The Criminal Court has conducted its first hearing into charges of murder against a couple who allegedly aborted their 20-week old foetus.
The local media present at the court identified the couple as Aiminath Shaahy Aalam, 21 and Ibrahim Visam, 26, both from Addu City.
The mother Aiminath Shaahy Aalam was given the opportunity to respond to the charges and told the court she had previously stated how the incident occurred in the statement she gave to police.
The statement was read out in court, in which she confessed she had not sought medical care when she knew she was pregnant, and that she and her husband had discussed the matter and decided to abort the child. According to the statement, she confessed to taking abortion pills.
However, today in court she denied taking the pills with the intention of aborting the child and said she did not know what the pills she used were. She told the court she got the pills from a doctor working in the Dhilshaadh Clinic on Hithadhoo in Addu City.
In the statement she gave to the police investigators, she stated that her stomach had started aching at night while her husband was sleeping. She said said she woke up her husband and told him about it.
She said her husband then took off his shirt and she dropped the fetus on his shirt.
When the judge queried this, she said that she felt that something dropped on the shirt, but she didn’t see what it was, and neither did her husband showed her. Instead, he wrapped the shirt around it and put it into a plastic bag and took it away.
In the court today, Aalam denied she was involved in killing the baby and told the judge that she wanted the state appoint a lawyer for her.
The father’s trial was also conducted today. He also denied the charges and requested the court give him time to appoint a lawyer, which the judge granted.
Police discovered the foetus buried on the beach of Maradhoo-Feydhoo in December 2012, after local witnesses reported a motorist acting suspiciously in the area, according to local media reports.
Abortion in the Maldives is illegal unless it is proved the conception is the result of rape, or that the pregnancy is a threat to the mother’s health.
The Prosecutor General’s Office forwarded the couple’s case to the Criminal Court on May 2.
Police have claimed that the buried foetus was found with its heart beating, but later died after being taken to the hospital.
What next? Banning masturbation and menstruation? Spermatozoa and ova are living beings too aren't they?
Dhivehistanis would cry about an unborn fetus' rights but once it's born it's forced into the Dhivehistani cult, grows up in squalid conditions, cannot be taken care of by the poor and young parents, is undernourished and uncared for and finally goes into drugs or a life of crime. Unwanted pregnancies simply don't exist in Dhivehistan. And women apparently have the choice to mummify themselves but have no choice to reproductive rights. So much for progress. And does this stop abortion? No, Dhivehistani women simply go abroad if they're rich or resort to risky methods endangering their life.
A law legalizing abortion would work wonders in reducing criminal abortion and furthering women's and children's rights. But with the mullahs dictating breeding behavior, we can only hope to see more unwanted children, more buried fetuses and more women resorting to Vera Drake type quacks.
This guy "Home....." should be banned from commenting this site. Look at his extreme ideas. He doesnt seem to have any productive activity except to keep mocking on the Maldives. He mocks Maldives by saying Dhivehistani without knowing there arem many countries in central asia with "tani".