Penal Code Bill amended for minors to defer criminal sentences

Penal Code Bill has been amended to state that all minors convicted of a criminal offence shall only carry out their sentences once they pass 18 years of age.

The parliamentary committee reviewing the Penal Code Bill said that their decision follows advice from the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM).

The chairman of the committee reviewing the Penal Code Bill, Bileidhoo MP Ahmed Hamza said that even though the bill states that minors shall not face criminal charges, the state can still press criminal charges against minors above 15 years of age, or if they had passed puberty, as per prescribed in Islamic Sharia. The age of maturity in the Maldives is 18 years.

“This has two ages. That is physically reaching puberty, the second is for the law to consider that person mature. The person may be sentenced to carry out a penalty even if the person is not 15, but the penalty will be carried out only once the person is 18,” MP Hamza said.

He said that the Islamic Ministry had advised the committee to set the age for the state to charge a person as 15 years and the age of holding a person responsible for their actions as 10 years, and that the committee has decided to include the age of maturity as 15 years. The current acting penal code states that the state shall be able to charge a minor above the age of 14 years.

Speaking at yesterday’s committee meeting, HRCM Commission Member Jeehan Mahmood said that the commission would advice for the Penal Code Bill to state that charges may only be taken up against a person after they pass the age of 18 years.

The committee’s Chairman MP Hamza however said that the penal code of an Islamic State cannot allows the sentences to be postponed as such and that the penal code shall stress on the implementation of sentences according to principles stated in Islamic Sharia.

Jeehan told the committee that imposing the death penalty on minors below the age of 18 would be against the international treaties the Maldives is party to, and that the country would face sanctions to the likes that countries such as Iran and Afghanistan are facing today.

“What will happen when we go against international treaties? The answer is that, perhaps we can see examples from what the other countries are facing. The sanctions faced by Afghanistan and Iran for example. We might face them too. This might be too far in the future. This might also be something that the State and the people of Maldives do not really want to think about right now,” said HRCM Commission Member Jeehan.

The members of the committee replied that the current draft of the bill will not cause for the death penalty to be carried out on a minor below the age of 18, and that even if a minor is convicted of murder, the bill requires that the penalty be carried out only after the person had passed the age of maturity.