Malé, Maldives – Prominent lawyer Nazim Sattar has been sentenced to three months and 26 days of house arrest after he plead guilty to homosexuality charges.
The Criminal Court sentenced Nazim, who is also the younger brother of Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, yesterday, after he was charged with engaging in homosexuality following a leaked video showing him engaging in sexual acts with Bangladeshi national, MD Alamgir, to which he plead guilty during the first hearing.
As per the Penal Code, Nazim’s crime subjected him to a jail sentence of nine months and 18 days, as he was married whilst he engaged in homosexuality.
However, he was only sentenced to one month and 28 days in prison, which was further decreased in severity due to his admission of guild and vow to never repeat such an offence. This paired with his request for house confinement instead of a jail term, his final sentence became three months and 26 days in house confinement,
Nazim also issued a public apology, expressing repentance and regret for his acts.
“I am admitting to this crime as I am an offender with respect to the case in addition to also being a victim as I was blackmailed for money,” he had said.
Alamgir, who was also seen with Nazim in the view of the pair together, was sentenced to seven months and seven days in jail on 31st August.
Apart from Nazim, Alamgir was seen having same sex relations with several several Maldivians including multiple prominent figures of the country, in a string of videos that were leaked.
Authorities have since identified some of them, which has since come to light to be former MP Mohamed Nasheed (not Speaker Nasheed), former Police officer Abdul Rahman Rafeeu (Dhondhigu), an Imam and a former high ranking member at the National Center for the Holy Quran, among others.
