Supreme Court upholds life sentence of expatriate in murder conviction

Supreme Court has today upheld the life sentence served to Kamarul Islam, a Bangladeshi convicted of killing another expatriate in Male'.

Video footage from the scene of death of Bangladeshi victim Muneerul Islam in 2012 shows Kamarul to be the last person to have entered the place. Kamarul, who worked in ADh. Dhangethi, came to Male' and went to the location where Muneerul was, and then returned back to Dhangethi.

In the case, when murder charges were first pressed against Kamarul, the Criminal Court found him not guilty as there is no direct evidence that he committed the crime.

However, the State appealed the case at the High Court, which found Kamarul guilty. Muneerul's family sought the death penalty as well as restitution. However, in Islamic Shariah, only one of the two can be opted for.

The High Court so sentenced Kamarul to a 25 year prison sentence, stating that the benefit in the case should go to the accused as the family had not decided between the two options. He was also sentenced to pay MVR 133,333.33 as restitution.

Kamarul appealed the High Court ruling at the Supreme Court. In today's hearing, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court's verdict. Some of the evidence they took into account is Kamarul's footprints being found at the scene of death, and his fingerprint on a book in the same room.

The ruling says that CCTV footage shows Kamarul entering the house, as well as being the last person to be seen with Muneerul. The memory card of Muneerul's phone was also found in Kamarul's possession.

The verdict further reads that it has been proven that Kamarul came to Male' with the intention of killing Muneerul, and had attacked him multiple times with a knife.

The judges, however, said that the death penalty cannot be given in this case. The main reasoning for this is procedural inconsistencies in the case. The verdict further said that Police had acted against acceptable discipline when dealing with Kamarul.

During the investigative stage, Kamarul had provided a confession. However, there is no video recording of this statement, and instead only a signed document was produced. He also did not have legal representation at the time of the confession, nor was he informed of his right to remain silent.

The Judge said that such a statement taken from an illiterate person who is unaware of local laws can be believed to have been taken under coercion. As such, the statement was not accepted in court. They also did not accept the knife and shirt police had found near the T-Jetty based on this statement.

The Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty cannot be given in this case as in Islamic Shariah, the death penalty cannot be given in cases where there is any amount of doubt. Due to this, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the High Court's decision and retain the life sentence against Kamarul. However, the apex court rejected the High Court's reasoning in having passed this sentence.

Presiding Judge Dr Azmiralda Zahir stated that in Islamic Shariah, it is the family alone who can decide between the death penalty, restitution or pardon.