GDh. Atoll, Maldives – Alleged child sex offender Mohamed Ahmed of Vincent, GDh. Gadhdhoo, was released from jail today.
Mohamed Ahmed was elected as the council President while he was under the custody of the police for three charges of child sexual offences.
Maldives Correctional Service (MCS) informed that Mohamed Ahmed was released today.
Mohamed Ahmed has been charged with sexually assaulting a minor in 2015 during his council Presidency; additionally charged with exposing a minor to pornographic material, possession of pornographic material in 2020.
The accusations made in 2015, are still in the Gahdhoo Magistrate Court. These were still ongoing when he was elected as the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM)’s candidate for Gadhdhoo Council President by the Local Council Election held at April 10.
PPM and PNC released a statement on 18 March 2021 addressing this matter. In the statement, the party stated that the legal team of PPM is investigating the issue regarding the charges against their candidate for Gadhdhoo constituency. The opposition coalition said that they did not condone and will not tolerate sexual crimes and will take action. However, there were no further updates from the matter from the opposition parties.
The Elections Commission (EC) President Ahmed Shareef said in a statement to the press that having charges against an alleged crime is not grounds for prohibition from running for office.
