Aafiya sentenced to additional one-year in prison

The Criminal Court, on Monday, sentenced Aafiya Mohamed to one year and six days of imprisonment over non-compliance in connection with the death of her son Mohamed Ibthihaal.

Presiding Judge Mohamed Sameer attributed the verdict to Aafiya's numerous confessions of inflicting bodily harm on her three-year-old son who died of extensive injuries sustained due to abuse in 2015.

He noted that the sentence of one month and six days was being imposed under Section 120 of the Maldives Penal Code.

Aafiya was initially charged for non-compliance as per Section 88 of the previous iteration of the Penal Code, which listed a prison sentence of six months as the most stringent punishment.

The Criminal Court sentenced Aafiya under the current Penal Code as Act 59 of the Maldives Constitution grants convicts the right to receive the lesser punishment in the event that a legal amendment reduces the punishment of an offence between the time the crime is committed and the time the individual is sentenced.

The aforementioned verdict on non-compliance was delivered after the court convicted Aafiya to 20 years in prison for charges of first-degree homicide.

Although Aafiya initially confessed to the charges of first-degree homicide and non-compliance, she later revoked her confession and maintained that she was forced to confess under duress.

Judge Mohamed Sameer stated that Aafiya had accepted the charges in the presence of a lawyer, without any indication of being coerced.

He also highlighted that Aafiya had admitted to beating her child out of anger with intent to kill, on multiple occasions during the investigative process.

Referring to the aforementioned points, and the fact that she had confessed to the crime in a court of law during her remand hearing, the judge concluded that there was no evidence to back up Aafiya’s claims of a coerced confession.

In addition to Aafiya’s confession, Judge Sameer stated that the evidence against her was enough to convict her without a shadow of doubt.

The court decided against capital punishment for Aafiya as Islamic law states that parents cannot be punishable by death for the murder of their children.