The government has submitted a landmark bill to the People’s Majlis establishing a comprehensive statutory framework for the sentencing and execution of the death penalty, designating hanging as the official method of capital punishment.
The legislation, sponsored on behalf of the administration by Guraidhoo MP Hanan Mohamed Rasheed, aims to institute formal rules and procedural guidelines governing how capital cases are adjudicated and enforced, balancing constitutional mandates, international standards, and the rights of both victims and convicts.
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Under the bill’s provisions, capital sentences will be carried out by hanging under the operational direction of the Maldives Correctional Service. Executions will be barred from taking place in public view.
Implementation will be overseen by a designated seven-member oversight panel, which will be mandated to determine the exact date and execution time within a maximum of 30 days from the panel’s official formation.
The proposed legislation also sets out statutory bars and mandatory temporary stays of execution, including:
- Pregnancy and infant care: Executions involving pregnant convicts will be stayed until delivery, recovery, and until the child reaches two years of age.
- Nursing mothers: Female convicts caring for an infant will receive a stay until the child attains two years of age.
- Medical condition: Stays will be granted on certified mental, medical, or other grounds recognized by law.
In addition to enforcement mechanisms, the bill codifies the legal prerequisites required before a court can impose a capital sentence, defines the state’s legal and human-rights obligations, and outlines the statutory rights guaranteed to individuals facing capital punishment.
The legislative push arrives as the state steps up capital prosecutions following major revisions to criminal law. Under the Third Amendment to the Drugs Act, which came into effect on March 6, 2026, prosecutors have pursued the death penalty against 17 individuals across 11 separate trafficking cases, official Right to Information (RTI) records obtained by MV+ show.
According to disclosures from the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO), an additional 94 individuals are currently being prosecuted under provisions carrying mandatory life imprisonment without parole.
All 11 capital cases remain in preliminary stages before courts of first instance. Because none of the trials have concluded, no capital sentences have been imposed, and none have triggered the mandatory sentencing review before the Supreme Court of the Maldives, where any death sentence must be unanimously affirmed before execution.
Under the amended legal framework, all 111 individuals facing either capital charges or natural-life sentences are legally precluded from plea bargains, charge reductions, or presidential pardons. The statutory threshold for the death penalty applies to offenses involving more than 350 grams of cannabis, 250 grams of diamorphine (heroin), or 100 grams of other Schedule One illicit drugs, replacing the prior 25-year maximum ceiling.
The government’s stance on capital punishment has drawn scrutiny over the Maldives’ long-standing de facto moratorium on executions, which dates back to 1953. In April, Minister of Homeland Security, Labour and Technology Ali Ihusaan dismissed suggestions that the administration was using the death penalty for political gain, stating that enforcement would move forward once the judiciary settled execution frameworks.
Human rights organizations have strongly opposed resuming executions. A coalition of ten local and international bodies, including Human Rights Watch and the International Federation for Human Rights, has urged authorities to maintain the moratorium and repeal capital drug provisions.
The last judicial execution in the Maldives took place in 1953, when Hakim Didi was hanged on Dhoonidhoo island after being convicted of using black magic in an attempt to assassinate the country’s first president, Mohamed Amin Didi. The Maldives has maintained a de facto moratorium on capital punishment ever since, with no executions carried out in over 70 years
