First open hearing in slain Maldives blogger’s murder trial
Defence lawyers argued the murder charges were unclear.
30 Jul 2018, 9:00 AM
The first open hearing in the murder trial of slain blogger Yameen Rasheed took place Monday evening, more than a year after the case was sent for prosecution.
Preliminary hearings were held behind closed doors from September 2017 to April this year. The first open hearing was scheduled for June but was cancelled for the third time last Tuesday.
The six suspects in custody – Ismail Haisham Rasheed, Ahmed Zihan Ismail, Ismail Rasheed, Mohamed Dhifran, Hassan Shifaz, and Hussain Ziyad – deny the felony murder charges, an offence that carries the death penalty.
According to the prosecution, two of the suspects stabbed Yameen to death in the stairwell of his apartment on April 23 last year. The other suspects are accused of following Yameen and keeping watch outside.
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