Maldives Police To Arrest 38 Men After Gay Sex Videos Leaked On Social Media
Image: Commissioner of Police Mohamed Hameed
A month after after gay sex videos and screen grabs of men having sex with other men leaked on social media, the Maldives police have arrested four persons and said it intends to charge 34 other men. Those arrested include a police officer and the brother of former President and current speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed.
If convicted the men face up to eight years in prison and 100 lashes.
Rights organisations have slammed the police for the crackdown on the LGBTQI community in an effort to appease extremist groups in the country.
Gay Sex Videos Leaked
The gay sex videos and screen grabs were leaked on social media last month. Following a public outcry, the police arrested a Bangladeshi national on July 12, 2022. He was accused of filming himself having sex with other men.
Commissioner of Police Mohamed Hameed told local media that they had identified 38 men who had engaged in sexual relations with the Bangladeshi national. This included politicians, prominent businessmen, and law enforcement officials.
The police said they would prosecute all the men identified in the videos. Commissioner Hameed said that the police have seized the passports of 18 men and imposed travel bans on them. The police have also informed the workplaces of the men identified in the videos, leading to the men being suspended or dismissed from work.
Human Rights Watch accused the police of leading a politically motivated investigation. The organisation demanded that police should drop the cases and stop trying to identify the men in the videos who were engaged in consensual sexual intercourse.
Politically Motivated Investigation
“The Maldives authorities should immediately drop the unjust and apparently politically motivated investigations, and instead abide by international standards on rights protections,” Graeme Reid, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
“The government should repeal laws criminalizing consensual same-sex relations, which discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens, migrants and tourists, and are a recipe for abuse.”
The Maldives penal code was amended in 2014 and criminalises same sex relations. Under the penal code, sexual relations with a person of the same sex is punishable with up to eight years in prison. There is additional penalty of 100 lashes under the country’s Islamic Sharia laws.
“The arrest of four men for consensual same-sex conduct shows the arbitrary nature of these discriminatory laws. The law leaves people open to blackmail and other abuse, and easily becomes a political tool in which those prosecuted bear the brunt of the abuse,” added Reid.
