Thoughts on the apostasy case
I believe the acquittal of president Gayoom on the charge of apostasy was an important milestone in the process of providing fair and inalienable rights to all Dhivehin and implementation of the rule of law in this country.
The public was of the opinion, and rightly so too, that this was nothing but a rancid mixing of religion and politics concocted by Adaalath party to oust Gayoom before the election. Yes, that was their intent and everyone was half expecting (but had great doubt) a court ruling making Gayoom ineligible to stand for candidacy.
Let us imagine for a minute that the judges found Gayoom guilty of apostasy. What would we then be talking about today? Would we move on to declare Gayoom and his immediate family stateless under clause "Raa" of article 9 of the constitution?
You see, we Maldivians don't really think that much further than the immediate consequence of our actions. And it is strange that the charge is popularly referred to as Gayoom being not a Sunni Muslim and not as apostasy or 'irtidad'. What other type of Muslim is he then? As far as I know the charges brought against him puts him squarely on the seat of apostasy and nothing else.
The sheer absurdity of the case aside, this was an important one for many other reasons. One of which is that the verdict reached by the judges will hopefully be considered a pivotal decision and used as a benchmark based on which future such cases can be tried. It has provided the first glimpse of how the constitution can be interpreted by the supreme court. Surely future apostasy cases, should there be any (and there is no reason to doubt otherwise), must consider the case of Adaalath vs. Gayoom of 2008.
Yes, this case is, in my opinion, a victory for the liberal voices of this country. It should give some light of hope for all Dhivehin regardless of whether they hold other religious beliefs or not. As for me, this just goes to prove how terribly absurd are some clauses of the constitution.
I admit Gayoom's far-reaching arms of influence were probably instrumental in winning him the case. But I still believe we should respect the verdict and that it should be marked in history as one of the most damaging losses for fundamentalist religious factions in the country.
Yes, in failing to win the case, Adaalath has stabbed the stake they were sharpening to put through Gayoom's chest into their own.
M | October 3, 2008 8:38 PM | Reply
wow! a case where zaeemu winning is a good thing! lesser of 2 evils eh?
hameedh | October 3, 2008 11:41 PM | Reply
i am filing a case at the aspirin court that maumoon is not a human and hence not eligible to offer his wrinkled, impotent candidature to the idiots of maldives (especially the dancing old women in the retarded islands)
thadu | October 4, 2008 2:52 PM | Reply
the state of 'kufur' is almost an impossible one to prove. a bad choice of case taken by adhalath. but like you have mentioned, it is an exemplary case, Maldivians should learn a lesson from this.
secondly, sunni muslim? that sounds absurd. i mean, the book is one, the prophet is one...why so many sects? this is all bullshit. they are deceiving people.