Maldives Correctional Service has revealed that the conspirator behind the November 3, 1988 failed coup d'etat, Abdulla Luthfee, is due to be released today after completing his sentences.
Luthfee was the leader behind the attempted coup d'etat to overthrow the Maldives' government by taking over the National Security Service (NSS) with the help of armed militants from Sri Lanka's People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) on November 3, 1988. The attack caused the death of 19 Maldivians, including civilians and military officers. Luthfee and his partner, Sagar Ahmed Nasir, were initially sentenced to capital punishment for their crimes. However, then-President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom reduced their sentences to life imprisonment which, as per the Maldivian Constitution, amounts to 25 years.
With just four years left till the completion of his sentence, Luthfee fled the authorities on a trip to India to receive medical treatment. He lived in hiding for 9 years before he was apprehended again. Had he not fled, he would have completed his sentence in 2014.
After being in hiding for several years, he found it impossible to continue doing so and handed himself over at the Maldives Embassy in Sri Lanka following a local police operation there to identify and arrest people living without valid visas after the Easter bombings in the country in 2019.
Luthfee finished serving his life sentence in June this year. The remaining time in detention is time served for the sentence he received for absconding.
A Media Official at the Maldives Correctional Service stated that Luthfee has completed serving all sentences against him, and will subsequently be released some time today.
Meanwhile, Luthfee's accomplice (Sagar) Ahmed Nasir was freed in 2014 after he completed his 25 year prison sentence.
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