New bill sets jail term up to 20 years for ‘Jihad’
The new draft, submitted to the People’s Majlis on Monday, metes out a jail term of 17-20 years for departing the country to join a foreign war. Any individual caught attempting to leave the country with the same intent could be jailed for 10-15 years.
07 Jul 2015, 10:00 PM
Zaheena Rasheed
The Attorney General’s Office has overhauled a first draft of a draconian anti-terrorism bill and specified some 14 offences as acts of terror, including joining or attempting to leave the Maldives to join a war in a foreign country.
The new draft, submitted to the People’s Majlis on Monday, proposes a jail term of 17-20 years for joining a foreign war. Any individual caught attempting to leave the Maldives with the same intent could be jailed for 10-15 years.
The bill also permits extensive surveillance of terror suspects.
More than a hundred Maldivians are thought to have left the Maldives to fight with Islamic State and Jabhat Al-Nusra in Syria and Iraq. The two groups are designated as terrorist organizations by the U.S.
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