Tag: murder

Suspect in Sheereen murder case sentenced to 10 years on drug charges

A suspect in the murder case of 30 year-old Maryam Sheereen has been to sentenced 10 years imprisonment after he was found guilty of drug offences by the Criminal Court.

The court verdict read that on January 8 2009, police officers arrested Mohamed Najah and found illegal narcotics in his possession during a search of his person.

Najah’s urine also tested positive to benzodiazepine and opiates, the court stated, sentencing him to five years for possession of illegal narcotics and five years for use of illegal narcotics.

Sheereen’s murder case is still pending in the Criminal Court and will soon conclude. If found guilty, Najah will likely face the death penalty.

Heirs of Sheereen were recently summoned to the court to ask if they had any objections to the execution of Najah if he was found guilty, none of whom did.

According to the Penal Code if a person is found guilty of murder, Shariah law must be applied and the murderer must to be sentenced to death if no heir of the victim has an objection.

Evidence including video footage, phone recordings, DNA samples and testimony from both the taxi driver who unwittingly carried a suit case containing Sheereen’s body and a man who lived in the same apartment as the pair has been presented to the court by the prosecution. Sheereen was found dead under a stack of cement bags a construction site in Male’.

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Under-aged girl arrested over alleged involvement in Basheer murder

An under-aged girl is being held in custody over suspicion of involvement in the murder earlier this month of Ahusan Basheer, police have said.

No further details were given regarding the female suspect other than that she is being held in custody over an alleged connection to the murder of Ahusan Basheer, 21, who was stabbed to death in the early hours of March 17 near Alikileygefaanu Magu, one of the main streets of the capital Male’.

Following a week-long manhunt, police arrested Ibrahim Shahum, 20, as the main suspect in the murder.  Shahum had recently been released by the Criminal Court after being kept in detention for six months on suspicion of stabbing a 17 year-old to death on July 30, 2010.

Head of the Maldive police Service’s Serious and Organized Crime Department (SOC) Abdul Nawaz confirmed that Ahusan’s murder case was still unresolved.

‘’We have only one under-aged person in connection to this case and the person is a female,’’ Nawaz said. ‘’We can’t provide further details of the case as it may compromise the investigation.’’

Special operations

Crime-Prevention Committee MeetingNawaz additionally claimed that special operations being conducted by police to curb gang violence in Male’ was working successfully.  He added that the intiative had led to the arrest of 155 people, the transfer of a further 21 suspects to house arrest and another 101 people being searched.  Additionally, 53 houses were checked and five vehicles were impounded.

Despite praising the initiatives, Nawaz appealed to the public to be more careful while carrying cash around the country, requesting those who need to transfer large amounts of money from one place to another to seek police assistance beforehand.

Meanwhile, the recently-formed National Crime Prevention Committee met members of the parliamentary security services committee yesterday to discuss immediate measures that could be taken to combat the rise in organised crime and gang-related violence.

As the required legislation would take longer to complete, the committee has reportedly decided to formulate regulations in collaboration with parliament to empower police to hold suspects in custody for longer periods.

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Shahum arrested on an uninhabited island in Meemu Atoll

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.

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MDP MP withdraws controversial death penalty amendment moments before vote

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Rasheed has withdrawn his amendment to the Clemency Act at the last minute, hours before a vote to send the bill to committee. The controversial amendment would have required implementing agencies to execute murderers if the Supreme Court upheld a guilty verdict.

After the preliminary debate over the past three sittings, MP Rasheed was given the opportunity to say his last words on the amendment, which he used as an opportunity to withdraw the bill.

Presenting the bill to the parliament earlier this month, the Hoarafushi MP explained that he was prompted by the recent increase in assaults and murder cases, which had “forced the living to live amid fear and threats.”

In 2008, said Rasheed, 104 cases of assault were sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO), rising to 454 cases in 2009 and 423 cases in 2010.

”In Quran, Sural Al Baqarah verse 178, God says: ‘O ye who believe! the law of equality is prescribed to you in cases of murder: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the woman for the woman. But if any remission is made by the brother of the slain, then grant any reasonable demand, and compensate him with handsome gratitude, this is a concession and a Mercy from your Lord. After this whoever exceeds the limits shall be in grave penalty’,” he then said. ”During broad day light in this very city of Male’ people have been chopped, sliced and crushed using axes, machetes – just like fish are chopped.”

While he did not specify reasons for his decision to withdraw the amendment, Rasheed claimed that he would resubmit the amendment once belated bills on evidence laws, criminal justice procedures and the penal code were enacted. Criticism of the amendment had centered around the capacity of the Maldivian justice system to rule fairly and impartially in such cases.

Unlike most parliamentary debates, MPs were not divided on the issue of death penalty along party lines. Several MPs of the ruling MDP as well as some opposition MPs argued that the fledgling Maldivian judiciary did not have the capacity or public confidence to dispense justice fairly.

The decision comes after 21 year-old Ahusan Basheer was murdered on the streets of Male’ during a gang attack on Thursday night.

The last person to be executed by Maldivian state was Hakim Didi in 1953 for the crime of practicing black magic.

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Gang murders 21 year-old man near Alikileygefaanu Magu in Galolhu

A group of men stabbed a 21 year-old man to death last night near NC Park in the Galolhu district of Male’.

Police said the incident occurred around 3:30am in the morning in Alikileyegfaanu Magu. The victim was identified as Ahmed Basheer, 21, of  Hithadhoo in Addu Atoll.

”He was stabbed four times in the back and three times in the chest,” police said in a statement.

Local media has reported that Ibrahim Shahum, who was recently charged in a murder case and released by the court after being kept in detention for six months, was sought by the police in connection with the murder last night.

Police have asked the public to report sightings of Shahum to police, and also warned people not to confront him.

A person familiar with the case told Minivan News that the death was a result of gang rivalry last night occurred between two groups in Male’ located in Maafannu, and that Shahum was not affiliated with either of the groups.

Although Basheer’s house is in Galolhu near NC Park, he said, he was affiliated with persons living in Maafannu ward.

”He is not affiliated with persons nearby his house and they do not have issues with him,” he said. ”He was attacked in a confrontation that occurred between two groups in Maafannu.”

In an effort to reduce violence in the Maldives, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Rasheed has presented an amendment to the Clemency Act during last week Tuesday’s parliament session, requiring the death penalty to be administered where the sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court.

In 2010 the Criminal Court issued a death sentence to a person found guilty of murder.

In last year’s death penalty verdict, the judge referred to article 88[d] of the Constitution, which stated that cases of murder should be dealt accordingly to Islamic Shariah, and that persons found guilty of murder ”shall be executed” if no inheritor of the victim denies the murderer to be executed, as according to Islamic Shariah.

According to MP Rasheed’s proposed amendment, if the Supreme Court upholds a death penalty ruled by a lower court, or if the Supreme Court itself serves death penalty to a person, the death penalty shall be executed.

Rasheed said he felt he had to present the amendment because of the increase in assaults and murder cases, which had “forced the living to live amid fear and threats.”

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Criminal Court issues death sentence in gang murder case

The Criminal Court of the Maldives yesterday sentenced Mohamed Nabeel to death for the murder of Abdulla Faruhad, after reviewing the statements of witnesses and finding him guilty of the crime.

The Judge said that article 88[d] of the penal code of the Maldives stated that murders should be dealt accordingly to the Islamic Shariah and that persons found guilty of murder ”shall be executed” if no inheritor of the victim denies the murderer to be executed, according to Islamic Shari’ah.

The Criminal Court identified the murderer as Mohamed Nabeel, G. Reef and the victim as Abdulla Faruhad of Hulhudhoo in Seenu Atoll. As no inheritor of the victim opposed his execution, Nabeel was sentenced to death.

This is the first such sentence to be issued in a case related to gang murder. Previous death sentences issued in the Maldives have included (in 2005) those found to be involved in the death in custody of Evan Naseem, and the perpetrators of 1988 coup. None of these sentences were implemented.

The Prosecutor General’s office filed the case against Nabeel after the police arrested him on charges of deliberately killing Faruhad in revenge for harassing his sister Aiminath Niuma. The case report did not mention what kind of harassment occurred.

The judge said that during the police investigation Niuma admitted that her brother Nabeel attempted to attack Faruhad with a six inch box cutter on March 8, 2009.

In her statement to police, Niuma said she attempted to stop her brother from attacking Faruhad as he tried to flee, the judge stated.

However Niuma was unable to control her brother from throwing the box cutter at Faruhad which lodged in his back. Faruhad died the next day from his injuries.

The PG’s office presented CCTV footage of the incident and three witnesses.

The judge said that although Niuma had later in court dismissed her statements to police, which were fingerprinted by her father as she was underage at the time, ”it is unbelievable that her father read the statement and would fingerprint a false statement given regarding his own son.”

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said he did not know how the sentence would be carried out,  but police would implement the verdict if requested by the court.

Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad said he had not yet seen the ruling and would be unable to comment before going through the case.

Press secretary for the president Mohamed Zuhair said the the government would comment on the matter only after the judicial procedure was over, ”otherwise it could be considered as an influence on the verdict.”

He said that the accused had a 90 day term to appeal at higher courts if he felt the judgment was unfair.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the last death sentence issued in the Maldives was following the 1988 coup attempt. This has been corrected to reflect the verdict in the trial over the death in custody of Evan Naseem.

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Gaamaadhoo bones identified as belonging to missing inmate, says President

Human bones discovered in the site of the former Gaamaadhoo prison on September 19, 2009 matches the age and estimated period of death of Abdulla Anees, Vaavu Keyodhoo Bashigasdhosuge, an inmate officially declared missing in the 1980s, President Mohamed Nasheed revealed this morning.

Speaking at a ceremony to unveil the first volume of elderly historian Ahmed Shafeeq’s short stories at Nasandhuraa Palace Hotel, Nasheed said he was intimately familiar with Gaamadhoo prison and had wondered if the bones could belong to Anees (“Aihbalhey”) when he first heard of the discovery.

“The investigation team said the cemetery at Himmafushi was dug up and its soil was taken to the Gaamaadhoo area and these bones must have been brought from there,” he said, dismissing speculation that the bones could have been transferred from Himmafushi, the inhabited side of the island.

“I was watching with my own eyes when sand was brought from Himmafushi. I would know that it was not from that soil.”

President Nasheed spent three years in Gaamaadhoo prison for dissident journalism in opposition to the rule of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

In September 2009, the President’s Office asked police to investigate the discovery and samples of the 14 bone fragments were sent to Thailand for DNA analysis.

Nasheed revealed today that forensic examination has identified the age of the deceased, while a former prison guard, Mohamed Naeem, of Gaaf Dhaal Hoadhendhoo Muraka, has told the police investigation that Anees died in Gaamaadhoo prison.

Police have now gathered enough evidence to send the case for prosecution, he said, pledging the cases of 111 people reported as missing by Shafeeq would be investigated.

Keyodhoo Councillor Gasim Ahmed told Minivan News today that a 90-year-old man was the only remaining relative of Anees in Keyodhoo.

“I knew Anees very well,” he said. “He was playing with us when he broke his hand and that’s how he was called ‘Aihbalhey’.”

Gasim said that Anees’ father was still alive but had moved to another island.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said today that the investigation was still underway and details would be disclosed at a later stage.

Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair told Minivan News at the time that the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party had voiced concern over the disappearance of inmates.

“There were allegations that some were killed in jail and buried,” said Zuhair. “There were also allegations that some people were dropped in pits where they made lime for construction.”

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Death penalty and Shari’a are the answer to escalating violence in the Maldives, say MPs

Imposing the death penalty, following Shari’a, and harsher prison conditions are the best way forward for solving the increasing violence in Maldivian society, several MPs have stated.

Fares-Maathodaa MP Ibrahim Muththalib said the major problem faced by society today is the decision of the criminal justice system to ignore Shari’a. “We cast aside the Shari’a and adopted man-made sentencing laws”, he said, making today’s violent society possible.

“Instead of being put to death, murderers are allowed to languish in prisons, given the opportunity to get married and to procreate. We cannot stop the violence without stopping such practices. We cannot stop such problems without a death for death policy”, Muththalib told the Majlis.

“I believe that if you impose the death sentence on just two people in this country, there will no longer be anyone left who will kill. If you amputate the hands of two people in this country, there will be no more thieves left. We have to think about how we can establish these principles of Islam”, Muththalib said.

The debate began after an emergency motion tabled by Hoarafushi MP Ahmed Rasheed on Monday to discuss the violent murder of 81-year-old business man, Hussein Manik, on September 27 in Hoarafushi.

“Those who kill should be killed”, Rasheed said, introducing the motion. “We should amend our penal system to ensure that those who endanger the lives of others would be held in solitary confinement for life, and are never eligible for parole”, Rasheed told the Majlis.

If the murderers of Mohamed, or “any criminals of the sort” should ever return to Hoarafushi, he said, he would personally lead a campaign to provide justice to the people of the island. “I will not hesitate, even if it means that I personally get entangled in the law.”

Madaveli MP Mohamed Nazim agreed that the death penalty, as in the Shari’a, was the answer. “Islam is unequivocal that the penalty for death should be death”. The current violence in the country is a consequence of ignoring or violating the teachings of Islam, he said.

“Otherwise, had we maintained the principle of death for death the murderer would not be there to kill again, or to encourage others to kill. The problems we are confronting today is a consequence of ignoring this principle, which would have set an example for the Ummah and the nation’, he said.

Nazim also said there is no need to amend the country’s murder laws, as the death penalty already exists. “I do not see anything in the penal code that says the penalty for murder should be changed to 25 years imprisonment”.

Nazim said that unless and until the death penalty is imposed, as it is stated in the current penal code, the escalating violence in the Maldives could not be stopped.

Thoddoo MP Ali Waheed attributed the increase in violent crime to the lack of proper prisons. “People who should be behind bars are sitting around on the beaches, sucking on butts and all sorts of things – this is the result”, he said.

Drugs, agreed several MPs, were the main cause for the increase in violence in the Maldives. “We know that sometimes people can get intoxicated to such an extent that they become unaware of their own actions. Sometimes murder can be committed,” said Vilifushi area MP Riyaz Rasheed.

MPs themselves should set a good example, and allegations of intoxicating substances being found in their places of residence or their vehicles are not helping matters, Riyaz Rasheed said.

“Pictures of official delegations abroad show them drinking some sort of a yellow liquid”, he said. Unless such ways are amended, there would be no solution to the social problems of the Maldives today, Riyaz Rasheed said.

Maavashu member Abdul Azeez Jamal Abubakr suggested that religious scholars can make the most important contribution to the problems in society. Perjury, he said, is a major problem in Maldivian courts.

The gravity of such an act, as stated in Islam, should be made clear. “It is incumbent upon religious scholars to relay the ominous penalties that await such actions in Islam”, he said.

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Three suspects arrested in Manik murder investigation

Police have arrested three individuals in connection with the alleged murder of oil businessman Hussain Mohamed Manik, who found dead inside an abandoned house on Hoarafushi in Haa Alifu Atoll yesterday.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said it was “too early in the investigation for police to release information”, however newspaper Haveeru published the names of those it claimed were the suspects and said they were Hoarafushi natives of 18-25 years of age.

Manik”s alleged murder has gripped the country and triggered uproar among the islanders, who have blamed the incident on gang attacks and set several huts on fire in retaliation.

Media reported yesterday 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. An island official told Minivan News that there were no injuries on the outside the body.

President Mohamed Nasheed has meanwhile issued a statement of condolences to members of the bereaved family, while the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has “strongly condemned the violation of the right to life”, and called on “concerned state institutions” to “take strong action against such inhuman activities.”

Islanders have reported that oil is unobtainable on Hoarafushi since Manik’s death.

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