track by advising, counselling and taking care of her rather than punishing and beating her.
I think some idiots will take 100 years to understand this foolishness and simple fact. This has nothing to do with religion as Islamic Shariah law is not being disputed here.
Basically a woman under 16 cannot consent to sex. How can a court judge her and find her guilty?
Very sad case actually.
Oh, I meant, a principle that culpability (ones agency if you like) must be fully determined.
Anyway, forget that, how the hell can a child of 15, ANY child of 15 be held fully responsible for sexual decisions, abused or NOT!
What the hell is this about the wrath of God, Adhalaath have the wrong idea about what makes God angry.
It is greed to the point of inhumanity, cruelty, the absence of compassion which makes God angry.
Did Sheikh Shaheem really say that the right thing to do when you sin is to keep your mouth shut, or a Dhivehi equivalent of the same meaning? I find this absolutely shocking.
These people live in the f.....g middle ages! Who do they think they are to treat women like this! Outrageous.
@Ben Plewright
Yes he did. I wanted to write an article about the situation of unmarried mothers after the flogging of an unmarried 18 year old in the Maldives and the father got away scot free. I wanted to get my facts straight about the following
1. what the Shariah says about the men who deny their paternity and get away with no punishment, and if paternity testing is allowed in Islamic Shariah
2.why the unmarried mother gets extra punishment for disclosing the paternity of the child
3. what does Shariah provide for women and girls who are raped and molested? If a woman's word is half the weight of a mans word in Shariah, and as there are rarely spectators to give evidence about sexual acts, and as there is no Evidence Law in the Maldives, what are their chances of getting justice?
I found Sheikh Shaheem highly educated on Islamic affairs, articulate and keen to educate and engage in discourse.
He told me the law is in place, for our protection and for us women to guard our iffath .
That paternity testing can be accepted in Shariah, that until and when the legal system of the Maldives is reformed and Evidence Bill is in position they have to go by current laws in place.
And yes,that current laws stipulate that we should not disclose our sins and if we are stupid enough to get pregnant then by disclosing the paternity of the child we are disclosing the sins of another and if he denies the paternity of the child as he can in court,(his word is accepted and ours will be discounted because we are women) the unmarried mother will be punished further.
Its a mystery to me why the legal reform bills have not been processed in Majlis. Surely the protection of ue people and ourrights should be the NUMBER ONE priority for Majlis.
Which committees have these bills been sitting in? And who chairs these committees? Or have they even seen the floor of Majlis?
Meantime, all we can do as women, if we do not want to experience public humiliation is make sure we do not stray from the moral codes of iffaiytheri women and not engage in premarital and extra marital sex. Simple. Just don't give the men what they want. After all they take no responsibility.
AND, maybe the government should allow us women to be armed and to have a gun under our pillows so we can shoot our rapists and molesters.
How else can we protect ourselves from assault? The justice system clearly doesn't.
if punishment is carried out,maldives should be suspended from all international forums and no aid /soft loans should flow to those barbarians,go get aid from taliban moslem countries ,dont live the good life from infidels wealth
I wish that Sheikh Shaheem said, that if a man is not manly enough to own up and take responsibility for his child, even it it means he has to face getting flogged for it (if he gets Her pregnant out of wedlock) then he is not a man, he is a cowardly little selfish weakling piece of such and such.
I don't usually feel this way - But it will be GOOD in a few years when Rising Oceans will mean The Maldives are UNDER WATER and Forgotten. This will be an EXTENDED period of TORTURE as No Human could survive 100 Lashes all at Once. WOMEN are usually ONLY Lashed 20 strokes which then SCAR Over and ANOTHER 20 strokes tear open the OLD WOUNDS - then another then another then ANOTHER over MONTHS. She may not remain SANE.
So our Almighty GOD who sees all and is capable of bringing down nations has decided to "out-source" some of his work, that is punishing Maldivian youth to "Seyku" Imraan and Adhaalat Party. Even the Catholics stopped doing god's this resposibility after the in-famous "Spanish Inquisition" 400 years ago. Why are we getting punished for our natural whims of life in this world as well. God is supposed to do all that on the Judgement day. You should not be punished twice for the same "crime".
I can bet Imraan and Shaheem did have sexual experiences before they got married - they should be flogged first. God never sent down any religion or book,all religions were invented by people for politics and power. Qur'an was initiated by a Jewish Scholar, who was the cousin of Mohammad's first wife, Khadeeja.
Wonder just who is setting the agenda here! Maldives may not be 100% muslim but atleast something like 90%. But its more like that the 10% of kuffar are hell bent on setting the agenda for the rest of us. They want to impose their secular laws on us against our wishes. What kind of democracy is this?
The fact is that 90% maldivians are asking for islamic sharia to imposed. Another fact is that all these hoopla about flogging and tearing flesh is all damned lies. The flogging as is carried out in Maldives is almost symbolic and no physical damage happens to the subject. But yes it will be more of s psychological punishment.
Deeply disturbed by some comments..
ISLAM IS PERFECT, MUSLIMS AREN'T.
Don't criticize Islam, for the wrong doings of some ignorant muslims. May Allah gift the misguided with true understanding of the deen.. Ameen
http://www.raajjeislam.com/?file=13597
If she has to be flogged, 95% of the Maldivian population above the age of 15 should be flogged! And it takes two to tango! where is the male who was supposedly involved in fornication with her? Is it not essential that he confesses to have "fornicated"with her for her "crime" to be proven? Or is it enough for a victimized, tortured, young kid's frightened confession to sentence her? Where is the efficing reason in that?
ofcourse when a well known MAN of power sexually abuses a woman, he is defended in parliament describing his act to be to a slip-of judgement!?
Did Abdulla Ghazee try her case? Did he ask her to enact all the sexual abuses she has suffered and decided she did not act-out enough for his liking and decide on her sentence?
More shameful acts are committed in the name of god than for any other reason. It's shameful that in this day and age it is still allowed to happen. Interesting how nature can work in harmony yet mankind would rather kill each other for religious views. As a mother of 15yr old girl, I truly thank the lord I was born in the United Kingdom and that my daughter was too.