The Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology has submitted a draft bill to the Attorney General’s Office to amend the law, allowing for the death penalty to be imposed on drug traffickers.

According to an online post to the government website ‘Sarukaaru‘ (Government), run by the President’s Office, which provides information on the work by all government ministries, the administration has decided to amend the Drugs Act to impose the death penalty on drug traffickers.

“The death penalty in the Maldives is only [applicable] for murder cases. Therefore, this is the first time such a severe punishment will be proposed in a case other than murder,” the site confirmed.

Under the current Act, the maximum penalty for drug smugglers is life imprisonment — a sentence of 25 years in prison. The penalty also includes a fine of up to MVR 10 million.

While the President’s Office has yet to comment, the ‘Sarukaaru‘ website said the bill provides for the death penalty being imposed for smuggling more than 500 grams of drugs.

If the weight, from the 139 drugs substances specified by the law, is met, and exceeded, and the person is convicted of drug trafficking, then the death penalty will be imposed, the website said.

The bill also contained several other amendments which include;

  • Circumstances that would constitute drug trafficking to include drug financing , as well as providing facilities and vehicles for drug trafficking
  • Additional powers to the Drug Court
  • Amendments to matters relating to rehabilitation

Although the death penalty has not been implemented in the Maldives since 1953, some, over the past 15 years, have been sentenced to death across nine murder cases.

The Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom administration drafted a law to execute those sentenced to death by lethal injection or by hanging, going so far as allocating resource and space to facilitate the carrying out of the sentence.

However, procedures were not implemented during his term, and Yameen later admitted that carrying out such a sentence had not been easy.

At a press conference last December, Homeland Minister Ali Ihusaan said the administration’s policy was to implement the death penalty and that he was looking into the matter.

Some agencies and organisations have expressed grave concern over the administration’s pursuit of the death penalty.