Supreme Court upholds Hassan Fareed's death sentence

The Supreme Court on Sunday upheld the death sentence handed to Hassan Fareed, of Karankaa'aage in Fuvahmulah, for the killing of Abdulla Shuhad in January 2010.

The five-judge bench was led by Chief Justice Abdulghani Mohamed, who read the verdict. The court found no reason to change the rulings of the Criminal Court and the High Court, which had both sentenced Fareed to death for intentional murder.

The attack

According to the charges, Fareed went with a group to a junction where Bodufannu Magu meets Bahaaru Magu in Dhoondigan, Fuvahmulah, at about 9:30 pm on 27 January 2010. Shuhad, of Aasmaange, Dhoondigan, was sitting on a wall there with others. Fareed struck him once with a sharp weapon on the right side of the chest.

Shuhad died of his injuries in hospital the next night, 28 January 2010.

Ten years of appeals

The Criminal Court found Fareed guilty and sentenced him to death on 13 May 2015. He appealed to the High Court the following month, and the High Court upheld the verdict. In its ruling, the High Court said seven witnesses had testified that they saw Fareed strike Shuhad. Fareed took the case to the Supreme Court in 2017.

Fareed represented himself at the Supreme Court. He argued that two of the witnesses were biased: one had been hurt in the fight and another was related to Shuhad. He also said the police had mistreated him and that the investigation had procedural flaws, but he raised these points only after many hearings, when the case was close to its end.

What the court found

The Supreme Court said every witness who testified had named Fareed as the attacker, and that Fareed had been given the chance to question each of them. The medico-legal report showed that Shuhad died from a wound from a sharp object that pierced his heart.

The court said Fareed had gone to the scene carrying a weapon, which showed the attack was planned. It ruled that his intent to kill was proven beyond reasonable doubt under the standards of Islamic Sharia, and that the High Court was right to uphold the sentence under the law in force at the time.

At an earlier hearing, Shuhad's mother and father told the court by video link from Fuvahmulah that they wanted qisas, the death penalty in return for their son's death.

The Maldives has not carried out an execution since 1954.