Parliament today accepted the amendment presented by Jumhoree Party (JP) MP Ibrahim Muthalib which requires the death sentence be implemented as execution if the Supreme Court upholds a death sentence issued by a lower court or if the Supreme Court itself issues a death sentence.
Out of the 59 present MPs there were 14 MPs who declined the amendment and three MPs that did not vote on either side.
MDP MPs Alhan Fahmy, Eva Abdulla, Hamid Abdul Gafoor, ‘Reeco’ Moosa Manik, Ilyas Labeeb, Imthiyaz Fahmy, Ibrahim Rasheed, Rugiyya Mohamed, Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed, Ahmed Rasheed, Mohamed Aslam, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and DRP MPs Ali Azim and Hussein Mohamed voted to dismiss the amendment.
Meanwhile MDP MPs Ahmed Easa, Ahmed Hamza and Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed were the three that did not vote on either side.
If the amendment is passed the president will not have the authority to grant clemency on those sentenced to death and law enforcing agencies will be left with no other choice but to execute those sentenced to death.
Statistics from the Criminal Court show that over the past 10 years, it has sentenced 14 persons to death which have not implemented. Police later arrested them for committing other offenses.
Before Muthalib presented this amendment, Maldivian Democratic Party MP Ibrahim Rasheed who also voted to dismiss the bill today presented the same bill weeks ago and withdrew it in the last minutes.
Rasheed said he will present the bill after some belated bills in the parliament were passed.
When presenting the amendment Muthalib said the objective of the amendment was to uphold Islamic Sharia in the Maldives.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Justice Procedure Bill presented by MDP Parliamentary Group leader Moosa Manik was approved by the parliament recently and has been sent to the National Security Committee to review.
The Maldivian judicial system defers to Islamic Shar’ia law in cases where existing laws and regulation are found not to apply. In an interview with Minivan News in 2008, Minister for Islamic Affairs Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari claimed that three crimes punishable by death under Islamic Shar’ia were murder, adultery (by those already married) and apostasy.
Critics of the amendment have pointed to the state of the judiciary as a reason for delaying the bill, with one judge last week acknowledging that 31 serving judges had criminal records. The judiciary has also been criticised by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), which questioned the independence of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC).
The last person be judicially executed in the Maldives was Hakim Didi in 1953, who was executed by firing squad after being found guilty of consipiracy to murder using black magic.
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While the Islamic Shari'afying is good, why not as bring in an amendment to include stoning for adultery?
Or does the fact that it'll put their own lives on the line hold our MPs back?
I hope,this bill would assist law enforcement to stretch their leg. Also so called "GANGS" would hesitate and ultimately free from "killer instinct".
The problem is that those sentence to life in prison is been released to commit other crimes. Not that by imposing death penalty is going to stop the crimes who are released to commit other crimes.
This is a sad day for our country soon innocent people will be sentenced to death due to political reason and there would be no way to correct it.
In US there are still people released after using latest technical advances like DNA testing that it was a innocent person that is on death row.
No individual, state, parliament, organization should have the right to take another persons life.
That should be left to GOD.
Now we need to target the corrupt Judges and tell the police to do more covert investigations against Judges for the better of our society.
Once the police gets the evidence. People inside the police should leak it to the media since we know Government red tape and Parliament will drag it till its forgotten. Maldives police does not have that high quality tracking devices as long as you do not use your computer or ask someone going overseas to send it from a different country to the emails of all news outlets in Maldives.
Also the media would not know who it was sent by if sent be a newly created email from a foreign cybercafe which are very lax on security checks on their customers. Lastly, the media has no obligation to reveal the sources of any data since even the talking tough US administration is still yet to succeed in getting wikileaks through any legal means.
Police needs to step up their game because the people support the police in this fight against crime even if the politicians only talk big most of the time.
However, in Islam, Allah سبحانه وتعالى has placed a heavy burden on those who assume the position of authority (Judge) and has declared severe consequences for those judges who knowingly issue the wrong verdict or issue a verdict based on ignorance. RasulAllah صلى الله عليه وسلم said the following about judges, all of which are recorded in Abu Dawud:
"He who has been appointed a judge has been killed without a knife."
"If anyone seeks the office of judge among Muslims till he gets it and his justice prevails over his tyranny, he will go to Paradise; but the man whose tyranny prevails over his justice will go to Hell."
"Judges are of three types, one of whom will go to Paradise and two to Hell. The one who will go to Paradise is a man who knows what is right and gives judgment accordingly; but a man who knows what is right and acts tyrannically in his judgment will go to Hell; and a man who gives judgment for people when he is ignorant will go to Hell."
Furthermore, Allah سبحانه وتعالى will hold us accountable for each and every one of our actions. Allah سبحانه وتعالى revealed:
فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ
وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ
"Whoever has done an atom's-weight of good will see it, but whoever has done an atom's-weight of evil will see that." [Az-Zalzala, 99:7-8]
Being accountable for each action ultimately means that every action that we do not do according to the book of Allah سبحانه وتعالى will make us deserving of His anger and punishment.
Therefore, the reason a Muslim judge will be extremely concerned about issuing the correct judgment is due to his fear of Allah سبحانه وتعالى. That is, he knows with certainty that his judgments will be recorded by the angels and he knows with certainty that he will be held accountable for each judgment he issued by the Lord of the Worlds. His judgment will thus be based on none other than the Hukm Sharai' as Allah سبحانه وتعالى has revealed:
وَأَنِ احْكُم بَيْنَهُم بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللّهُ
"And judge between them by that which Allah has revealed." [Al-Maaida, 5:49]
Full details can be read at:
http://www.khilafah.com/index.php/the-khilafah/judiciary/8698-islam-justice-for-all
I always encourage everyone to read the hadith and tafseer to seek the truth themselves if there is any doubt. When you seek knowledge sincerely for the sake of Allah (swt), He will make the knowledge easier for you.