Victims await High Court verdict on Goidhoo muezzin as appeal hearings end

High Court, on Sunday, concluded appeal hearings over the acquittal of Ali Rasheed, a muezzin in B. Goidhoo accused of sexual abuse of multiple children in the island.

Ali Rasheed, Bluerosege, Goidhoo, is accused of molesting multiple children who he taught Quran to in private residences as well as the island’s mosque.

He had stood trial following an abuse case which came to light in 2006. The trial had dragged on at the Criminal Court for over a decade, before the court issued a “not guilty” verdict on October 1, 2019.

The State appealed the verdict with the High Court, which held the hearings behind closed doors.

The High Court concluded the hearings this Sunday, and is braced to issue its verdict.

Many of children who accuse Ali Rasheed of molesting them are now adults. The Parliament’s Human Rights and Gender Committee, following his 2019 acquittal, held an inquiry into the allegation of lack of trauma support for the victims by the State.