Do not support death penalty under current judicial system: Yameen

Former President Abdulla Yameen has said he does not support implementing the death penalty in Maldives under the country’s existing judicial system.

The death penalty was a key pledge of Yameen’s 2013 presidential campaign, and during his administration he announced plans to implement it in 2017.

At the time, the Home Ministry drafted regulations and prepared facilities for carrying out executions.

Speaking at a People’s National Front (PNF) meeting last night, Yameen said the Supreme Court has become a “seasonal place,” pointing to what he described as politically influenced verdicts.

He referred specifically to the court’s decision to quash the 25-year sentence of Dhiggaru MP and Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim, who was convicted in 2015 of corruption related to a procurement project.

Yameen claimed the verdict was overturned during the Solih administration due to political ties, and said that it was a “prepared order” by the court.

“The Supreme Court has ‘prepared’ the verdict in Nazim’s case. Appeal was not reached. The deadline for appeal had passed,” Yameen said.

He questioned whether any president could enforce capital punishment under such a system.

“These verdicts are given once all judicial processes are exhausted. But what president dares to rely on the existing judicial system to carry out or enforce such a verdict?” he asked.

Yameen said that while Islam allows Qisas (retaliation in kind), the flaws of the judiciary make it impossible to implement such principles fairly. 

“Noble things in Islam cannot be done because of this system,” he said, adding that mistakes by judges are ultimately blamed on the president.

According to regulations drafted during Yameen’s government, executions could be carried out by lethal injection or hanging, but only after all appeals are exhausted and if the victim’s heirs do not grant a pardon.

Supreme Court has upheld three death sentences in recent years, including the convictions of Hussain Humaan Ahmed for the murder of MP Dr Afrasheem Ali, Ahmed Murrath for the murder of lawyer Ahmed Najeeb, and Mohamed Nabil for the murder of Abdulla Farhad in Seenu Hulhudhoo.

Maldives last carried out the death penalty in 1953, when a man convicted of attempting to assassinate then-President Mohamed Ameen was executed.