A 23-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder last year was found dead in a residence in Malé around 10:00am on Monday morning.
According to local media, the man from Fuvahmulah was arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of 28-year-old Ahmed Mafaz in December last year. He was reportedly released after being held in remand detention.
The police declined to reveal further details and have yet to determine the cause of death.
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(0)Police on Thursday failed to bring murder suspect Mohamed Samah to the Criminal Court for sentencing.
A court official told local media that the verdict was due to be delivered at Thursday’s hearing, which was cancelled after police did not bring the accused to court despite repeated requests by the judge.
Samah is accused of stabbing police Lance Corporal Adam Haleem to death on the island of Kaashidhoo in Kaafu atoll on July 22.
Following his arrest, Samah confessed to the crime and asked for forgiveness, claiming that the incident occurred while he was under the influence of drugs.
At the last hearing in early November, Samah however told the judge that police extracted the confession through torture.
Samah reportedly told the judge that he would prefer to face the death sentence under Islamic shariah than endure torture in custody.
The judge revealed at the last hearing that three of Haleem’s heirs had opted for qisas (retaliation or death for death).
Following Thursday’s hearing, the Criminal Court – along with the Civil Court and High Court – broke for a 15-day recess. The murder trial will therefore resume after December 15.
(0)Dislikes(0)Relatives of a murdered women whose body was placed in a suitcase and then dumped into rubbish at a Male’ construction site last year have requested that her alleged killer face the death penalty during an ongoing trial in the country’s Criminal Court.
Haveeru has reported that the family of the murdered woman, identified only as Shereen, had generally decided in favour of calling for the death penalty under the rules of Islamic Shariah, should suspect Mohamed Najah be found guilty of killing her.
According to the report, during the Criminal Court hearing that took place today in Male’, relatives of the victim, including her father, brother and three sisters, called for the sentence to be imposed over the phone from Lhaviyani Thun’dee Magistrate Court.
Shereen’s mother, who was present at the Criminal Court hearing in Male’, also stressed her preference for the death penalty if Najah was convicted, with Judge Abdulla Mohamed stating that three more relatives, who were unable to attend the court session, were required to provide their consent for the death penalty.
Statements are expected to be taken from these relatives at the court on a later date, the report added. Shareen’s body was discovered on January 2, 2010.
Currently, death penalties imposed within the Maldives are able to be reduced to a 25 years prison sentence by the president under the Clemency Act. In November 2010, the Criminal Court of the Maldives issued a death sentence to a person found guilty of murder. However the last person to actually be judicially executed was Hakim Didi in 1953, who was executed by firing squad after being found guilty of consipiracy to murder using black magic.
The death penalty issue has become extremely pertinent for the nation’s politicians of late with a number of amendments proposed this year to the country’s Clemency Act that outlines policy related to any possible death sentence.
on April 18, Parliament accepted an amendment presented by Jumhoree Party (JP) MP Ibrahim Muthalib requiring the death sentence to be implemented if the Supreme Court upholds an execution decision issued by itself or a lower court.
Out of the 59 present MPs, 14 declined the amendment, while three parliamentarians did not vote on either side.
MDP MPs Alhan Fahmy, Eva Abdulla, Hamid Abdul Gafoor, ‘Reeko’ 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.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police have arrested Ibrahim Shahum Adam, 20, G.Kouzy while he was on an uninhabited island in Meemu Atoll.
He was arrested this morning around 7:00 am, said police on their website.
According to police, four others who were with him on the island were also arrested.
Police have been searching for Shahum for the investigation of the death of Ahusan Basheer, Seenu Hithadhoo, Varudhee who was allegedly murdered by a gang on March 17.
Previously police has appealed the public to report sightings of Shahum after the murder case and also warned the public not to confront him as ‘’he is too dangerous.’’
This is the second murder charge against Shahum. He was recently arrested in connection with the murder of a 17 year-old boy near Maaziya football ground in Maafannu.
Shahum was arrested and kept in detention for six months and was released by the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed.
Judge Abdulla said that Shahum had been kept in detention six months for investigation and that no probable evidence was brought against him to further hold him in detention and queried the police as to why their investigation was not concluded after six months.
Police answered that they were unable to conclude the investigation as the Health Ministry had not provided the medical-legal report on the death of the 16 year-old boy.
Keeping someone in detention for six months for not getting a response from the health ministry was ‘’too much’’, said the judge, explaining that there were rights of persons kept in detention and released him.
Ahusan Basheer was murdered last Thursday in Alikileygefaanu magu, one of the main roads in Male’.
Local media reported Basheer’s family saying that he was not dead when he was first taken to Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), and that inside the vehicle on the way to the hospital he had told the police officers who attacked him before dying.
Basheer’s family also said that according to sources at IGMH Basheer’s body was left in the Accidents and Emergency Room without any treatment provided for more than an hour, because the hospital wanted to identify who he was and to contact his family.
His family told local newspapers that he went out late that night to buy a cigarette and that was the last his family saw him alive.
After the death of Basheer, police conducted special operations in Male’ to curb the rise in gang violence in Male’ and arrested 47 persons who were not related to the murder case, according to Chief Judge Abdulla.
Most of the persons among the arrested 47 were brought before the court with no probable grounds to be arrested, he added.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Criminal Court today released Ibrahim Shahum Adam, a 19 year-old who was arrested in August last year for allegedly murdering 17 year-old Mohamed Hussain.
Adam was presented to the Criminal Court with a police request to extend the period of detention, but Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed noted that the Criminal Court had already extended the detention of Shahum by six months for investigation which had not yet been concluded.
Police blamed the Health Ministry, and told the judge that the investigation had not concluded ministry had not responded to a letter police sent in August 2010 requesting the medical report on the death of Mohamed Hussain.
Judge Abdulla told police this was not reasonable grounds to keep a person in detention.
He said he regretted that police and government authorities were not cooperating to make the society peaceful and noted that the court alone could not succeed in this, according to a report in newspaper Haveeru.
The paper also quoted Judge Abdulla as saying that ”keeping a person in detention for not getting a response to one letter sent to the health ministry is too much.”
Judge Abdulla also acknowledged that police were not getting the cooperation from government authorities.
Hussain was stabbed in the leg near the Social Centre in Maafannu, Male’.
He was admitted to Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital and treated for more than eight hours in the Intensive Care Unit, but the knife severed a major artery and despite an emergency blood transfusion he died the following morning at 6:15am.
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that police had always fully cooperated with the courts to the fullest extent possible.
”We cannot do or say anything regarding something beyond our borders,” said Shiyam. ”It is the responsibility of the police to obey the courts and we will follow the court’s orders.”
State Health mMinister Abdul Baary Yousuf told Minivan News that he had no information regarding the issue and referred to the Permanent Secretary Geela Ali. Ali is currently outside the country.
Judge Abdulla Mohamed did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.
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