Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

, though the last execution was carried out in 1952, when the country was a British protectorate. The only legal method of execution is

lethal injection Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium) for the express purpose of causing death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but t ...

. Crimes punishable by death include murder, adultery, apostasy, terrorism, and treason, though the punishment is not mandatory for any crime. In 2014, the Maldives updated its existing death penalty regulations, which had been in place for 60 years, to allow the death penalty to be applied to children from the age of seven. Children who are sentenced to death can be legally executed once they turn 18. The change was condemned by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. In 2016, convicted murderer Hussain Humaam Ahmed was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in the Maldives, but the execution was postponed following international calls for clemency. The execution was rescheduled twice in 2017 alongside the executions of two other people, though both dates past without any executions taking place; no explanation was given regarding this. there were 18 individuals under a sentence of death in the Maldives. The Maldives voted against the United Nations moratorium on the death penalty in 2007 and 2008, voted in favour in 2010, abstained from voting in 2012 and 2014, and voted against it again in 2016 and 2018. They continued to vote against it in 2020, 2022 and 2024.

References

{{Asia in topic, Capital punishment in

Human rights abuses in the Maldives