Maldivian sentenced to prison released to house arrest in Male

A Maldivian man who was arrested in Sri Lanka on drug possession charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison has been released to house arrest in Male after being transferred to Maldives to serve out his sentence.

The Director General of the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services (DPRS) said that Ibrahim Adam Manik, who is the son of Male Municipality President Sarangu Adam Manik, was released to house arrest due to medical reasons. He did not, however, elaborate.

“A day after he was transferred from the Sri Lanka jail to the minimum security jail at Dhoonidhoo, he was transferred to house arrest due to medical reasons,” Rasheed said.

Rasheed further said that when the Sri Lankan authorities had released Ibrahim Adam Manik, who had been given a life sentence by the Sri Lankan Court, into DPRS custody, they had not handed over any of the documents pertaining to the case.

The Maldivian Government has said that the transfer of Ibrahim to Maldives had taken place under an agreement with the Sri Lankan Government to exchange prisoners.

“We at DPRS have no idea what the charges against him are,” Rasheed said. “We don’t even know how the sentence was passed on him. Keeping someone imprisoned without knowing the proper details about the case could mean further complications later on.

We have to investigate the case properly before imprisoning someone.” When reminded that the Maldivian Government had officially announced that Ibrahim had been given a life sentence by a Sri Lankan court on drug possession charges, Rasheed said that “DPRS has no knowledge of that.”

Haveeru Online