Bill providing for executions by hanging submitted to Parliament

A bill on imposing and implementing the death penalty, providing for executions by hanging, was submitted to the People's Majlis today.

President Dr Mohamed Muizzu said in March this year that a special bill on implementing death sentences would be submitted during the current parliamentary term.

The bill, submitted on behalf of the government by Guraidhoo MP Hanaan Mohamed Rasheed, sets out the conditions that must be met to impose a death sentence in the Maldives, the procedures courts must follow when imposing the sentence, the state's obligations when carrying out executions, the rights of those sentenced to death, the circumstances and grounds that prohibit executions, and other rules and procedures relating to imposing and implementing the death penalty.

Under the bill, if a lower court sentences an offender to death as punishment for a crime, the country's higher courts must review all legal aspects of the ruling and the facts of the case.

It also states that, for an offender to be sentenced to death, all heirs of the murder victim must declare during the trial that they wish to seek qisas, or retribution, against the offender, and must maintain that position until the court imposes the death sentence.

The bill also sets out grounds on which executions must be postponed. These include:

• If the offender is pregnant, until she has given birth, recovered and her child has reached the age of 2

• If the offender is a woman, until her youngest child has reached the age of 2

• If the offender has applied for a review of the sentence, until the court rules on the review application

• If a case concerning the postponement of the execution has been submitted to the Supreme Court, until that court rules on the matter

• If the offender's health is below an acceptable level, until their condition changes and their health improves

• If the offender's mental health has deteriorated abnormally, until their condition changes and they return to sound mental health

Under the bill, executions may not be carried out in a place where they would be visible to the public.