BBC News, 22
August 2013
 |
| The Maldives observes elements of Sharia as well as English common law |
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Stories
A
15-year-old girl who was sentenced to 100 lashes for engaging in premarital sex
has had her punishment overturned by a Maldives court.
The High
Court ruled on Wednesday that the girl, whose stepfather is on trial for raping
her, had been wrongly convicted by a juvenile court of having premarital sex
with another man.
Premarital
sex is illegal in the Maldives, a popular tourist venue.
The case
caused outrage among rights groups who welcomed the latest ruling.
"We
are relieved that the girl will be spared this inhumane 'punishment' based on
an outrageous conviction, which we hope has also been quashed," said Polly
Truscott, Amnesty International's deputy Asia-Pacific director.
"No-one
should ever be prosecuted for sex outside marriage in the first place."
Ms Truscott
said that flogging amounted to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. She
called on the Maldives government to annul all outstanding flogging sentences.
In its
ruling the court said the sentence of the lower court was based on a confession
that the girl made while she was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder. It
said that she had been "unfit for trial" after the alleged rape.
The
Maldivian government appealed on behalf of the teenager following international
outrage in February to punish her with 100 lashes when she reached the age of
18.
The girl -
who cannot be named for legal reasons - was only charged after police investigating
the rape allegations discovered that she had been having consensual sex with
another man.
Dead baby
President
Mohamed Waheed said that he was "overjoyed" with the ruling, his
spokesman Masood Imad told the AFP news agency on Thursday.
Mr Imad
said: "It is the government's policy to protect victims, but we had to do
it within the framework of the law."
The case
was sent for prosecution after police were called to investigate a dead baby
buried on the island of Feydhoo in Shaviyani Atoll, in the north of the
country.
Her
stepfather was accused of raping her and impregnating her, then killing the
baby.
The legal
system of the Maldives, an Islamic archipelago with a population of some
400,000, has elements of Islamic law (Sharia) as well as English common law.
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