Maldives parliament approves amendment for a stricter local penal code, with inclusion of of new punitive statutes.
Feydhoo MP Ibrahim Didi proposed the amendment on behalf of Maldives government. The bill was accepted to parliament floor with 32 votes in approval.
The bill has proposed several amendments to the local penal code, mainly increasing the punitive measures. First degree offenses with four months and 24 days jail-count has been generally increased to one year and four months.
Similarly several offense degrees have been revisited with amendments to their respective punitive measures.
A new chapter for offenses under national security has been added in the bill as well, with seven different counts of offenses. These include treason, espionage, mutiny, government dethroning among other counts.
In addition to this the proposed amendment also seeks to criminalize acts that may harm Maldives economy. Under this addition of punitive measures, three acts have been listed under offenses.
Furthermore individuals getting treason conviction against government will be barred for life-time from serving under any government or public entity.
