Luthfee completes life sentence in connection to 1988 coup

Abdulla Luthfee, H. Haajaraage, who led the 1988 coup d'état attempt in the Maldives with assistance from Tamil mercenary group that saw the death of 19 Maldivians, has completed serving his 25-year prison sentence in connection to the case.

Luthfee was first sentenced to death in connection to the coup which attempted to overthrow then-president Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom’s administration. However, Maumoon, later commuted his sentence to life imprisonment. As per the law, a life sentence amounts to 25 years.

Following the completion of his 25-year prison sentence in connection to the case, Luthfee is now serving a seven-month and six days prison sentence delivered two years ago for fleeing when he was permitted to travel overseas while serving a life sentence for his role in the 1988 attack for medical purposes.

Luthfee was serving a life sentence for his role in the 1988 attack when he was issued a one-year travel document to travel to India for medical treatment at his own expense by the Home Ministry on January 16, 2010.

Criminal Court, in 2012, ordered Maldives Police Service and Maldives Correctional Service to locate and arrest Luthfee to enforce his sentence. An Interpol red notice seeking Luthfee’s arrest was issued subsequently.

Nevertheless, Luthfee remained at large for nearly a decade, before surrendering himself to officials at the Maldivian embassy in Colombo on May 1, 2019 amid security sweeps in Sri Lanka following the Easter bombings on April 21, 2019.

He was extradited to Maldives on July 9, 2019, and was charged with fleeing a detention facility.

Luthfee pled guilty to the charge. As a result, he received a lighter sentence of seven months and six days.

The foiled coup of November 3, 1988 to overthrow former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s administration killed 19 Maldivian citizens; eight officers and 11 civilians.

Luthfee had scoured around Male’ City alongside the Tamil mercenaries while armed with guns. They breached the houses of some cabinet ministers in an attempt to locate them.

When the coup failed, Luthfee alongside some of the mercenaries, attempted to flee on a vessel belonging to the state’s shipping company, MSL’s MV Progress Lite. However, the Indian armed forces which assisted the Maldives in foiling the coup attacked the vessel to sink it. They caught Luthfee and the mercenaries aboard and also rescued the Maldivian citizens they took as hostages.

Sagar Nasir, another Maldivian who participated in the coup alongside Luthfee, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in connection to the case. It has been years since he has been freed after completing his sentence.