The Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) has appealed the decision by the Criminal Court of the Maldives to acquit two of the six people charged with the murder of blogger Yameen Rasheed.
PGO had pressed charges against six suspects believed to have been involved with plotting and carrying out the murder of Yameen Rasheed, who was brutally stabbed to death on April 23, 2017, at the stairwell of his residence in Male' City. In January, the Criminal Court sentenced Ismail Haisham Rasheed and Ahmed Zihan Ismail to life in prison after finding them guilty of murdering Yameen with a sharp object. However, the court found the other four suspects Mohamed Dhifran, Hassan Shifaz, Ismail Rasheed, and Hussain Ziyad not guilty of the charges.
PGO revealed it has appealed the decision to acquit Mohamed Dhifran and Ismail Rasheed of the murder charges. However, the acquittal of Hassan Shifaz and Hussain Ziyad has not been appealed.
In the verdict delivered by the Criminal Court in January, a financial compensation of USD88,888 was set for the family of Yameen Rasheed, to be paid by those found guilty of the murder. Although the heirs requested the death sentence, Yameen's mother told the court she wishes to accept the financial compensation, as Yameen strongly believed in the right to life. The court sentenced the two men to 20 years in prison, as all the heirs failed to unanimously agree on giving the death sentence as retributive justice under the Islamic punishment of Qisas.