Islamic party president Mohamed Nasheed
- Under sharia law, the death penalty can be administered to those who commit murder and crimes against the community, which includes apostasy, treason, rape, adultery and homosexuality. Amputation is the punishment prescribed for theft.
Here, we are getting news straight from the Islamic world ~ where in the west we are told there is no death penalty for leaving Islam - it is clearly an establish clause in Islamic law. No compulsion to Islam ~ is actually for non-Muslims. But once you join Islam - there is a compulsion - of which one of the penalties is death. Although many Islamic countries prefer imprisonment and torture - coupled with restrictions on travel.
Luckily the Maldives President is holding out for the moment - but if the Islamic party is successful - this could mean that Muslims and non-Muslim expats and tourists will be subject to the country's Sharia law. Remember westerners have already been imprisoned in places like Dubai for the crime of adultery - which included simply being with a man they were not married to - the young lady's boss.
The religious conservative Adhaalath Party has criticised President Mohamed Nasheed for saying the death penalty and amputation should not be included in the revised penal code.
In a rally last night at Dharubaaruge (convention centre), senior officials of the party said commandments of God could not be questioned, debated or altered.
"We changed the previous government because it defied Islam and opposed Islamic activities," said Assadullah Shafie. "If today he [President Nasheed] is directly trying to do things like this, I ask him to made amends. If he doesn't do it, I call on you beloved citizens to come out against it."
In his speech, Sheikh Hussein Rasheed Ahmed, the president of the party, said the president's remarks were regrettable, adding although the president did not have to listen to the party's advice on establishing ties with Israel as it was not a question of religion, death penalty in the penal code was a religious issue.
"Isn't this a religious problem? Islamic sharia is Islamic sharia. Things cannot be omitted from it...it doesn't need anyone else's opinion," he said.
In his weekly radio address on Friday, President Nasheed said he did not believe the Maldivian judiciary could deliver trials that were fair or just enough for capital punishment to be enforced.
Secular views
Sheikh Rasheed called on all MPs not to vote for the penal code without the death penalty and amputation.
A statement published on the party's website on Friday by Sheikh Rasheed states that, while Islam specified few punishments, Islamic law has proven to be the “most successful and most fair”.
"I do not envisage the penal code will be passed in any easy way. That is because people with secular views are not too few in the Majlis. When you say religion to them, they become nauseous and vomit,” said Rasheed.
Under sharia law, the death penalty can be administered to those who commit murder and for crimes against the community, which includes apostasy, treason, rape, adultery and homosexuality. Amputation is the punishment prescribed for theft.
During the parliamentary debate on the penal code, several MPs called for the introduction of the death penalty in the Maldives, arguing it was obligatory to enforce punishments stipulated in sharia law. The bill is now at committee stage for further review.
Speaking to Minivan News today, Mohamed Zuhair, president’s office press secretary, said while the government respected the Adhaalath Party’s views on religious matters, their statement was “ill-informed”.
Zuhair said the president was against the inclusion of the death penalty in the penal code because judiciaries in the modern world were not as “exacting or exhaustive” when compared to the Prophet Muhammed’s time.
He added that under the constitution, if a punishment was not specified, the law automatically reverted to sharia law. “Therefore it is not necessary to incorporate it in the penal code,” he said.
On the government's failure to consult the Adhaalath Party on Israel, a member of the coalition government, Zuhair said it was unnecessary as the decision was a political rather than religious concern.
Last month, the president announced the Maldives planned to normalise ties with Israel, much to the chagrin of the Adhaalath Party as well as a number of opposition parties who argued it was equivalent to condoning human rights abuses in the Middle East.
Soaring crime
Referring to recent prison riots, during which inmates set fire to Maafushi Jail, Rasheed wrote that the government had failed to establish peace and security in the country.
“Even with things as it is, with crime rising daily, with the jails full beyond capacity, without considering the rights of the public, everyone is raising their voices for the rights of convicts,” he wrote.
Rasheed said many expatriates, including doctors, nurses and teachers, were leaving the country because of theft and assault.
Justice did not exist in the Maldives as judges lacked independence, he continued.
He added the responsibility of the legislature was to pass laws that reflected the nation’s views.
Monkey business
“The law [penal code] will become an accurate compass that reveals the faith and devoutness of the members of the People’s Majlis,” wrote Rasheed, adding citizens were waiting impatiently to see how MPs voted on the legislation.
But, he said, if MPs failed, the responsibility would fall to the public who had elected them. While the Adhaalath Party presented candidates well-versed in religion for the parliamentary election, they lacked the money to campaign, wrote Rasheed.
The party failed to win any of the 77 seats in the May election.
“Today, those who rule over us, making laws and issuing judgements over us in the manner of monkeys are people we’ve elected who are just like us,” said Rasheed. “Since we elected them, to reform them, we have to first reform ourselves. If we don’t reform ourselves, we can only elect such people.”
He concluded his statement by writing that the debate over the penal code would most likely end at the Supreme Court. “But what we have to know is that even there, it is still people just like us.”
On the publication of the statement, Zuhair said the Adhaalath Party, a member of the coalition government, had not discussed the matter with the president’s office first.
Zuhair said the president’s office had sent a circular to all ministers requesting that they air any concerns with the relevant government party before going to the press.
Over the past year, several high-ranking officials have leaked letters intended for the president to the media beforehand, among them Dhiyana Saeed, the former attorney general, and Hassan Saeed, the former special advisor to the president.
On the process of consultation, the press secretary said, “The president is the executive. It’s consultation from the ministry to the president and not from the president to the ministry.”
Minivan
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