Maldives should repeal new death penalty regulation: UN rights office

The United Nations human rights office has urged Maldives to repeal the new regulation that provides for death penalty in the country.

Ravina Shamdasani, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), voiced concern over this new regulation at a press conference today in Geneva.

She noted that the new regulation effectively overturns a 60-year moratorium on the use of capital punishment in the Maldives.

“We urge the Government to retain its moratorium on the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, particularly in cases that involve juvenile offenders and to work towards abolishing the practice altogether,” she said.

Shamdasani further noted that the new regulation means that children as young as 7 can now be sentenced to death.

“According to the new regulation, minors convicted of intentional murder shall be executed once they turn 18. Similar provisions in the recently ratified Penal Code, allowing for the application of the death penalty for crimes committed when below the age of 18, are also deeply regrettable,” she said.