A 15-year-old rape victim from the island of Feydhoo in Shaviyani Atoll was convicted of premarital sex at the Juvenile Court today and sentenced to 100 lashes and eight months of house arrest.
In June 2012, the girl gave birth to a baby that was discovered buried in the outdoor shower area of her home. Her stepfather was later charged with child sexual abuse, possession of pornographic materials and committing premeditated murder.
Her mother was meanwhile charged with concealing a crime and failing to report child sexual abuse to the authorities.
An official from the Prosecutor General (PG)’s office told Minivan News in January this year that the fornication charges against the minor were related to a separate offence of premarital sex that emerged during the police investigation. The charges were filed on November 25, 2012.
In its verdict delivered today, the Juvenile Court ordered the state to transfer the girl to the Children’s Home in Villigili to enforce the sentence of eight months house arrest, according to local media reports.
The girl reportedly confessed at the trial to having consensual premarital sex.
The Islamic Shariah punishment of flogging would be administered when the girl turns 18. However, the sentence could be implemented earlier should the minor request expedition, a court official explained to local media.
In late January, the PG’s Office told Minivan News that it was reviewing the decision to press charges against the minor. Two hearings at the Juvenile Court were subsequently cancelled upon request by the PG.
However, the trial resumed after the PG decided earlier this month not to withdraw the charges.
Officials from the PG were unavailable today to clarify whether the male offender faced the same charge of premarital sex.
The case of the 15 year-old had prompted concern from the executive following international media coverage. The government announced last month that it would review and “correct” laws that victimise young women and minors who have suffered sexual abuse.
President’s Office Spokesperson Masood Imad told Minivan News that from government’s perspective, the 15 year-old girl was a victim who needed to be protected, not punished by authorities.
“We will be talking with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs over this manner and will review and correct the problem,” he said.
Masood said that the Maldives had experienced a number of similar cases of late where young women had been victimised and punished by authorities – a situation he said the government was looking to prevent.
“We are reviewing this right now and if we have to go to the extent of changing existing laws then we would look to do this,” he said.
“Absolute outrage”
The criminal charges against the minor was slammed by Amnesty International last month, which called the prosecution “an absolute outrage.”
“This is an absolute outrage, regardless of the reason for her charges. Victims of rape or other forms of sexual abuse should be given counselling and support – not charged with a crime,” said Abbas Faiz, Amnesty International’s Maldives Researcher.
“We urge the Maldivian authorities to immediately drop all charges against the girl, ensure her safety and provide her with all necessary support.
“Flogging is a violation of the absolute prohibition on torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. The Maldivian authorities should immediately end its use regardless of circumstances. The fact that this time a 15-year old girl who has suffered terribly is at risk makes it all the more reprehensible,” said Faiz.
“Flogging is not only wrong and humiliating, but can lead to long-term psychological as well as physical scars.”
In response to a Minivan News report in 2009 of an 18 year-old woman fainting after a 100 lashes, Amnesty International called for a moratorium on the “inhumane and degrading punishment.”
Of the 184 people sentenced to public flogging in 2006, 146 were female, making it nine times more likely for women to be punished.
In November 2011, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged the authorities to impose a moratorium on flogging and to foster national dialogue and debate “on this issue of major concern.”
“This practice constitutes one of the most inhumane and degrading forms of violence against women, and should have no place in the legal framework of a democratic country,” the UN human rights chief told MPs during a maiden visit to the Maldives.
Her remarks sparked protests by Islamic groups outside the UN building and drew condemnation from the Islamic Ministry, NGOs and political parties.
According to statistics from the Department of Judicial Administration, almost 90 percent of those convicted of fornication in 2011 was female.
Of 129 fornication cases in 2011, 104 people were sentenced, out of which 93 were female. This included 10 underage girls, 79 women aged 18-40 and and four women above 40 years.
(0)Dislikes
(0)Related Posts
Fifteen year-old’s appeal of flogging sentence for fornication stalled in High Court- High Court appeal of 15 year-old rape victim’s sentence begins
- Haveeru interviews fornication flogger Abdul Khalig
- Government claims committed to flogging reforms as UK omits Maldives from FCO’s list of human rights “concerns”
- Maldives faces “significant” human rights challenges, despite “considerable progress”: Amnesty International
- Defence lawyer of minor sentenced to flogging appeals case in High Court
These must be jewish lies. Islam considers the two sexes to be 'equal'. Death to jews, and christians and whoever else that we were taught to hate in school, but don't really know why we hate them.
The idea of flogging is to humiliate the offender so he/she does not repeat the crime. It is better than keeping a human in conditions like that of a zoo on somebody else's (tax payer) expenses. Even the convicts agree on this point. Atleast they know that once the flogging is over, they can go home and continue life like before. Contrast that to living like a caged animal for years in a jail.
How sad. Childrens home is meant for child victims not for children to be put as a center to expedite a sentence. What is theverdict. Is she a victim or criminal.
@human being: Bullshit. You are ignoring all the psychological scars that come from flogging. In this case it was a 15 year old girl, a 15 year old girl among a hundreds of other 15 year olds that found themselves at the end of the whip.
Girls are being punished even more than men. They are given greater punishment compared to the men. The onus is being placed on the woman and not the man. It's an unequal balance.
It effects victims psychologically. In the case of the 15 year old, she is going to be battling with some serious mental trauma.
Barbaric extremist primitives. Stop targeting girls who never caused any harm!
Sexual abuse victims are flogged. And making love on itself doesn't cause any harm anyway. What happened to the 2 girls who were locked up after they went out of their orphanage during the evening? Last thing I know they were still in prison. Insanity!
Women and clear thinking men, why are you not standing up against these unacceptable practices?
Wow. You are raped and you are penalised as well. Can't have asked for better justice. Way to go Maldives.
Hey 'human being'. How would you like to be flogged, then caged like an animal for years?
You deserve worse; for you have labeled a victim as a criminal.
"they can go home and continue life like before"? Now I know you're quite disconnected from how we 'commoners' must suffer.
It will be my pleasure to personally order your ivory towers set ablaze.
Its about time you people of the Maldives stood up to this abuse to stop this barbaric distortion of religion.
I would gladly take her place as she has already been the victim of one crime, but you cowards will stand by and see her become the victim of a bigger crime, abuse by the state in the name of God.
All those that stand by and do nothing are as guilty as the one who yeilds the whip and there is, i repeat there is no place in heaven for anyone who turns their heads away and says it's not my problem. Well it is every Maldivians problem, because you stay quiet and carry on like nothing is wrong.
Next time it could be your Mother, Sister or Daughter.
@omar. I was referring to islamic punishment of hudhoodh. its definitely better to receive hudhoodh than to languish in jails. I was just trying to raise that point. And remember, hudhoodh, gisas and all these apply to criminals who are always a minority, the exception rather than the norm.
Judiciary in Maldives goes completely nut. ALL judges should resign, or made "resigned".
After that, they can apply for a job as judge, if they meet the requirements.
Ground zero with them, not one single ounce of trust.
I thought islam was supposed to be a peaceful and loving religion, or have the mad men taken over?
I thought islam was supossed to be a loving peaceful religion or have the devils and mad men taken over. Shame on you.
Interesting that the present president of the Maldives once worked for UNICEF. I should therfore like to hear someting both from UNICEF and from the present president of the Maldives as to the case and judgement described above!
- And from Islamic scholars as well..
I quite agree with DMF: "Abuse by the state in the name of God".
MINIVANNEWS lied.
She was not raped. She committed a crime against a chaste society. To other countries who don't have family values, she did not commit a crime.
If this crime were to be allowed, the society will eventually be destroyed and become like that of the West where many people don't know who their fathers are.
A barbaric society and country trapped in a religious timewarp, about 1400 years behind civilization
WITH CORRECTIONS
I agree with ‘human being’. Yet her age should have been a grave consideration, the disproportionate incidence of women is problematic. Further more this reluctance to engage in an internal self-inquiry of religion dictated doctrines (which in itself is not necessarily religion) is problematic. We will address this.
We will use arms if necessary to resolve this. We had already used tomato sauce before (was it chilli sauce?). This is an issue we will resolve. It will however not be done on the Westerners terms.
Equally problematic is the West. Their system of justice is a farce, the idea is to let Man roam free, everything is okay, and that little jail time is really just for show. It does show that they have not entirely succeeded yet in evacuating ‘morality’ from their corrupt hearts. So they keep the ‘deviators’ locked away, while the ‘civilized’ figure out a way to legalize deviance further. It is the ultimate search.
They have also sensationalized serving time, made it cool, instead of addressing it’s issues (defiance is their answer- their thesis is already perfect you see). Else religion will come and eat us alive anyway you know; and besides what about our ‘freedom’.
Future empires might say putting a man behind bars is barbaric as ‘human being’ has said.
There has to be such a thing as consequence. We are not in control of the human race. It has gross deviations which we as an intelligent species must take account of. And if it requires that we destroy these transgressors of the law, as a society we must take that choice. The tendency in the future might be to say there should be no laws? Big Brother and all that. And yet should there be? If there should as opposed to should’nt, then should we not do something about the often horrible horrible crimes being committed by us. To remove religion from the argument is not the entire world opinion. Religion does offer a moral code, a way to envision a ‘clean society’- it must however be resolved.
Barbarism is debatable. It was not an Islamic Civilization which invented torture techniques and machines of torture. Consider especially medieval Europe, and even ancient China. However were they ever held to account? They passed away, forgotten, their actions condemned after they as a people had vanished, is it not?
The Western edifice cannot be now that we know we were wrong, we will go about telling others how wrong they also are before said others had time to realize it for themselves (this is not the entire point, it is also a point nonetheless). It must be a dialogue. A lop-sided UN system and Europe, North America cannot charge the affair over and above us. Their are other peoples, other views also here.
The affair of our people we do recognize, we cannot however be dictated to; there are adults, learned on this side as well.
Their institutions of incarceration are a failure; the crime rates against women and children in their societies (esp US A) outside of jails is also evidence for the truth hidden behind the lies they weave to cover these truths.
It maybe too early to destroy religion. It must be evaluated simply. A critical mass of humanity cannot be simply refused by another group which claim to have arrived at the greater or best answers to most of the things.
And yet I also agree Islam and the East must also be able to justify their values, their systems. We need to expand our libraries if you will. It is again noted that the edifice of religion and it’s analysis cannot be expounded NEITHER by an opposing West or the artificial sanctity of an ancient clergy which first took charge of these sacred scrolls, with sole jurisdiction. It has to engage in dialogue- a Moslem identity especially and certainly with itself,as within itself.
All parties and stakeholders do have a say. There is no such thing as absolute nonsense or bullshit. There is some truth in every say, I believe. EVERYONE has to be heard. That is what we mean by dialogue. One cannot simply seek to undermine a culture electronically while it’s people are resisting. Another mission to civilize lesser beings. This is not the way. If it be so it must be with respect.
For example Ta’wil versus pure Tafsir is an important area for possible future research. With due respect, the absolute adherents of the fabled ‘apparent meaning’ in Koran, for example, are moron’s in my opinion. This is as opposed to it’s possible variations of meanings, it’s ad-fixes, and it’s depths of meanings- something which the Koran also appears to vehemently advocate.
We challenge the Western edifice (oh yes we do- they are not the answer to everything), as much as we challenge these gross exigences within our own communities (we must i say). We cannot, we must not erase either entirely, either. A great majority of mankind is faith-based, as much as the remainder wish to behave as animals with little consequence (this is the opinion of faith mind you).
Certainly it is also true that it is religion which is trying to restrict and control Man (it’s enjoyment, it’s ‘freedoms’). This is where they are hiding. This is what is being diabolically and in length evaded; the debate is cleverly designed to evade these “ancient restrictions” you see. IF God had said everything is okay, we would have obliged much easily perhaps (he would then have existed even in the minds of many atheists, perhaps). Yet he gave us these weird urges and then he say “NO”. The problem with removing God becomes that then moral code is naturally removed. He is the one trying to keep these things in check, after creating an anti-thesis for it.
Perhaps we cannot negate moral code so easily. The great mass of humanity still would not allow it. As the Western Empire collapses (yes they are), the East might have ample time to debate these issues. Where would Democracy be when the Chinese and the Russians are done with the world in a few decades. As yourself. When America is an empire no more, you think their ways would remain unchanged? Then new ways will emerge will it not? Within these last two decades alone, with the advent of genetics and computer science, much has been resolved which is yet to embrace established methodologies of indoctrination’s (school books for example). The data is yet to be further clarified, even organized and further even resolved. Today’s methodologies of Carl Sagan versus the Ayatollah or the Queen will still continue to expand, and give more information. Perhaps the Chinese, and the Russians and the Brazilians will ask faith to stay. No disrespect to atheists.
There is perhaps great room for spirituality and faith also for this reason.
Democracy and Faith must continue to fight (neither side has won as one side claims). Neither must assume only they have sanctity or validity. Each must respect each other I believe. This is the crux of the matter, yet not the entire picture either. It’s a long story anyway. Canning is Singapore by the way doesn’t seem to bother anyone. It’s always the ‘moslems’.
Anyway, basically the “flogging” of a minor is problematic, and an internal Court cannot simply discharge the matter claiming validity from the local Deity. The village is today equally if not better versed in these matters. They demand better clarifications from the derivators of moral law based on their faith. Similarly a purely Western input will not be accepted, unchallenged either.
Punishment is a loaded word i agree (keke). A child is abused, the man should have been guttered on the side-walk, personally.
Peace to Muhammed, peace to Curt Cobain what’s-his-name.
Your point's basis is that you automatically label the victim as a criminal, while letting the rapist go.
And if that is what your so-called law is for, to punish the victim while letting the rapist go, then your so-called law deserves to be burnt to ashes.
Any country that condones this type of insanity is bound to someday be extinct.
This is the year 2013. Wake up people.
Its okay to bomb a country (soldiers and civilians killed). 'Killed' you hear me? their RIGHT to live violated. But it s wrong to flogg????
it should be wrong to manufacture arms also then. it should be wrong to make bullets, guns, tanks, aircraft carriers. why make them? to restore justice and peace?...NO!! no justice can be served ultimately, becos no living entity can be harmed eh.. ask a criminal to dislocate to a specific designated land mass wen he commits that crime (be free and safe becuase yu are just as worthful as the rest of us).. u get?
a man commits a crime, he should be beaten to near death, so that he don't commit again and so that others know and learn consequence.
figuring out who is guilty and who is innocent is tough. but this cannot stop us, and let crminality take over. that shud be a calculated loss.
either stop making guns, and stop bombing human and non-human life just because yu decided they are "criminal"- or we will continue flogging.
we will consider the point of her age.
Walt Hommerding of Newport Beach, California, a supposed decent man with fundamental values flogged the mother of his son with two dozen long stem red roses on St. Valentine's Day.
Upon her bare skin, he exploded in a rage for nothing at all in an attack using the thorns ripping into her back, arms, breasts and entire body.
Roses are not comparable to a flogging with a whip per say, but the pain, inflamation, and cuts from those thorny stems were very damaging.
Especially psychologically, the degradation at the hands of an abuser last a lifetime.
WALT HOMMERDING YOU ARE A SCUMBAG WOMAN ABUSER AND HOPE YOU ROT IN HELL CREEP!
This is barbaric, evil perversion. Even if you are under the influence of the extremists you still know that this punishment is wrong - you are therefore all the more guilty for not standing up against the perpetrators. Shame on you.
Well, it takes two to fornicate so what's happened to the men?
That is aside from the fact that this is a totally inhuman punishment for anyone, let alone a child.
That in turn is to ignore the fact that this child was abused.
One strongly gets the feeling that Islamic law favours men against women, and will punish children for the wrongs done against them by adults.
What kind of a system do you call that?
I call it barbaric and neanderthal.
Wow, first she's brutalized by her own family, and then she's brutalized further by the state that should be going after people who hurt her in the first place. Barbarians.
How can there even be only 129 fornication cases? The number should be an even one since it takes 2 to fornicate. And if there were 104 people sentenced, it stands to reason that 52 of them should have been male - but no, according to this article 93 females were sentenced, including 10 underage girls (who cannot give consent for sex so how can they be guilty of anything but being raped?)! I do not think men and women are being treated equally here.
People who talk about hudood, should first realise that there is a hudhoodh for rape . And the prophet himself implimented death on a man who committed rape.
Disgusting behaviour. The rape victim is punished for being raped? And we still have idiots like "Mowafaq" on this message board actually supporting such uncivilised acts on the pretex of "saving society's morality". These idiots are presumably Maldivan.
I'll admit, I'm neither Maldivian nor Muslim. But just want to let you all know that the rest of the world is judging your society with revulsion and disgust. Well, at least the civilised portions of the world. I suppose you can find some like-minded imam from Waziristan who lives in a mud-hut who supports your view and also preaches about killing infidels.
What? You're gonna say that I have no right to comment on such affairs, because I am neither Maldivan or Muslim? That I should stay out of Muslim affairs? Let me tell you that human rights are universal!
In my country not too long ago, we just had some people who were jailed for torturing a dog. And here we have Maldives punishing a rape VICTIM! Not saying my country is the height of morality, but how did civilisational development become so uneven?
You guys hate the victim more than you do the sinner. If this is not distortion of God's morality, I don't know what is.
WOW maldives has become a freaking safe heaven for child molesters, rapists and sexual abusers. thank God.
100 lashes for a rape victim and the whole World talks bout it. Why don’t we talk about Saudi Arabia where, not dozens but hundreds of official lashing sentences are being carried EVERY DAY.
People are sentenced to several thousand lashes plus long jail time. All of that under the name of Islam. What a joke!
Take a closer look at the Saudi judicial system. a 100% based on the Quran, 1400 years old...
@Walt Hommerding on Wed, 27th Feb 2013 4:10 AM
I am sorry to hear about the barbaric act!
But, I am wondering about what could have happened to lead to something of this sort!
I am sure something unforgivable would have happened to enrage the man to this limit!!!!!
To punish this child for sexual violence against her is an outrage. I recommend all western's stop visiting this country to protest their outrage at such a crime against this poor innocent child. Without western tourist money this country will have virtually no income.
Anna
This is just one of many problems in the society.
Definitely not the top one. The living situation is pathetic and social fabric, the trust in governance is NON-EXISTANT.
Sad to say, this girl needs attention, but the whole country needs major psychological transformation if we want to survive.
Hey PPM thug calling himself "gANJABOA".
People like you deserve to be bombed and shot at with the most advanced and lethal weapons in the world.
Do us a favor and follow your 'zaeemu' to the incinerator pit, instead of destroying Maldives with your perverted 'rule of law'.
Once again the lingering power of fundamentalist fascism asserts itself against reason, human dignity, and the advance of civilisation. As is well demonstrated by the priests of the Catholic church and the Taliban wherever they assert their cruel authoritarian rule, those claiming to be the most pious and holy are shown to be the most morally flawed. The priests and the Taliban routinely abuse their positions of authority to rape and abuse children, while staying protected behind a wall of archaic mumbo-jumbo. What, one wonders, do the Islamic judges and mullahs of the Maldives get up to behind their garden walls, that is so terrible they feel they have to lash out at the innocent, even in public? Shame on the vile, ignorant old fools, and shame on the Maldives.
In the past I have worried about the Maldives going under the ocean due to global warming.
I'm relived that I can drive my SUV without damaging civilization.
Anna Jones is obviously not thinking straight. Stop all those tourists from getting into the country and the Islamists wouldn't care. In fact they would most likely be happy because they will be able to drive their values and culture more in a direction satisfying to them.
Besides what makes you think that your own culture is so wonderful?
Here's a thought I read in an old book. For those who plan to carry out punishment on this girl, "let him who is without blame cast the first stone", or in this case, strike the first lashes.
Another thought that would radically change the world if we could only wrap our minds around the beauty and power of this message is, "love your neighbour as yourself."
Under-age RAPE VICTIM convicted of fornication, sentenced to 100 lashes...
are you f__king kidding me! you're interpreting the "whatever that law" in a wrong way .take note VICTIM getting punish.this is madness!
Now, imagine if she was an American girl.
Are you angry yet?
Angry enough to act against barbarism rather then just making comments on a web forum.
For evil to thrive, requires only that good men do nothing.
One day closer to sinking, not soon enough.
She is both a victim and a criminal.
She is a victim of rape by her step father (let's call him John).
She is also a criminal for having pre-marital, consensual sex WITH A DIFFERENT MAN (let's call him Tim). Not her step father!!! She is not being punished because of the rape by John but because of sex with Tim.
We can argue about her state of mind and the unfairness of the law.punishment and what punishment the men received. But let there be no doubt that she did break their law.
I wish her more luck in the future, although it may be hard for her to find a husband after this, which would be catastrophic in that society.
Animals of the Prosecutor Generals Office Since you have detached yourselves from any understanding of the concept of Right and Wrong let me couch my question to you in ways that you will understand. Since the economic structure of the Islands in which you conduct your psychological operations in Horror are based in tourism and upon the goodwill of others visiting and bringing money to your place of injustice what do you suppose will be the reaction of decent people around the world to your gangland home when they hear of this shocking story and how you MONSTERS have treated this young innocent victim of PERVERTS like yourselves?....Well my own daughter was seeking to decide between your islands and the Seychelles for her holiday in the coming summer and I can tell you this story is the nail in the coffin lid of her decision and means she will be going to the Seychelles for her holiday...... Thank God
An appalling abuse of human rights that I hope ricochets around the world and hits the Maldives where it hurts and is likely to respond....it's tourist trade. Would you like to holiday on the sun kissed beaches of a country with blood of a child who has been lashed on the sand?
isnt the heading misleading.
this is a true story of Islam taken over by the psycho judiciary in the unlawful government of Maldives. In the name of the religion anything is possible when the Mullahs demand on the government. sad sad .......failed state Maldives
To Mowafaq: Your comments are highly offensive, but worse than that; incredibly stupid! How can a victim of a crime be held accountable vs the perpetrator which was a MAN, who not only raped but is a murderer. Tell me, if you were raped by a MAN and the courts found you guilty of premarital sex, would you be willing to take responsibility for inciting him to rape you and thus take the punishment of 100 lashes? Don't be ridiculous; of course you wouldn't. It's comments like yours that indicate the low level of intelligence in uneducated males.....
Lo and behold, the religion of peace,
ill pass thank you very much
This in the name of justice, god and morality? The girl is a victim she cannot be a minor in the case where her step father raped her and then an adult in another case, the PG has lost his marbles. Not to mention the judge who gave this ruling, he is obviously not fit to sit on that bench. This brings shame to Maldives and all sane Maldivians.
Welcome to the sunny side of Maldives! Truly it is blessing to be born a Maldivian but should I be proud of my nation for what is happening in this 21st century?
It is utterly shocking and disgusting of the unfair justice system here. She did not have consensual sex with a pole, it was another human being.
Where is the justice system?? Hello what about the man??? who had sex with her??? Why can't he be given 100 lashes or stoned (I wish!!). But no it will always be the man who gets away and will go and have sex with another woman, another girl.
I wish the Juvenile Justice Unit, the Gender Ministry and Human Rights Ministry(Shame that it should be have a name like this)would appeal the Supreme Court. Just wonder! it will all depend on how this child is related to which political party or which family.
I so hate to see the lives of many young girls and women taken at the mercy of these bastards using religion as an excuse. Religion is much more beautiful than this.
@Nasira on Wed, 27th Feb 2013 3:39 PM
"I wish the Juvenile Justice Unit, the Gender Ministry and Human Rights Ministry(Shame that it should be have a name like this)would appeal the Supreme Court."
But you are forgetting the "independent" institutions of "justice" that we have in the Maldives. No one can interfere with them. Remember the phrase: there is nothing MY government can do about it.
What is really worrying, besides what's happening to this child is the fact that the Maldives has the Presidency of a UN body on Human Rights! Someone ought to tell the rest of the members of the UN about this less than illustrious oversight.