MALDIVES: AN ORDER ISSUED TO USE LETHAL INJECTION FOR EXECUTION

January 23, 2014: Home Minister Umar Naseer issued an order on Correctional Services to make preparations to implement death sentences, requiring the use of lethal injection for execution.
Speaking during the ceremony at the Ministry to sign the order, Umar said regulations and procedures for execution have been drafted. Death penalties cannot be put off due to the failure to enact relevant legislations, he added. "But death sentences handed to minors will be delayed until the person turns 18. We will also execute death sentences issued earlier," the Minister said.
The order requires the use of lethal injection for execution, and the penalty be carried out at Maafushi prison.
The latest death sentence was handed to Hussain Humam, the prime suspect in the murder of former Ungoofaru MP Dr Afrasheem Ali, who was found stabbed to death on the stairway of his apartment building on the night of 1 October 2012. Humam had denied the murder charges despite confessing to the crime in a previous hearing. But the court referred to his previous confession and found him guilty of the murder charges on 16 January 2014.
The last person to be executed in the Maldives after receiving a death sentence was in 1953 during the first republic of President Mohamed Ameen. Hakim Didi was charged with attempting to assassinate President Ameen using black magic. (Sources: haveeru.com, 23/01/2014)