CHENNAI: A criminal court has convicted two persons in connection with the murder of Maldives blogger Yameen Rasheed (29) on April 23, 2017.
There were six accused in the case. The court on Wednesday found Ismail Haisham Rasheed and Ahmed Zihan Ismail guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment. Four others were acquitted for want of evidence.
As a blogger, Rasheed vehemently criticised the political and religious establishment of the archipelago. The blogger was found with multiple stab wounds in the stairwell of his apartment on that fateful day. He died shortly after being taken to a hospital.
It has been stated that before his death the blogger received death threats for months from local gangs who appeared to hold radical religious views.
According to a report, his sister Aisha Rasheed recalled that her brother's writing centred around political, social and economic issues, including his views on religious extremism. He also questioned the targeting of young bloggers. The distinctively humorous and sarcastic tone of his work appealed to many in the Maldives.
"On 3 May 2017, the family submitted a case to the Civil Court, accusing the police of negligence to investigate the threats against him effectively. In September that year, the Civil Court judge, Abdul Nasir Shafeeq, refused to hear the case citing lack of jurisdiction. Through our lawyers, we then submitted a case to the High Court on 2 October 2017. The lawyers who represented the family are now in different positions at the Supreme Court, Judicial Service Commission, and various government tribunals. There has been no communication with the family since then. The NGO that helped the family was illegally de-registered. Other activists have now taken ‘an oath of silence’ after receiving official status through government positions," she wrote in Himal Southasian last year.
According to SunOnline International Yameen’s mother Mariyam Shafeega was asked if she wanted Qisas – the death penalty – for Haisham and Zihan.
Shafeega said she did not want to implement Qisas, and wanted Diya (financial compensation) instead, which can be used to do something good to honor her son’s memory.
“When he was alive, my son believed the right to life as a basic human right. Therefore, I don’t want Qisas,” she reportedly said.