Teenage Maldives girl flogged for ‘premarital sex'
Maldives court has sentenced a 15-year-old alleged rape victim to 100 lashes and eight months under house arrest after she admitted having had premarital sex in a separate incident, The child's stepfather faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of rape and a murder charge, after he allegedly killed a baby which resulted from his rape of his step-daughter. The premarital sex charge against the teenager has been condemned by rights groups and the government has urged leniency towards the girl, saying she had been traumatised by the repeated rapes by her stepfather. Zaima Nasheed, a spokesperson for the juvenile court, said the girl was also ordered to remain under house arrest at a children's home for eight months.But during investigation, the 15-year-old was accused of having pre-marital sex with another man. She is now being sentenced to eight months of house arrest and to 100 lashes,
President Mohamed Waheed’s spokesman Masood Imad told AFP in January that the girl should be treated as a victim rather than a perpetrator of a crime.The case was sent for prosecution after police were called to investigate a dead baby buried on the island of Feydhoo in Shaviyani Atoll, in the north of the country.
In September a Maldivian court ordered the public flogging of a 16-year-old who confessed to premarital sex.We are very surprised that the government is not doing anything to stop this punishment - to remove it altogether from the statute books. This is not the only case. It is happening frequently - only last month there was another girl who was sexually abused and sentenced to lashes. He said he did not know when the punishment was last carried out as people were not willing to discuss it openly.
Maldives court has sentenced a 15-year-old alleged rape victim to 100 lashes and eight months under house arrest after she admitted having had premarital sex in a separate incident, The child's stepfather faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of rape and a murder charge, after he allegedly killed a baby which resulted from his rape of his step-daughter. The premarital sex charge against the teenager has been condemned by rights groups and the government has urged leniency towards the girl, saying she had been traumatised by the repeated rapes by her stepfather. Zaima Nasheed, a spokesperson for the juvenile court, said the girl was also ordered to remain under house arrest at a children's home for eight months.But during investigation, the 15-year-old was accused of having pre-marital sex with another man. She is now being sentenced to eight months of house arrest and to 100 lashes,
President Mohamed Waheed’s spokesman Masood Imad told AFP in January that the girl should be treated as a victim rather than a perpetrator of a crime.The case was sent for prosecution after police were called to investigate a dead baby buried on the island of Feydhoo in Shaviyani Atoll, in the north of the country.
In September a Maldivian court ordered the public flogging of a 16-year-old who confessed to premarital sex.We are very surprised that the government is not doing anything to stop this punishment - to remove it altogether from the statute books. This is not the only case. It is happening frequently - only last month there was another girl who was sexually abused and sentenced to lashes. He said he did not know when the punishment was last carried out as people were not willing to discuss it openly.
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