Home Minister: MDP administration freed 314 convicts serving life terms

Home Minister Ali Ihusan says the former Maldivian administration granted pardons to 314 people sentenced to life for drug trafficking.

He made the announcement during a press briefing on Tuesday afternoon.

According to Ihusan, the incumbent administration had looked into how people convicted of drug-related offenses were released from prison.

He was that what the authorities discovered was “alarming.”

“When we looked into this, we found that 314 people convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to life in prison were granted pardons over the past five years,” he said.

Expressing concern over the situation, Ihusan said that life terms are issued by courts based on clear evidence of guilt.

He said that he finds the fact that people convicted of such major offenses are walking free “alarming.”

“Such casual pardons for people found guilty and sentenced to life is deeply concerning to me,” he said.

Ihusan said that many of the inmates in prisons include pedophiles and sexual offenders, and that releasing them poses a threat to society.