Murder, kidnap, terrorism suspects to be denied right to silence

The National Security Committee has decided that the right to remain silent cannot be exercised by murder, kidnap and terrorism suspects.

The restrictions on this right - guaranteed by the Constitution - have been included in Article 5 (b) of the Criminal Procedures Bill, which is presently under review by the committee.

Eight crimes are mentioned in Article 5 (b) of the Criminal Procedures Bill for which the right to remain silent cannot be exercised. They are murder, assault which results in serious injury, assault which results in the loss of an individual’s body part, terrorism, kidnap, rape, sexual abuse of minors, and production of counterfeit money.

Suspects of these crimes are also required to comply with requests for fingerprints, signatures, handwriting samples, urine samples, and DNA tests.

The Criminal Procedures Bill states that suspects of these crimes cannot meet with family members, even in the presence of a lawyer, within the first 36 hours of detention.

Commenting on the bill, High Court Judge Abbas Shareef said, “Investigative bodies should be allowed to use their discretion in restricting meetings. Article 16 of the Constitution states that restriction on rights should be kept to a minimum. Depending on the case, the police may be able to grant the right to a lawyer within 24 hours. Presently, even in this situation, the person would be detained for 36 hours,” he said.

Today’s committee meeting to review the Criminal Procedures Bill was attended by police officers, officials of High Court, Criminal Court, Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Service (DPRS), and Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM).