The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declared that the Maldives will not enforce capital punishment since abandoning the practice 65 years ago.
According to the Ministry, the Maldives voted against the death penalty at the General Assembly of the United Nations at Geneva, Switzerland during the U.N ‘moratorium on the death penalty’ resolution held by the Human Rights Commission.
Minister of the President's Office, Ahmed Naseem was the representative to sign the agreement on behalf of Maldives.
The former President Yameen Abdul Gayoom had pledged and attempted to implement the death penalty during his regime. An execution chamber had also been established in Maafushi Prison in order to exercise the death penalty. However, former president Yameen had failed to enforce capital punishment during his five-year term.
According to statistics of Maldives Correctional Service, 18 individuals were placed on death row in the Maldives. The three courts of the judiciary had only upheld capital punishment for three of them: Hussain Humam Ahmed convicted of MP Dr. Afrasheem Ali’s murder, Ahmed Murrath convicted of killing prominent lawyer Ahmed Najeeb, and Mohamed Nabeel convicted of killing Abdulla Farhad
International organisations and world powers had earlier raised concerns over the Maldives’ return to capital punishment after nearly six decades of upholding de facto moratorium. The United Nations, European Union and Amnesty International, along with nations such as the United States, United Kingdom and Canada had called on to the former government to axe its decision to implement the death penalty.
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