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Politics of death penalty: Putting Maldives in the dock
At a time when most of the world has rid itself of the death penalty, South Asia sadly remains an outlier. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan stubbornly persist with its implementation, to varying degrees. Against the evidence, they justify handing down death sentences on the claim that they will serve as an effective deterrent. It is only the smaller countries in the region that have either abolished the death penalty, as in the case of Nepal and Bhutan, or shunned executions for decades, as in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
In Sri Lanka, there have been no executions since 1976. Against the backdrop of a rise in crime, there have been calls to revive the implementation of the death penalty. So far, these have mercifully been resisted. Nearby, in the Maldives, executions are an even more distant memory. The last hanging took place more than 60 years ago. Now, however, that record is under threat.
As a political crisis convulses the island nation, with the government of President Abdullah Yameen facing calls for his allies in parliament to be removed, the death penalty is being used as a device to distract attention and look tough. The government’s argument is that the executions are needed to halt a wave of crime. A new facility is being built for this grim purpose, where lethal injections could be administered to three people already languishing on death row – they were convicted of murder in proceedings that fell short of international fair trial standards.
The planned executions in the Maldives follow a wave of repression over recent years. People’s freedom of expression has been criminalised through draconian legislation. Members of the political opposition have been intimidated and thrown behind bars for lengthy prison terms. Earlier this month, when a group of lawmakers tried to enter parliament, following efforts to pass a vote of no-confidence against the Speaker Abdulla Maseeh Mohamed, they were assaulted by soldiers who had laid siege to the building. More recently, the ruling party has turned its fire on the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief, Ahmed Shaheed.
The special rapporteur had retweeted news about the German parliament legalising same sex marriage. President Yameen’s Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) seized on Shaheed’s twitter activity to accuse him of “violating the tenets of Islam” and “spreading anti-Islamic activities.” In a chilling choice of words, the PPM called on all those “who love the Maldives” to take action against Shaheed and his “irreligious activities” – saying that he must “seek repentance.” The statement has triggered a series of online death threats against Shaheed.
It has long been the practice of repressive governments to justify their actions by selectively and cynically invoking law and order, nationalism, or religion. The Maldivian government claims that the death penalty is needed as a response to a recent crime wave. There is, however, no evidence that executions have a unique deterrent effect. Far from delivering justice, the death penalty is a cruel and irreversible act of vengeance. Moreover, executions are often the result of manifestly unfair trials.
We see this in the cases of the three men on death row in the Maldives. Hussain Humaam Ahmed was convicted of murder on the basis of an apparently coerced ‘confession’ which he later retracted. Last year, the UN Human Rights Committee raised the case with the Maldivian government, calling on it to halt Humaam’s execution until an appeal could be considered on his behalf. And last month, the UN body issued similar requests on behalf of the two other men on death row, Ahmed Murrath and Mohammed Nabeel, also convicted of murder.
As Agnes Callamard, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, has warned, the resumption of executions would be “a great setback for the country and entire region”. “To implement the death penalty after flawed trials would constitute arbitrary executions in clear violation of international law,” she added.
President Yameen must pull back from this reckless course and preserve the Maldives’ record of eschewing the death penalty. As a friend and neighbour of the Maldives, Sri Lanka can play a role here, given the two countries’ close social and economic ties. Sri Lanka should call on the Maldives not to make the mistake it has resisted for so long, and join it in formalising a moratorium, abolishing the death penalty, and setting an example for the rest of the region to follow.