1988 coup mastermind Luthufee, freed

Abdulla Luthufee, the mastermind behind the 1988 coup d’état has been freed.

Luthufee's 25-year prison sentence was completed in June this year.

However, he was sentenced after being found guilty of fleeing from prison after being granted medical leave while serving the 25-year prison sentence during 2010, in March 2021. He was sentenced to seven months and 18 days.

Speaking to RaajjeMV, a media official at the Maldives Correctional Service revealed that Luthufee has completed his sentence and was released on Monday.

The 3 November 1988 coup-leader was sentenced after he requested a plea deal for his sentencing, after having confessed to the charges against him on 2 March 2021.

The fugitive fled from prison and went into hiding until 1 May 2019 after departing to India during January 2010 under medical leave granted to him during the administration of Mohamed Nasheed.

Sources report that while in Sri Lanka, Luthufee surrendered himself to save himself as the laws were strict at the time for those without visas in the wake of a terror attack in the country. As such, he turned himself in after the country launched a nation-wide search for him, following the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019.

In May 2019, he was extradited to the Maldives and was doing time at Maafushi Prison, after turning himself into the Maldivian Embassy in Colombo earlier that month.

The lives of 19 Maldivians were taken during the attempted coup in the Maldives capital on November 3, 1988 by a Sri Lankan militant group. Luthufee was initially sentenced to death due to his involvement, but his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment by Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Although he was granted medical leave during Nasheed’s tenure, now incarcerated Former President Abdulla Yameen’s administration was observed to be negligent in the case as well.

Many had criticized the move to have Luthufee repatriated to the Maldives like an “innocent” man, back in 2019.