No rape victims are treated as perpetrators in Maldives- PG

Prosecutor General’s Office has stated that no rape victims or victims of any form of sexual abuse are tried in court as perpetrators in the Maldives.

Speaking to Miadhu Daily in view of the misinformation spread in some of the international media that a rape victim of the age of 15 could face public flogging in the Maldives, Assistant Public Prosecutor of the state Prosecutor General’s Office Hussain Nashid said that the state will not treat the 15 year old girl as a perpetrator.

“However the girl has repeatedly confessed in her statements during the investigation that she had premarital relations with another man a number of times. Fornication is a crime. So the crime of fornication will be tried,” he said.

Minister of Islamic Affairs, Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed said that Allah is the most merciful to His creation and every penalty revealed in Islam to crimes are a mercy to mankind. He said no man or organisation have the authority to challenge the rulings and penalties of the Islamic Shari’ah.

“Every single punishment prescribed in Islam was prescribed to destroy the roots of all crimes. So those who make a mockery of these punishments are none other than those who support and advocate crime. Such people are the enemies of the whole of mankind, but in Islam always charged are the people who does the mockery, not the victim” he said.

It is understood that some of the international media has been reporting false news about the situation of Maldives labeling the country as a extremist Islamic nation implementing harsh laws.