Saturday
20th Apr 2024
Dhivehi Edition
Abdul Rahman Rafeeu (Dhon Dhigu), a police officer who was convicted of engaging in same-sex relations with a Bangladeshi national, MD Alamgiri, has been transferred to a VIP jail cell.
Abdul Rahman was sentenced to 1 year and 1 month in jail, last September. He had been doing his time at the Maafushi Prison unit 2 cell, one of the ordinary prison wards.
However, on the orders of the government, he has been relocated to a room at the VIP wing of Unit 10, where he has air conditioning, a proper bed and leisure. Former presidents, President Mohamed Nasheed and President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Qayyoom had also stayed at a VIP wing in unit 10. All unit 10 wings are VIP, except for one.
The non-VIP wing at unit 10 is currently occupied by the accused parties of the May 6 attack.
While Abdul Rahman was given such privileges, the Prosecutor General’s Office has appealed at court to lower his punishment, from 1 year 1 month to 7 months and 7 days of incarceration.
While the Prosecutor General’s Office attempts to establish that a one year punishment for homosexuality might have been “too harsh”, they had chosen to prosecute all accused homosexuals under the penal code as alternative to the sexual offense law ensuring a lighter punishment.
The Sexual Offense Act also classified the act as a crime and prosecuting under the sexual offenses act would have incarcerated the offenders for a period of five to seven years.
Alamgiri, who was also prosecuted under the Article 411 of the Penal Code was sentenced to seven months in jail as he had confessed to his crime to strike a plea deal.
According to Article 1106 of the Penal Code, if an offender acknowledges guilt and expresses genuine remorse before trial, his baseline sentence will be mitigated two levels.