Death penalty implementation only after ensuring confidence in system: Ihusan

Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusan stated yesterday that the current government will implement the death penalty in the Maldives only after ensuring full confidence in the justice system.

The current government's stance is to implement the death penalty.

The Minister stated that he will commence implementation after completing all required preparatory work and conducting careful examination of the matter. He assured that he will proceed with the implementation within the framework of the country's laws and regulations.

In response to concerns raised by both local and international agencies, Minister Ihusan stated in a press conference yesterday that the first step before implementing the death penalty is to ensure that the sentenced convict is afforded all the rights they are granted within the justice system.

The Minister stated that the government would proceed with this initiative in collaboration with both local and international agencies.

"Has the integrity of the entire system been ensured? And does everyone have full confidence in the system? The first thing we will do is to ensure that," Minister Ihusan said.

The Minister stated that further proceedings would be carried out only after gaining that assurance.

The Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences of four individuals.

Former President Abdulla Yameen's administration had also attempted to implement three of these sentences, but it was not carried through. The government at the time even tried to implement the death penalty by lethal injection instead of through hanging, as first suggested. However, death penalty remained unimplemented by the end of his term in office.

Former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's government did not make attempts to implement the death penalty.

The last time the death penalty was implemented in the Maldives was in 1953, with this year marking 71 years of a moratorium of the death penalty in the country.

Although the Penal Code in the Maldives stipulates the death penalty as a punishment for intentional killings, there is considerable external pressure against the use of this punishment.