High Court upholds death penalty for Shanoon in Ziyadam murder case

The High Court has upheld the death sentence imposed on Mohamed Shanoon for the 2015 murder of Ali Ziyadam in L. Mundoo.

The verdict was delivered on Thursday by a three-judge panel, which unanimously affirmed the Criminal Court’s ruling that found Shanoon guilty of intentional murder.

Ziyadam was killed on the night of 20 March 2015 following an altercation near the island’s temporary shelter. Prosecutors said he was attacked with a knife and later succumbed to his injuries.

In 2023, the Criminal Court convicted two individuals in connection with the case. Shanoon was found guilty of intentional murder and sentenced to death under Qisas, while Ali Sifaam was convicted as an accomplice to murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Sifaam appealed his conviction, but the High Court upheld the sentence in 2024, finding no fault in the lower court’s decision.

Although Shanoon did not appeal the death sentence, Maldivian law requires all death penalty cases to be reviewed by the High Court and the Supreme Court before any sentence can be carried out. As a result, the state submitted the Criminal Court’s judgment to the High Court for review.

In its ruling, the High Court stated that the evidence presented in the case did not reveal any legal or Islamic jurisprudential basis to conclude that the Criminal Court had erred in convicting Shanoon of intentional murder.

The court also found that the lower court had obtained the views of the victim’s heirs regarding the death penalty in accordance with legal requirements and Islamic principles.

According to the prosecution, the incident stemmed from a dispute over the distribution of home-brewed alcohol produced by three individuals.

Prosecutors told the Criminal Court that on the night of the attack, Ziyadam was involved in an altercation with another individual near the temporary shelter when Shanoon and Sifaam arrived and attacked him with a bladed weapon, inflicting injuries to his neck, back and thigh.

The prosecution further alleged that after Ziyadam fled into the shelter, the two men followed him inside and continued the assault.

Court records also state that while bystanders were transporting Ziyadam to hospital, Shanoon allegedly threatened the victim’s father.

With the High Court now affirming the sentence, the case will proceed to the next stage of judicial review required for death penalty cases under Maldivian law.