The Criminal Court has sentenced two consenting adults to 18 months in jail and 25 lashes for videoing themselves engaging in extramarital sex.
Aseel Ismail and Mariyam Sana were arrested in April 2011 after a police raid found CDs and photos in which the couple appear to engage in extramarital sex.
Aseel is currently serving a seven year jail term for assault and Sana is facing trial for drug abuse and alcohol consumption.
The Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced the two to six months in jail and 25 lashes for fornication and issued an additional one-year jail term for producing pornographic material.
Meanwhile, renowned Quran reciter Hussain Thaufeeq has been sentenced to six months banishment and 15 lashes for sexually abusing children. However the Criminal Court suspended the sentence for three years, on the grounds it was the Qari’s first offence.
Thaufeeq was arrested in August 2010 on multiple charges of child sexual molestation with “some cases going a long time back,” police said at the time.
Thaufeeq’s students had also submitted a petition to the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) asking the commission to investigate the matter
Thaufeeq hosted a daily Quran teaching program on Television Maldives (TVM) for school children every evening after Isha prayers. He also led Friday prayers and conducted sermons.
He is also being charged with possession of pornographic material. The trial is still pending at the Criminal Court.
Under the Child Sex Offenders (Special Provisions) Act of 2009, the penalty for child sex abuse is 10-14 years but can be extended to 15-18 years if the accused was in a position of trust with the children he allegedly abused.
However, it appears Thaufeeq has been charged under a different regulation criminalising fornication and sexual misconduct.
The Criminal Court was not responding to calls at the time of press.
In August this year, a 15-year-old girl who faced 100 lashes after she was raped by her stepfather had her sentence overturned following an international campaign.
The Juvenile Court in September sentenced a 17 year old boy to four months in prison after he kissed a 16 year old girl in a court waiting room. The girl was sentenced to four months house arrest.
Meanwhile, a series of sex tapes in which Supreme Court Judge Ali Hameed appears to be having sex with several unidentified foreign women were leaked in July, but the judicial oversight body voted not to take any disciplinary action citing lack of evidence. The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) continues with the investigation.
According to a 2007 UN study, one in three women in the Maldives experience physical and /or sexual violence at some point in their lives. Further, one in eight women reported they had experienced childhood sexual abuse, the study said.
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The hypocrisy here is disgusting
Agree with @Damn 100%!
This is the judiciary President Yameen has complete trust in.
Where's Ann and Hero?
You can punish for moral turpitude who believes in such things, but doing such things in the name of someone who commands from the sky is absurd. Do these people really believe they are doing something as commanded by their master from the heavens? Hope one day the wiring of their brain will evolve and will be able to think differently.
The whole Hussein Thaufeeq issue is just shocking beyond words. I think Minivan and other media can do a lot to get to the bottom of this.
Here are some areas which you can follow up on;
1) The Criminal Court imposes a sentence depending on the crime with which a person is charged. In the case at hand, why did the Prosecutor General choose not to charge Hussein Thaufeeq for the offence which carries the harsher sentence?
2) Why was Hussein Thaufeeq charged for possession of pornographic material while there was a good chance that he would be convicted for child molestation?
There are so many questions that the Prosecutor General's Office must answer in this regard. It is regrettable that the Criminal Court has to bear the blame in the public's eye. However defending the judiciary is hard given its damaged image.
Hypocrites. How dare can the Supreme Court issue this after their own lies and misbehaviour.
If they hypocritically claim to follow that Islamic sharia, these people should not be jailed for 18 months, let alone any month or day, according to sharia.
Not that one is enthusiastic about lashes.
Hero and Ann are in bed with Ali Hameed
The mordis justice system redefined!
The consenting couple- Serves them right for being careless. has no obligations to follow.. no strings attached and does not have any socio responsibilities.
The Gaaree F*#k- being a person of responsible state.. an islamic scholar, a person of extreme responsibilities and his sentence is so light...his "first" offense which ruined the life of so many young children.. possibly for life.. psychological trauma and physical abuse..That re-defines the mordis justice system. gives me another topic to blog on.. i will make sure this gaaree f*#k's name comes across as many bloggers as much as i can. I'd appreciate your help on how to run around this gaaree background. you can mail. please post links you may have below this article and i will follow
15yr girl- pathetic failure of a state and democracy.. even to uphold islam.
17yr boy- for kissing? i mean i read the story when it came out in the first place. i will be sure to mention this along in my articles.. the judiciary shud keep police is airports.. they can catch a good deal of smoochers and good kissers..married, non married, gay etc etc. also caught in all cameras in airports. F*#king pathetic.. i cant find another word.
Ali Hameed- his excuse was the famous "wasnt me".. caught on video footage at the courtesy of his own courtship..i dont understand why this trick doesnt work on any other person in this pirate state. yuck... i curse his entire familly for standing beside him through all this.. Theres a frnd of mine who goes by the name "manik" who also happened to grown up with this Hameed ass.. i showed the video to him to see what Manik's response was.. and he confirmed on the spot within milliseconds that this was no other than hameed with whom he grew up with and had stood guard while he had sex with different women when they were younger.. Now, i dont know hameed personaly but i trust my friend. I think i have a fairly good eye sight and cannot say he was reciting quran with all those women but can say that the face, the physique match at 99.99%. This man will be the downfall of even yamin.. any govt he participates will be illegitimate and disrespectful to islam and civil social responsibilities.
The mordis.. the better side of what?
But it was Halal Video!!
So the law applies to different people in different ways? Doesn't sound like democracy to me.
This is outrageous. Women who fornicate must be severely punished. I would extend her jail sentence.
@Maumoon:
Are you testifying to the fact that Hero and Ann are two of the many prostitutes caught on camera with Ali Hameed?
... this... all makes sense now.
I have sent this story to some British newspapers, hopefully they will report on this.