Amnesty International calls to commute death sentences for two minors convicted of murdering Muheeth

Amnesty International has called upon the Maldivian authorities to commute the death sentences passed upon two minors convicted of murdering Abdul Muheeth of G. Veyru.

A statement by Amnesty International published on their website yesterday reminded the Maldivian authorities that the Maldives is State party to two UN treaties, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which forbid capital punishment for crimes committed by persons below 18 years of age.

"The authorities must immediately reverse these death sentences, and the prosecution must not try to uphold the death sentences in any appeals," the statement stated Polly Truscott Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia-Pacific Director to have said.

The statement warned the Maldivian authorities that the country is entering new and dangerous territory, and that imposing death sentences for crimes allegedly committed by children is alarming.

Muheeth was stabbed on the 19th of February 2012, around 1:50 am early Sunday morning, while he was sitting on a motorcycle in a blind alley opposite the Ministry of Finance. He died of his injuries hours later.

The two boys convicted for the murder had reached 18 years of age by the time they received the sentence. State raised charges against three minors for the Muheeth murder case, of whom, one was acquitted.