Long-term imprisonment has become common in the Maldives and is discouraged by Islamic principles, says Makunudhoo constituency MP Anara Naeem.

The parliamentarian, also a licensed lecturer and Sharia law graduate, said this in post on her Twitter account where she poses the question of ‘where sheikhs supporting the government’ are.

MP Anara’s tweet translates to, ‘long-term imprisonment as a form of punishment is not encouraged in Islam and it is blatantly clear in religiously enshrined punishments. With such imprisonment now common in the Maldives, where are all the sheikhs that support the government?’.

Anara is from the religiously conservative Adhaalath Party, of which the leader – Sheikh Imran Abdulla – is serving a jail term of 12 years on terrorism allegations that have been described as false and politically motivated.

With prisons viewed as ineffective, only a few crimes are punishable by imprisonment under Islamic Sharia and individuals kept in incarceration are highly segregated to ensure that one-time offenders are kept from individuals with heavier or several offenses.