Gender Ministry praises High court verdict

Gender Minister Aishath Mohamed Didi, photo: Mihaaru

Male’, Maldives – Gender Ministry praises the verdict of the High Court to sentence Ibrahim Shah, husband of late Ziyaadhaa Naeem of GDH.Thinadhoo, who died while being treated at IGMH for injuries received due to domestic violence.

In a statement released by the ministry today, they have said that todays verdict was a big step in improvement of the criminal justice system.

Gender Ministry further said that even though the law states that marital rape is punishable, this is the first time that such a sentence has been passed and that this is a big step in protecting women’s rights.

They have also said that they completely support and are thankful for work the done by Prosecutor General and his office for the protection of women’s right.

Initially there were three charges on Shah. One being that of marital rape, reckless homicide, negligent homicide. In addition to this he was also charged for possession of pornographic images. The proceedings for these charges started in August of 2016 and was found not guilty of these by the Criminal Court in March last year.

These charges were reinstated at the High court by the government in April of last year. He was found guilty of the rape charges today. The other charges are still being investigated.