The Maldives court on Tuesday sentenced a 15 year-old girl to 100 lashes and eight months’ house arrest, for having pre-marital sex with a man.
At any given time in the Maldives, thousands of female tourists are on the country’s beaches in bikinis, with their male counterparts. Many of them are straight and gay couples, married or unmarried, enjoying sex on rose petal-covered beds in water bungalows. For them, this chain of islands with white beaches and blue shimmering waters is a short escape to heaven.
While they enjoy a piece of paradise on a luxury resort vacation, just a few miles away 300,000 locals face the grim reality of a struggling democracy and increasingly radicalised interpretation of Islam.
Women and girls are bearing the brunt of this. Calling it sheer hypocrisy would be a gross understatement.
The 15 year-old girl is from Feydhoo island in Shaviyani Atoll, one of the 200 remote islands in the country with less than a thousand inhabitants. She was arrested last year on the island, when police discovered a dead newborn buried in an outdoor shower area in the yard of the house. The investigation uncovered a disturbing yet common reality in the capital and isolated islands of Maldives: sexual abuse.
The girl’s stepfather had been raping her for years. Her mother assisted this gruesome abuse by turning a blind eye and deaf ear to her pain and cries. When the girl became pregnant as a result of rape, they pulled her out of school afraid that the community would find out the family’s dark secret. They waited patiently for nine months, and killed and buried the newborn after delivery.
Soon after the baby’s body was dug up, the parents were arrested and charged with murder and abuse of a minor.
While any authority with professionalism and common sense would be expected to protect a child who has suffered such horrifying abuse and provide help of a psychologist, the Maldives police and prosecutors had a different plan.
On the contrary, the girl was arrested, interrogated and charged with fornication within a few months by the authorities. They claimed that she had confessed to having consensual sex with another man – not the stepfather. The identity of this man, who has not stood up, been found, arrested or charged to this date, remains a mystery.
And yesterday, despite the ongoing debates challenging the legitimacy in pursuing fornication charges against victims of child sexual abuse, the court issued its ruling to flog the girl 100 times. A conviction against her abusive step father, and neglectful mother is still pending.
This case is just the latest in a series of unashamed attempts by the Maldivian Sharia-Common Law based judicial system to punish sexual abuse victims, instead of providing protection and justice.
While, several in and outside the country are taking to the social media to condemn this ruling as morally wrong, cruel, degrading, and a violation of human rights and protection guaranteed to children and victims of sexual abuse under national and international laws, the police who arrested her, the PG office that charged her and the court which sentenced her have not even flinched.
In fact, shortly after reversing its decision to withdraw the fornication charges, the Prosecutor General stated that they have found “no substantial reason to withdraw the charges” and allowed the trial to continue. They repeatedly emphasised the case is “unrelated to the rape”. Furthermore, both the PG and courts repeatedly defended the decision in media, claiming that there is nothing illegal or wrong in this case.
Under Sharia Law, both men and women – adult and children alike – can be punished with 100 lashes and house arrest if they are found guilty of having pre marital sex or adultery. Of course, the tourists are exempted – they are free to have sex, eat pork or drink alcohol as much as they wish, on islands designated as “uninhabited”.
Flogging is the one remaining Islamic Sharia penalties that continues to be practiced in Maldives, despite the century old moratorium on other Shaira penalties such as stoning, capital punishment and cutting off hands. UN Human Right’s Commissioner Navi Pillay and other international organisation’s calls for the moratorium of flogging have been rejected by current and past governments, amid mass protests from conservative factions of society.
As with any other Sharia offence, fornication is only proved with a confession or four witnesses. Notably, ninety percent of those flogged are women, accordig to the 2011 Judicial statistics report. It revealed that out of the 129 sentenced to 100 lashes, 11 were minors – 10 girls and one boy.
However, in 2010, the parliament passed a legislation to prevent corporal punishment of children in sexual related offences and provide stringent punishments for child abusers, as a response to curb the widespread cases of incest and child molestation in the Maldives: one in seven children is reported to be a victim of sexual abuse. The legislation for the first time paved an easy road for the prosecution of child sexual abuse cases by reducing the Sharia-based burden of proof, which otherwise makes it impossible to prove the sexual offences without a confession or four witnesses.
This legislation, as part of the common law practiced alongside Sharia, set the precedent that no child below 13 can consent to sex and that any sexual relations will be deemed as child abuse. The same law also adds in clause 25 that no child between 13 – 17 can consent to sex either ,”unless proven otherwise”.
It must be noted that hundreds of children have been protected under this law, and several child rapists and abusers have been put behind bars for decades since it came into effect. However, in this specific case, the authorities report that the girl confessed to having consensual sexual relations, and that therefore it cannot be treated as a case of abuse.
But what is highly questionable is the failure by the state to provide a motive that can justify pressing charges against an abused victim, especially a child, with utter disregard to the mental trauma she has suffered in an endless cycle of abuse.
In the past, the court had sentenced a man for abusing a 16 year-old girl. However, the same girl was sentenced to 100 lashes and house arrest after being found guilty of confessing to having consensual sex with the same man who was found to have abused her. This conflicting ruling, stands out as clear evidence that fornication charges against minors in sexual abuse cases are being pursued by authorities, simply because its legally possible to do so with a confession, regardless of whether the victim is abused or not.
In the face of growing international pressure over such incidents, the government claimed in media that it would review and “correct” laws that victimise young women and minors who have suffered sexual abuse. However, no information was made public of any such attempts apart from this public condemnation.
Another issue worth noting is also the significantly low rape convictions in cases where the rape victim is an adult. Annual judicial statistics report show that in past three years, zero cases of rape have reached a positive verdict. This year alone, three rape cases have been reported,while 1 in 3 women aged between 15 – 49 are found to be victim of physical or sexual abuse – a statistic that is a reminder of a justice system that is failing women in every way possible.
According to Human Rights Lawyer Mohamed Anil, rape is defined as ‘forced fornication’ in the currently practiced outdated laws. The aforementioned legislation provides special provisions in child abuse cases, however, he explained, rape and sexual assault victims aged 18 or above, are denied justice because of the Sharia’s burden of proof – confession of the rapist or four male witnesses – is required to prove fornication, whether forced or consensual.
A state prosecutor once commented that proving rape is “next to impossible” despite the most prudent investigations, because the only two kinds of admissible evidence is never available. Both lawyers have said that this cannot be changed unless the amended penal code – which includes rape as an offence- is passed by the parliament, where it had been stuck for more than half a decade.
Alternatively, the parliament could pass the sexual offences bill submitted by MP Mohamed Nasheed. This bill defines actions to be taken against specific types of sexual offences, including rape, spousal rape, prostitution, sexual trafficking, bestiality and incest etc. While submitting the bill, Nasheed echoed the immense need for an updated legislation to deal with the modern day sexual offences to bridge the shortcomings, especially related to proof and evidence and leniency in the current legal structure.
Meanwhile, in recent years reports of infanticide and baby dumping have increased to alarming levels, as women and underage girls – including those who become pregnant as a consequence of rape – are forced to take desperate measures, such as self-induced abortions, infanticide or leaving babies abandoned. Such was the case with the 15 year old girl in question.
With an unforgiving system and laws stating that is a punishable offence to give birth outside of marriage, driven by a thirst to punish the victims rather than protect them, victims find themselves alone, helpless and forced to remain silent.
These are just a small fraction of the many deep-rooted gender issues in the justice system of Maldives, that ripple outward from the branches of justice system into the entire society.
In her recent visit to Maldives, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers issued a statement in which she commented “all members of the justice system should be sensitised to gender equality and women’s rights to make access to justice a reality for women in the Maldives.”
She also also expressed concern over low representation of women in the judiciary. There are currently no women sitting on the Supreme Court and only eight women sitting in the High Court, the Superior Courts and the Magistrate Courts. It is arguable that the gender issues in the system are arising due to lack of a diverse representation in the court benches and decision-making bodies.
When women and girls are stripped off their dignity and rights for having sex or being raped, it is not an issue that can be simply ignored. Meaningful action is needed by the authorities to remove the gender issues through legal and structural reforms, and prevent the culture of impunity currently enjoyed by sadistic perpetrators such as rapists and child molesters.
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Congratulations! Hawwa Lubna!
Brilliant piece leaving Maldivians no dignified civilised alternative but to ape the Western model.
The Western statistics indeed show us in Black & White what these beautiful islands lack.
What would we do? Where would we be?- without such moral visionaries as these Hawwa Lubna types & the Nasheed types?
Long live Hawwa! Long live Nasheed! Down with all else! ??? 🙂
P. S
We really do have Sex related problems!
Unwanted pregnancies,
Infanticide,
Rape,
Incest,
Single moms & Broken families
Domestic Violence,
STD
Thank you Hawwa Lubna for highlighting these problems listed above in our society that affects in the first instance - tens of hundreds of children - both born & unborn, & offers so much hope for lost lives of children & offers a solution to broken homes & the pain children face as a result.
I wish I could help this child. She was raped for years by her step-dad and his friends while her mother looked on. The villagers of her Island kept reporting this case to the authorities since 2009. Nothing was done.
She got pregnant at around the age of 13. And her baby was killed last year in June.
She's now being accused of having consensual sex. THIS IS A MINOR. THIS IS A CHILD. HAVE YOU NO SHAME?
Her family failed her, the society failed her, the judiciary failed her and the government of Maldives along with president Dr. Waheed failed her.
She is now being raped by the government of Maldives.
It's time someone took a military team and rescued her from these sadist afghan educated barbarians.
Dear Sir
This is indeed a case that this 15 year old girl is victimised many times. In this instance by the very state "Maldives" that is supposed to provide protection for her.
It is high time that the law is amended to punish the criminal i.e. the father of the child.
To the umpteenth time! This 'minor' was prosecuted not for the rape case or the murder case related to her step father (whoever the monster was). But for another consensual relation with ANOTHER man or whatever. Everyone here seems to get carried away in an imagination trailer where muslims are alledgedly mistreating a rape victim just because our religion says so. But does the westerners and maldivian-wannabe-westerners gave a thought about what islamic sharia have for rape victims and rape offenders? The answer would be no. The majority of people are still too lazy to make an effort to learn about islam and join ignorant kuffar on an islam bashing just becasuse the kuffar said it, the west said it, the UN said it....
sad but its true
Maldives should definitely start Friday stonings at the football stadium. Bring the family and some short eats and make a day of it! Or even better, make the stone throwing a game at skippy for everyone to enjoy!
Human Being, I'm going to copy/past my rant from the other article for you.
She actually didn’t break the law because she is a child. She was raped by her father and raped by the man that she supposedly had consensual sex with.
Doesn’t the law say that anyone under 17 is considered a minor (child) and therefore can’t consent/agree to sex with an adult?
So if a man has sex with a 10 year old girl, and the girl admits that it was consensual, she is also a criminal? Is a 5 year old able to consent? 14 year old? 2 year old? Or is the idea that all females are whores from birth and therefore the concept of rape is impossible?
Why do you crackpot fundamentalists make your wives wear burqas and then dress your 4 year old girls like miniature prostitutes? Your women are covered while the little girls are wearing make-up, party dresses and jewelry.
You can criticize the west all you want. But it doesn’t change that fact that you are still a rapist and a pedophile if you have sex with a minor. Even if her daddy dressed her up like a whore.
And one more human being! She is being punished for consensual fornication with an adult. Why isn't the man being punished? That is the issue for me. Although my crazy western mind still thinks it's disgusting for an adult man to have sex with a 13 year old girl.
This legislation, as part of the common law practiced alongside Sharia, set the precedent that no child below 13 can consent to sex and that any sexual relations will be deemed as child abuse. The same law also adds in clause 25 that no child between 13 – 17 can consent to sex either ,”unless proven otherwise”.
So there’s my answer, you are officially a whore at age 13 in Maldives. Sorry, I should have researched more thoroughly. Sex with a 12 year old is rape, but sex with a 13 year old is consensual. Because we all know that teenagers are capable of making sound decisions about their life and can’t possibly be influenced by an adult.
I’m assuming the “unless proven otherwise” part is where the girl in this case got screwed (pun intended). She admitted to consenting which makes her a criminal and not a victim.
But again, why hasn’t the man been identified, prosecuted and punished as well? Her statements are enough to incriminate herself but not the man? I don’t quite understand how that works. More proof is needed for the man to be prosecuted but she is automatically guilty.
It must be nice being a Maldivian man. Any time a crime is committed, blame it on the woman or closest Bangladeshi. Meanwhile you get to sit in a cafe drinking coffee and smoking cigs while they’re being punished. It’s good to be the king!
This story makes me ashamed to be a man!
I've always planned to visit the Maldives but do I want to spend my hard earned cash in a place where women or my wife and daughters could be treated like this?
I can only assume that the young women are being forced into confessing to having consensual sex and how many rapes are going unreported due to what can happen to the victim?
@Uh Dho.
The man is just a coward, so he did not own up his part in the crime. So that's the problem of the man not the system.
@Darren
This girl was not forced in to confessing anything. where did you get the forced confession story line?
"When women and girls are stripped off their dignity and rights for having sex or being raped,"
Sorry but it says women are stripped off their rights for being raped, last i checked NO ONE has the 'right' to be raped??
plus this 'news' article is heavily biased.
human being-
No, it makes the system a farce and women haters like you a joke. People like you are the ones who give Islam (and all other organized religions) a bad name.
The girl admitted to having sex with the man. Authorities (the system) know who he is and are choosing not to prosecute because he is a man. Sharia law hates women and punishes them more than men committing the same crime, that is the issue.
Why are women punished for consensual premarital sex and/or adultery but not men? Please explain to me why Sharia law considers women more guilty than men?
@Uh Dho
Sharia is not a person. Its a system of law. As such it doesnt hate or love people, do bussiness, or interact with people. Nor does it eat or move like living things...
But you are raising an important question. An elementary objection usual kuffar(unbelievers) throw at muslims all the time. The answer is also equally elementary. Just come down from your imaginary ivory tower of self righteousness and think like an average person. 1.6 billion people cannot be fools. Nor can that amount of people love a system of law that hates their other and better half.
So, now Mr Waheed has deemed that "MY" government can after all interfere with the judicial system of Maldives. He has now said, that "MY" government will try to intervene in the case of the child who is facing this sentence.
Whilst this child is obviously at the receiving end of the most diabolical and dysfunctional justice system in the world (apart from lawless states), so far Mr Waheed has maintained that "MY" government couldn't interfere with the "independent" judiciary. Many a citizen, young and old have been at the mercy of this system for centuries.
How convenient is it then, when international outcry reaches fever pitch, "MY" government can indeed interfere!
The issue is bunch of DUMB-HEADS ruling this place!!!!! punishing a rape VICTIM is absolute injustice!!!!
And instead of punishing the rapist, why is the victim being punished????
I would love to know which holy book these people are following, that is teaching them to punish the innocent victims instead of the criminals!!! I hope America does something about this NON-SENSE that is going on in this place!!!!!!! feel terrible for all those victims who are in the hands of these WICKED RULERS!!!
Is this man arrested for murder of the baby? Is murder not a capital crime in this country?
What a disgusting story. Sharia law = barbarians. We should have just as strict of embargoes against countries that use it as we do with Cuba.
I know what Sharia is, thank you. It is a system of law RUN BY MEN. And yes, this system of law (Sharia) was written and is interpreted and enforced by men in the name of religion.
Sharia was created by men who don't consider women as equal human beings. Women are systematically oppressed by these rules that you claim to be full of love.
I don't care how many people believe it. I'm pretty sure more than 1.6 billion people eat pork in this world. If you go by numbers, how can they all be wrong? And if you think that Sharia is fair and unbiased, yes you are a fool. No worries for you though, you're a man.
@Human being for gods sake stop talking about religion and trying to justify this bloody stupid sentence that will victimise the victim again. does it seem logical to you that in one case she is a minor in the other she is supposed to have consented to having sex? We don't know since when that bloody step father has been raping her, the mental and physical damage it must have done to her.and when during the investigation they found out there had been another sexual act she is being punished for it? Where the hell is that bloody man and how the hell did he think it was ok to have sex with a child? Why is that in 90 percent of the cases it's the women who get flogged in Maldives? They can't be having sex on their own can they?you and other nitwits out there tarnish the name of our beautiful religion and try to pass off such travesties as religious obligations. Take your head out of the sand and use your god given brain to think.
@human being
Your so-called shari'a law serves to protect the criminal while punishing the victims. It is obsolete and deserving of obliteration. Do us all a favor and go back to the heroin cesspits of pakistan and afghanistan from which you came from.
And if you call yourself a muslim, shame on you.
And furthermore, if you call all muslims in the world rapists, then shame on you again.
Islam’s defenders, here, to date present themselves as idiots and their own religion as an example of pathetic, childish buffoonery.
Yep, that’s a challenge, the implicit insult.
Defenders of Islam, you are challenged to step up to the plate in your religion’s defence. Please, do be sure to read this entire bombast, in particular the specific requirement in the final para, before composing your response. I doubt that you will make one, however. But, I’m certain that most of our readers would be grateful were you to come clean on your religion’s tenets regarding the rape of children.
There are a few other points of clarification needed, too, of course, but we can return to those later. Let’s just stick to child rape and Islam's rules regarding it for now.
A practicing Muslim can assert -- presumably with a straight face -- that his religion would endorse punishing anyone for "consenting" to be raped? That is anyone, but especially a female minor? Gimme a break, bearded ones; gimme a break!
Lez see if we have that correct -- a female minor, who can "consent" to nothing legal because she is a minor and therefore not yet legally authorized to "consent" to anything legal, can, however, be prosecuted for "consenting" to being the victim of an illegal act while a minor?
Doesn't it strike anyone as strange that we never/never/never see any Imam so-an'-so on any/any/any public website ever/ever/ever so much as mumbling that, well, Islam does indeed think it wrong that women, even female minor "women" should be raped?
Isn't it strange that never even once/ever/not one single time has an Imam (or whatever they call themselves) ever, even one single time, come on this website to ever/ever officially or even informally, counter the absurd nonsense one encounters here?
Have you ever/ever seen an Imam come on line to set out clearly what his religion's beliefs are with respect to rape of a minor? Or, to anything else substantive, for that matter? Ever?
Surely, somewhere, sometime this must/must have happened? Surely, there is out there somewhere a radical (and still frocked) Islamic mouthpiece willing to state upfront, and in no uncertain terms, whatever is he believes to be his own religion's beliefs regarding such issues as, well, rape of a minor?
Yes, you're right, this is a challenge to any of the mickey mouse (but officially recognized) Islamic clerics reading this to come on line, now, today, right here, and lay out precisely and exactly what is his religion's rules are regarding rape of a minor.
Oh, and there is one rule to be understood -- if you identify yourself as an Imam or otherwise qualified to speak authoritatively on behalf of your religion, understand, up front, that you will be quoted elsewhere on your understanding of your religion’s understanding of what constitutes "rape" and exactly who does and does not qualify for classification as a "minor" and a rape “victim” under your/your religion.
And here is an interesting wrinkle for the challenge – perhaps you’d feel man enough to comment on whether a male minor, too, can be charged with consensual rape of himself? And, if not, why not? Would that be because males can’t be raped?
But, if sex with a minor isn’t rape, then just what the hell is it?
Let's go! I'm all eyes and look forward to some straight talk from our Muslim brethren. It's long past due.
And for the record, I'm not afraid to call a spade a spade. I am an American and atheist. I have just as many criticisms for my government and other organized religions. I think drone attacks are wrong. I think the U.S. shouldn't invade sovereign nations for economic benefit. I don't believe in torture as a way to gather information or fight war. And I'm not afraid to make these criticisms about my own country. And the list can go on and on, corrupt banks, lobbyists, politicians, crazy gun nuts, fundamentalist Mormons (you would like those guys!),etc.
So don't for a second think that I'm being self righteous because I don't believe that grown men should have sex with 13 year old girls. I think that a system of law that protects rapists and pedophiles is disgusting. But you are entitled to your own opinion of course.
The girl grew up in that society. She knew what would happen if she admits to having consensual sex. She is old enough to understand everything. No way she voluntarily admitted to having consensual relation. She must have been forced somehow. And it does not take much to get a confession from an abused, scared 15 year-old, who had been raped, gave birth, and witnessed her parents kill her child!
I would imagine that after al those years of abuse she would be unable to work out what was correct and proper and what wasn't. If being raped and abused by her step father happened as the norm without her mother preventing it, is it surprising that she didn't realise that sex with others was not appropriate.
Shame on those that sentenced her.
Someone please explain to "human being" that a child who has been sexually abused has undergone extreme mental TRAUMA. It is established that children who are exposed to this kind of abuse do not have normal sexual behavior. She may have been promiscuous because this is what feels comfortable to her. She is a victim, and this punishment is completely out of line.
This is horrific. I have been to the Maldives and am shocked to read this disgusting story. Poor child. Laws need to protect her. Her mother hasn't. Who is there now to guard over her? No future protection, terrified of those around her and sticking to what they are telling her to say! I wish that some good Samaritan reads this and decides to set up a sanctuary for kids like to be looked after seeing as no-one around them can be trusted. The people responsible must have a gut wrenching conscience. You sad evil beings.
The only way to get justice for children in this child's situation is an international awareness campaign to encourage people to vote with their wallet and not book holidays in the Maldives. I suspect that the law will be changed rather quickly if that happens. I will certainly ensure that everyone I know will be aware.
This is crazy!!!!! How can a child be punished, don't you think the actually act was punishing enough!!! this world is getting out of hand with blaming women and children- where, MEN do you come from?? a women!!!
wow this is why the good lord has put on my heart to help with these issues, going to school for social work.
GOD BE WITH THESE CHILDREN, COMFORT THEM
Anyone with a moral conscience would be horrified at a "system of Justice" that punishes women and let's a criminal perpetrator who is male get off scot free. All western nations should boycott travel to any country who's "justice system" is this screwed up and bigoted against any 1 race, sex or creed. The powers that be in these countries need to know that what they are doing is not acceptable in a "civilized" world.
These pigs make the Republicons war on women look like a debating society function.
It does not matter if she had sex with another MAN~ she was under the age of consent, so this other sexual encounter should be considered RAPE also, because a CHILD does not consent to SEXUAL INTERCOURSE with an ADULT. So, this other adult male that RAPED this child, why has he not been arrested? Who is he? Why did the authorities not charge him with raping the child also? Instead they arrest and convict the CHILD. It breeds a society that makes it okay to RAPE a child as long as it is not your child or your spouses child???
It's hard to read this story - disgust and revulsion aren't pleasant feelings.
It's time for the Maldives to add this vignette to their tourist information. If they don't, perhaps the outraged of the world will do it for them.
@Uh Dho
Your drones should reduce the Maldivian judiciary buildings, the presidential residence and the army bases to rubble.
Or even better; give me the data for those drones so I can produce even more lethal and precise weapons.
@Reader of the Good Book(s)
Don't bother. They'll just fly more planes into random buildings as a way of 'defending' their 'faith'.
The courage of Hawwa Lubna, and of all the above commentors in speaking out against this injustice is inspirational.
I truly pray you will be kept safe, and that the climate of fear could be oneday banished from the Maldives forever.
Let's talk about Shariah law. It was invented by arab men, who considered women sub-human. Women weren't given too many rights until recently, but the world did and everyone moved forward. Everyone except countries which practice Islamic law.
Women are considered sexual objects who deviate men from islam, and so, they are covered up in tents. It is impossible to prove rape, and women are and will always be punished as long as these laws exist. They are cruel, they are barbaric. They were invented by the same men who raped their female prisoners of war because they were their 'right hand possessions'. They were invented by a man who decided to marry a 6 year old girl, and then have sex with her when she was 9. Muslims all over the world try to justify pedophilia due to this very fact, and child marriages are a common thing even now.
No matter how much a muslim tries to justify shariah law, it will never be a fair, peaceful system of justice. It is an absolute disgrace to humanity and needs to be abolished. Oh and the rape justifying idiot who went by the name human being said 1.6 billion cannot be wrong. Actually, they can be. Just because a large number of people believe something, it does not make it true. At one point, people did believe the earth was flat too and its even mentioned in your quran. But does that make it true? Nope. So please, take your rapist ideas to afghanistan.
Calling this the act of a judicial system is the ultimate contradition of terms. This shows an appalling lack of judgement, intelligence and basic human compassion. It is an absolute mockery of any concept of justice. Yet again we see an example of the so called peaceful nature of Islamic Law. It labels itself by these instances of institutionalized hypocracy! Animals treat their young more kindly. This sentence should be carried out on those who sentenced this poor child!
Azima Shukoor must proud herself. Devoting all her energy in the quest for "justice" for a corrupt and (ironically) child abusing "judge"; while she stands apathetically by as a child is punished for the misfortune of having boors as parents.
A proud daughter of the nation. If this is the pathetic state of female public figures, can we really blame anyone else?
Not even the rapist is as guilty as us "law abiding" Maldivians.
But hey, lets just go back to mocking Velizinee's "style of talking", and admire the dapper soft spoken Gayoom watching with derisive glee as the alcohol drinking Nasheed is pummelled by rogues in uniform.
Imagine a 13 year old girl being used by her parents as an income generating piece of flesh. How many men will she have sex with in a given day? Forcibly, no doubt. Would she, in all honesty, be able to identify the right culprit, unless she was keeping a record of every single act?
It is not the failure of the courts that is in question here but rather some policeman a little too keen on his job to produce a list of cases 'won' on his beat.
No doubt a majority of our judges are unfit for the job or corrupt in the extreme but if someone being prosecuted in his court for sex comes out and says she had sex what else can the judge do except sentence her? Perhaps this way she can escape the confines of her parents home.
Not taking sides but presenting a point of view.
None of the above comments called all Muslims in the world rapists.
Most of the comments stated that Sharia law is a system that protects men while persecuting women for the same crimes. Many of these men are rapists and pedophiles.
Read this and Comment
http://www.haveeru.com.mv/dhivehi/report/134972
She is now raped by the justice of Maldives.
The most laughable law in 21st century, the Sharia must be put in the garbage, Those guy who believe this Sharia is something from unseen power must be the most ignorant and mentally retards who really want to uphold such backward rubbish.
Those so called judges who convicted a small girl who have been sexually traumatized are now justifying that the girl has testified for committing a sin that is punishable under so called sharia and it was her wish to accept the sin and get punished.
Bunch of morons believe that a god has written down such punishment when the whole purpose of god is reproduction without any limit to sustain life based on Natural selection. It is god’s impulse that psychopaths act the way they behave who molest children and have no ability to challenge the god’s wish and control this basic animal instinct.
The girl who is under 15 years is like a small calf whose brain not matured enough to understand the result of such sexual activities but still her hormones can play a role to indulge with such activities and may have volunteered after courting like any brainless female animal would do.
You can’t punish such innocent victim because you have some rubbish that you believe it came from your god. You have to skin that beast that was simply an animal who abused her to satisfy his god and was not in any way a human being. Also those judges are no different than the animal who has abused the child both are brainless animals.
Me thinks most of the readers on this thread has a problem of comprehension.
This girl was not prosecuted for RAPE, but for another bout of sex with another person. Don't tell me 15 year old women don't crave sex. My science teacher (He was an atheist) told me human were most sexually active this time. So going in circles about this female underage victim and blah blah doesn't work. Fact speak for themselves. Sure there are others who shall be punished for sex and murder in related to this girl. But this one instance she was sentenced for a crime she committed with her boy-friend.
Barbaric, cruel, unjust and medieval.
I'm shocked, I had no idea the Maldives were so primitive. I certainly won't be holidaying there anytime soon.
This is not right... after reading the comments, i now understand the gravity of the situation at hand.. not of the sentence passed on the minor; but on the thought stream of our community.
The girl is 13yrs of age. her step father abused her and her own mother assisted in the abuse. the girl is 13 means she cant agree for sex either. whoever used her should be executed in a court of law. the girl should be given support to get away from her past and also build up herself..
instead she is being sentenced!?>? WTF??? and all us useless maldivians like me and many of you have no other obligation than sitting on our fat asses and typing more abuse on articles.. when will we wake up? i for 1 have a sea separating me with capital city. we should not care about politics at a time as such that one of our sister stands abused and accused. BMW and his corrupt govt shud take responsibility. it was repeating since 2009 and though reports were made, no action was taken??? who is the island chief? he also stands accused with the abusers as much as the girl's mom.
human being, you are mentally challenged, probably from inbreeding just like this story describes. If I was a female in your family, I would sleep with one eye open and a knife under my bed. (and probably end up in jail for attacking one of your pedo-rapist family members)
Maldivian law, along with laws in most countries, state that children under 18 are minors. That is a fact. She is 15 now but surely was 13 or 14 at the oldest when having sex with an adult male. But 15 is still considered a minor bye all modern societies in the east and west, even if you don't personally agree. A male adult who has sex with a female child is a pedophile. That is also a fact. Adults are supposed to teach children what is right and wrong, not the other way around.
It doesn't matter what religion you look at, rapists and pedophiles always hide behind fundamentalist beliefs. The bottom line for civilized people, children cannot consent to sex with an adult.
What is consensual sex? I interpret consensual sex as an agreement between two adults to have sex. There is NO consensual sex with a minor. You cannot sentence a minor for a sexual act. End of story.
The PG views it otherwise. This man is not fit for his post.
And where is Dr Waheed who we are told had a long and successful career as a UN official working for UNICEF? What is he doing as Head of State to protect the rights of this child?
This is outrageous.
The Prosecutor General should resign from his position .If he doesn't the parliament should remove him with a vote of no confidence.
What will he do if this was his 13 or 15 year old daughter??
And has the PG even considered the fact that this child was being used for sex by a parent figure and groomed for many years to have sex with that parent. Hw do you think a child groomed for sex from a young age views sex?
I fear for our girl children and teenagers. now any man can groom our girls and then leave them to be punished.
The present Government of The Maldives should resign and ask God for forgiveness
SICK SICK SICK