PG to meet Goidhoo victims, explain withdrawal of case against muezzin

Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem is scheduled to travel to B. Goidhoo where he will meet with the multiple sexual abuse victims who have accused Ali Rasheed, a muezzin, of molesting them as children, and explain to them and their families the reason behind the decision by the Prosecutor General’s Office to withdraw the case from High Court.

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 had appealed the verdict with the High Court, which announced the conclusion of appeal hearings, which were held behind closed doors, on January 19.

The victims had been braced for the High Court verdict, when the PG’s Office, on Monday, announced that it had withdrawn the case.

Speaking to Sun regarding the decision, media officer Ahmed Shafeeu said that the investigation into the decade-old case had been based on the standards set for the old Constitution. He said that not one piece of evidence collected in the investigation fit standard of evidence required to prove a criminal offense under the new Constitution.

He said that the State could not pursue the case at High Court unless it violated the Constitution, and had therefore decided to withdraw the case to avoid such a violation.

Shafeeu said that PG Shameem intended to travel to the island where the crimes took place where he will meet with the victims and their families and personally explain the reason why the PG’s Office had been forced to withdraw the case.

The children who have accused Ali Rasheed of molesting them are now adults. The Parliament’s Human Rights and Gender Committee, following his 2019 acquittal, held an inquiry into State’s response to the case, and found that no trauma support had been provided to the victims.