Criminal Court has, on Thursday, sentenced 14 out of 15 people charged for staging a protest at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) following the arrest of former President Mohamed Nasheed, to 3 months in jail. While the sentence is to be implemented 3 years from today, if they do not commit another offence during the 3-year period, the sentence will not be imposed on them.
The sentence issued today in Criminal Court states that the protesters had assembled in front of the departure gate. The sentence added that the defense lawyers had not been able to provide sufficient proof to back their claims.
The sentence was issued on Male’ City Deputy Mayor Shifa Mohamed, Yuman, Zahra Moosa, Shameema Adam Fulhu, Shafiyya Zubaira, Mohamed Ibrahim Manik, Mariyam Zubaira, Khadeeja Shadhiya, Fathimath Rasheed, Fareesha Ahmed, Aminath Zimna, Aminath Zahra, Aishath Mamdhooha and Aminath Dhumaina Irshad.
One additional respondent had been quoted in the case, but he had not been sentenced as he had not been in Court.
The state had passed reduced charges in the case. The charges had initially called for a six month jail or house arrest or MVR 150 as damages, as per the previous penal code. The new penal code states that the crime calls for a sentence of between 24 days to four months as punishment.
Airport protestors get 3-month imprisonment sentence
