Day: November 23, 2010

Criminal Court issues death sentence in gang murder case

The Criminal Court of the Maldives yesterday sentenced Mohamed Nabeel to death for the murder of Abdulla Faruhad, after reviewing the statements of witnesses and finding him guilty of the crime.

The Judge said that article 88[d] of the penal code of the Maldives stated that murders should be dealt accordingly to the Islamic Shariah and that persons found guilty of murder ”shall be executed” if no inheritor of the victim denies the murderer to be executed, according to Islamic Shari’ah.

The Criminal Court identified the murderer as Mohamed Nabeel, G. Reef and the victim as Abdulla Faruhad of Hulhudhoo in Seenu Atoll. As no inheritor of the victim opposed his execution, Nabeel was sentenced to death.

This is the first such sentence to be issued in a case related to gang murder. Previous death sentences issued in the Maldives have included (in 2005) those found to be involved in the death in custody of Evan Naseem, and the perpetrators of 1988 coup. None of these sentences were implemented.

The Prosecutor General’s office filed the case against Nabeel after the police arrested him on charges of deliberately killing Faruhad in revenge for harassing his sister Aiminath Niuma. The case report did not mention what kind of harassment occurred.

The judge said that during the police investigation Niuma admitted that her brother Nabeel attempted to attack Faruhad with a six inch box cutter on March 8, 2009.

In her statement to police, Niuma said she attempted to stop her brother from attacking Faruhad as he tried to flee, the judge stated.

However Niuma was unable to control her brother from throwing the box cutter at Faruhad which lodged in his back. Faruhad died the next day from his injuries.

The PG’s office presented CCTV footage of the incident and three witnesses.

The judge said that although Niuma had later in court dismissed her statements to police, which were fingerprinted by her father as she was underage at the time, ”it is unbelievable that her father read the statement and would fingerprint a false statement given regarding his own son.”

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said he did not know how the sentence would be carried out,  but police would implement the verdict if requested by the court.

Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad said he had not yet seen the ruling and would be unable to comment before going through the case.

Press secretary for the president Mohamed Zuhair said the the government would comment on the matter only after the judicial procedure was over, ”otherwise it could be considered as an influence on the verdict.”

He said that the accused had a 90 day term to appeal at higher courts if he felt the judgment was unfair.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the last death sentence issued in the Maldives was following the 1988 coup attempt. This has been corrected to reflect the verdict in the trial over the death in custody of Evan Naseem.

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Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be unable to enter parliament if Hashim cannot, claims Reeko

Parliamentary Leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, has threatened to bar the speaker of the Majlis and his deputy from entering parliament if Finance Minister Ali Hashim is prevented from performing his duties.

Manik has warned that if Finance Minister Ali Hashim is disallowed to enter the parliament chamber to present the annual budget for next year, Speaker Abdulla Shahid and Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim would be prevented entry by the MDP.

Ali Hashim was one of the five ministers parliament yesterday voted to dismiss from the cabinet.

After three weeks of stalemate, parliament voted to approve five out of a dozen cabinet ministers reappointed by President Mohamed Nasheed in July, while MPs of the ruling MDP boycotted the sitting before voting began.

Seven ministers – Finance Minister Ali Hashim, Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy, Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed, Fisheries Minister Dr Ibrahim Didi and Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad – did not receive a majority of votes from the 42 MPs in attendance.

Moosa said that it was not for the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party [DRP] to decide whether Hashim can or cannot enter the parliament in cases related to finance ministry.

”There is not even a slight difficulty for Hashim to enter the parliament as long as he remains as an appointed minister by the executive power,” said Moosa. ”The vote parliament took yesterday was also illegitimate.”

Moosa said yesterday that MDP MPs left the parliament chamber to loosen the deadlock in parliament over cabinet endorsement, so that the parliament could proceed with other necessary works such as a Witnesses Bill and approving next year’s budget.

Moosa’s remarks suggested it was a response to what DRP leader and MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and People’s Alliance party [PA] deputy leader and deputy speaker of the parliament MP Ahmed Nazim said following the parliament’s decision.

Thasmeen told the media that if the dismissed ministers remain in office to proceed with their work, ”it would be a really serious issue and the matter would be taken to the Supreme Court.”

Meanwhile, Nazim have told the media that ”there is no way Hashim could present the budget as he did not get the consent of the parliament to be in the position.”

Nazim also argued that any minister that did not get the consent of the parliament should not remain in the position.

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