Tag: murder

Gang murdered 21 year-old man by mistake, says police inspector

Twenty-one year-old Abdulla Muheeth was mistakenly killed by a gang on February 19 and was not the intended target, Police Inspector Abdulla Satheeh said on Monday.

Inspector Satheeh said the police investigation into Muheeth’s death showed that he was not attacked because he had done anything, and that he was a good person who had no police record.

He also noted that Satheeh was not a member of any gang, and was working in a good and responsible job when the incident occurred.

Police said four men and two minors have been arrested in connection with the case, all of them with criminal records.

Satheeh said there was  enough evidence to prosecute the six suspects, but said police were still working to collect more evidence.

He said that police give high priority to such cases and assured the public that the case was proceeding at a fast pace.

Muheeth died on February19 after he was attacked at 1:55am in the morning. Three others were injured following a series of stabbings in the Maldives capital Male’ that same night.

A friend of Muheeth told Minivan News on condition of anonymity that Muheeth was never involved in any gang related activities and that he was a good person.

‘’He was a really nice friend, he treated all his friends like they were family to him, he was never involved in any gang related activity,’’ he said. ‘’It brought great sorrow to all his friends to hear he was murdered.’’

The friend alleged Muheeth was attacked by the gang because he was a close friend of the person they wanted to attack.

‘’It was a week after the person they wanted to attack had left the country to study and was killed,’’ he claimed. ‘’I say the assailants should receive the death penalty, and the police should also make them apologise to his mother and father.’’

He called on the police to investigate the case thoroughly and to bring everyone involved to justice.

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Police arrest six on suspicion of murder in Kudahuvadhoo sorcerer case

Police have arrested six persons following the murder of an alleged sorcerer living on the island of Kudahuvadhoo in Dhaalu Atoll.

Two weeks ago Ali Hassan, a 76 year-old man, was found murdered with multiple stab wounds on Kudahuvadhoo.

Hassan was found knifed at an abandoned house around 8:00 pm on the evening of January 8.

A police spokesperson confirmed Minivan News that the arrests were made and that none of the suspects had so far been released.

“We are currently investigating the case and will provide details later,” he said.

A special team from the Serious and Organised Crime Department was dispatched to the island the day of the murder.

The victim had previously been accused of using sorcery on a 37 year-old woman, who was reported missing at 2:00am on December 4, 2011 and whose body was found floating in Kudahuvadhoo lagoon later that morning.

Island Council President of Kudahuvadhoo Ibrahim Fikry today told Minivan News that the islanders were all frightened after the incident.

“After the death of the woman the islanders were scared, and then this incident occurred and now the islanders are worse,” he said adding that no one walks on the roads now after the sun goes down.

“The injuries sustained were horrific,” Fikry told Minivan News at the time, claiming to have seen the body of the man.

Fikry said that the victim’s forehead was slashed and that his neck was slit. “There were deep stab wounds to the chest and back, revealing the bones. The intestines were visible from a slash to the stomach,” he recalled.

Speaking to Minivan News, an islander from Kudahuvadhoo claimed that the victim was “unpopular” in the community for his alleged practice of sorcery.

Hassan was formerly Deputy Island Chief of Gemedhoo in Dhaal Atoll, which was devastated in the 2004 tsunami. When the population resettled in Kudahuvadhoo, he was removed from the position over allegations of child abuse, said a council member.

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Salaf calls for Anti-Sorcery Act

Local religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf has asked the authorities to enact legislation to make sorcery or black magic illegal in Maldives.

During a religious program broadcasted live on local radio SunFM last night, Salaf President Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed said the Anti-Sorcery Act is required to “protect the people from evils of sorcery”, and prosecute suspected sorcerers.

He requested President Mohamed Nasheed submit an Anti-Sorcery bill to make the practice illegal, while calling on the parliamentarians to pass the bill.

Minivan News could not reach him at the time of press.

According to Salaf’s website, Mohamed urged the authorities to stipulate the death penalty in the law for convicted sorcerers.

Sheikh Mohamed’s remarks came following the brutal stabbing of 76 year-old Ali Hassan, on Kudahuvadhoo in Dhaalu atoll, which has been blamed on sorcery.

Mohamed was quoted in local newspaper Haveeru as claiming that many Maldivians have become victims of sorcery, and it has “ruined families”.

“Sorcery has become a social plague in the Maldives,” Mohamed contended, “which needs to be cured”.

Sorcery was a grave sin in Islam for which Islamic Sharia stipulates death penalty, he explained.

Saudi Arabia continues to use the death penalty for sorcery, while the last person to be judicially executed in the Maldives, Hakim Didi, was executed by firing squad in 1953 after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder using black magic.

Didi’s daughter, Dhondidi, was also sentenced in 1993 for performing sorcery on behalf of the former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s brother-in-law Ilyas Ibrahim, in his bid to win the 1993 presidential election.

Sorcery, known locally as Sihuru or Fanditha, is said to widely practiced on many islands in the Maldives, while related reports have surfaced in the media time to time.

Islanders from Kudahuvadhoo has been quoted in the media alleging that the murder victim was a sorcerer.

The victim had previously been accused of using sorcery on a 37 year-old woman, who was reported missing at 2:00am on December 4, 2011 and whose body was found floating in Kudahuvadhoo lagoon later that morning.

However, Hassan’s family denies the claims that he was a sorcerer, and alleged he had received death threats from another family on the island.

The incident has however sparked “fear of sorcery” among the island’s 3000 inhabitants, and some islanders “do not even come out of the house after dark”, according to the source.

In 2009, parents on the island of Maamendhoo in Laamu atoll accused an islander of practicing sorcery on school girls to induce fainting spells and hysteria, which led to a police investigation.

Meanwhile last year the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives (IFM) conducted a certificate level course on incantations, teaching the participants “spiritual healing” and how to cure diseases using “incantation”.

President of the Islamic Foundation, Ibrahim Fauzee, told Minivan News at the time that the main reason why the organisation decided to conduct the courses on spiritual healing was that many people in the islands had become victims of black magic performed by their enemies.

“Sometimes people have lost their lives [to black magic], and sometimes people perform the black arts to ruin the life or family of others. Many do not know how to cure this,’’ Fauzee claimed.

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Islanders blame sorcery for brutal stabbing of 76 year-old man

A 76 year-old man has been found murdered with multiple stab wounds on Kudahuvadhoo island in Dhaalu Atoll.

Ali Hassan was found knifed at an uninhabited house around 8:00 pm on Sunday night.

Sub-Inspector of Police Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News on Monday that a special team from the Serious and Organised Crime Department of police was dispatched to the island last night.

Reports have surfaced in the local media that the police detained four suspects from the island – however, Shiyam continued, “the team is currently investigating the murder and it is too soon to confirm anything in the case yet.”

Following the police examination, the victim’s body was returned to the family and buried this morning.

“The injuries sustained were horrific”, said Island Council President Ibrahim Fikry, who claimed to have seen the body.

Speaking to Minivan News, Fikry said that the victim’s forehead was slashed and that his neck was slit. “There were deep stab wounds to the chest and back, revealing the bones. The intestines were visible from a slash to the stomach,” he recalled.

The father of nine, known locally as “Ayubey”, was found murdered after he went out for prayer around 6:00pm, Fikry said.

“It seems he was attacked on his way back to home. The house where his body was found is situated close to where he lives,” he observed.

He added that the police discovered Hassan’s body inside a house while searching the area, after some locals reported an “unusual blood spatter on the road” near the house.

Sorcery afoot

The appalling murder has left many islanders on Kudahuvadhoo shocked and frightened.

Speaking to Minivan News, an islander from Kudahuvadhoo claimed that the victim was “unpopular” in the community for his alleged practice of sorcery.

“Because the wounds are so inhumane, some people believe the death was caused by Fanditha [sorcery] or Jinni [evil spirits],” he said under condition of anonymity.

According to the islander, the victim had previously been accused of using sorcery on a 37 year-old woman, who was reported missing at 2:00am on 4 December 2011 and whose body was found floating in Kudahuvadhoo lagoon later that morning.

The body was bleeding from an injury between her nose and mouth upon recovery, as if she had been punched or hit, the island council claimed at the time.

However Sub-Inspector Shiyam told Minivan News at the time that police had not noticed any incriminating injuries on the body and were not treating the incident as suspicious.

Hassan’s family was quoted in local media claimed that he was not a sorcerer, and claimed he had received death threats from another family on the island.

Hassan was formerly Deputy Chief of Gemedhoo island in Dhaal Atoll which was devastated in the 2004 tsunami. When the population resettled in Kudahuvadhoo, he was voted out of position over allegations of child abuse, said a council member.

The incident has meanwhile sparked fear among the island’s 3000 inhabitants, and some islanders “do not even come out of the house after dark”, according to a source.

“Some people believe that if sorcery is practiced wrong, the spell will be reversed, and the sorcerer can suffer paralysis, disability or in some circumstances even die at the hands of evil spirits”, he explained.

He added that dusk is generally considered to be the time of the day when Jinni are considered to be at large, and it was inadvisable to be out after dark. “Hassan’s body was found a few hours after the sundown,” he noted.

This is the second incident in three years in which the dead body of an old man was found abandoned, with injuries.

In September 2010 Hussain Mohamed Manik, a prominent businessman known as ‘Hussainbe’, was found dead inside an abandoned house on Hoarafushi in Haa Alifu Atoll.

Police at the time suggested that Hussain, age 61, may have been murdered, however due to lack of evidence for the charge the Prosecutor General (PG)’s Office instead pressed terrorism charges against three suspects who reportedly took him hostage and robbed him.

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Three men accused of Hoarafushi hostage murder face terrorism charges

The Prosecutor General (PG)’s Office today pressed criminal charges against three persons accused of murdering 61 year-old Hussain Mohamed after taking him hostage and robbing him on Hoarafushi in Haa Alifu Atoll.

Hussain, a prominent businessman known as ‘Hussainbe’, was found dead inside an abandoned house in September last year.

The PG’s lawyer told the judge that the three of them stole more than Rf 100,000 and US$1000 in cash but the three denied the charges, according to local media.

Police at the time said they believed that year-old Hussain Mohamed may have been murdered.

An official from the island office had told Minivan News that the body was discovered by the caretaker of the building that night.

“There were no injuries on the outside his body,’’ said the island official. ‘’He is from another island but has lived in Hoarafushi for a long time.’’

Local media reported that Manik’s hands were tied behind his back with rope, and that the body was lying on the ground in a prone position when discovered.

The island official said that it had rained heavily the previous evening, and that “nobody goes out in the rain. The streets would probably have been empty.”

The sale of oil in Hoarafushi in Haa Alifu ceased following the death of the prominent businessman.

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Criminal Court finds Nazaha guilty of murder

The Criminal Court today sentenced Mariyam Nazaha, 22, of Henveriu Bainkendige, charged with murdering her ex-husband, to life imprisonment and ordered her to fast for two months.

According to the Criminal Court, Nazaha admitted that she attacked her ex-husband, Hassan Shahid, with a knife on June 22, 2010 at around 3:00pm.

The medico-legal report stated that Shahid had died that at 4:15pm on the same day from injuries caused by the stabbing, said the Criminal Court.

Air and blood gathered in the left side of Shahid’s back resulted in his death, the report stated.

Delivering the verdict, Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed ordered Nazaha to fast for two months for repentance and to remain in prison for 25 years.

Nazaha was not sentenced to death because out of all the heirs of Shahid only one wished to avenge his death with hers; under Islamic shariah all heirs must request the death penalty for the court to sentence the accused to execution.

In June last year, a witness told Minivan News that he saw the victim run out of Baikendi in the Henveiru district of Male’ and enter a nearby shop and ask the shopkeeper to call the police as he had been stabbed.

“At first people in the shop thought he was joking, but then he took his hands from the wound and showed them the blood,” said the source. “He was stabbed once in the lower back.”

He said Nazaha’s ex-husband often visited Nazaha’s house to see their child but was never allowed inside, adding that the incident may have been the result of a court ruling that time regarding the child’s guardianship.

At the trial, Nazaha’s lawyer argued that she exhibited “battered woman syndrome” and should therefore be acquitted.

Prior to murdering her ex-husband, Nazaha had allegedly filed several reports of harassment and violence by Shahid with the Maldives Police Service, and with the Gender Department at the Ministry of Health and Family.

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Shahum and Shimaz appear in court, deny murdering Ahusan

Ibrahim Shahum Adam and Hassan Shimaz Mohamed Suad have denied in court charges that they murdered 21 year-old Ahusan Basheer in March, reports Haveeru.

The prosecution alleged that pair stabbed Ahusan near the junction of Majeedhee Magu and Alikileygefaanu Magu on March 17 at 3:20am. He later died during treatment at Indira Gandhi Memorail Hospital (IGMH).

Shahum and Shimaz were given 10 days by the judge to appoint the services of a lawyer, on their request. The judge said the court would consider the prosecution’s request to keep the men in custody until a verdict was reached.

Haveeru alleged that on conclusion of proceedings Shahum threatened a journalist, and warned the reporter not to publish a story.

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Police investigating apparent torture and murder of Bangladeshi man on Fuvahmulah

A 25 year-old Bangladeshi man has been found dead in a ditch in Fuvahmulah, with signs suggesting he had been tortured prior to death.

The body of the man, identified by island authorities as ‘Shareef’ who worked as a carpenter in Dhoodigamu ward, was found with his hands tied behind his back and with wire around his neck.

Fuvamulah Island Councillor Ahmed Shareef told Minivan News that the Bangladeshi man was last seen alive two days ago on June 28 at 8:00pm.

”He was with his colleagues at work and left late that night,” Councillor Shareef said. ”Because he was late for work [the next day], his colleagues went to his house and noted that he was missing.”

Councillor Shareef said the body of the carpenter was discovered yesterday by a farmer near his property.

“He had severe injuries to his head, neck and wounds all over his body,” the councillor said. ”He had lots of cash with him and he was about to leave to Bangladesh for vacation. It seems someone robbed him of the money and attacked him.”

Vice President of Fuvahmulah Atoll Council Ali Fazad told newspaper Haveeru that Shareef had injuries around his ears from a sharp object, and appeared to have bled profusely from a blow to the head.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said it was too early in the investigation to confirm motives for the attack, but said that two Bangladeshi nationals had been arrested in connection with the incident, based on information obtained by Fuvahmulah police.

“The body was not far decomposed so [the attack] may have happened recently. We are waiting on the medical report,” Shiyam said.

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Murder suspect Shahum sentenced one year for assault

The Criminal Court has sentenced 20 year-old Ibrahim Shahum Adam, a suspect in two murder cases, to one year imprisonment after the court found him guilty of assault and battery, reports local media.

Shahum was found guilty of assaulting a classmate while he was at a teashop in the Henveiru district of Male’.

In court, the victim claimed that Shahum attacked him when he refused to have tea with Shahum, and also claimed that Shahum used a wooden bar to attack him.

The victim also said Shahum was studying with him at an Imam training course and that he had to drop out of the course due to disturbance caused by Shahum.

Police have recently alleged that Shahum was involved in the gang attack on Ahusan Basheer, 21, who was murdered earlier this year near his house.

Police announced to the public that Shahum was being sought in addition to some other suspects,and sought information from the public knows as to his whereabouts.

Later police discovered him on an uninhabited island with other companions.

He was also arrested in connection with the death of a 16 year-old boy who was stabbed to death near Maaziya football ground.

Police arrested him in relation to that death and held him in detention for six months, but he was later released by the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed.

Judge Abdulla said at the time that Shahum had been kept in detention for six months for investigation and that no probable evidence had been brought against him to continue holding him in detention. He queried 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.

The murder cases are ongoing.

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