The Criminal Court has on Thursday acquitted Ibrahim Shah of all charges raised against him in the fatal assault of his wife, Ziyadha Naeem.
The controversial trial ended with a hearing behind closed doors, as every hearing in the case has been held since Shah was charged in 2016.
Prosecutors raised a total of four charges against him: of having raped Ziyadha, recklessly causing her death, negligently causing her death, and possession of pornography.
The presiding judge on Thursday ruled that there was insufficient evidence to convict Shah on any of the four charges against him.
The state presented evidence of Ziyadha having suffered physical and sexual violence at the hands of her husband, and father of their three children.
Her autopsy report showed injuries all over her person, severe bone injuries in both arms, and the fatal wound having been sustained to the back of her head.
She succumbed to said head injuries while in treatment at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, in late December, 2015.
Doctors were unable to operate due to the severity of her injuries and Ziyadha died while in a comatose state.
Ziyadha’s family, neighbours, and friends say they had found Shah temperament and actions throughout the marriage to be troubling.
In interviews with local media, they describe Shah as a negligent and jealous husband, with Ziyadha having been subject to violence on multiple occassions, and 'forced to raise the children on her own’.
Maldives has historically never criminalised marital rape, even in the most recent penal code, passed in 2015; individuals convicted of marital rape under the previous penal code have been fined by amounts of MVR 2,000 (just under USD 13).
It is only an offence for one spouse to force another into sexual contact if the process for dissolution of the marriage is underway, divorce is pending in court, during mutually agreed separation, and for the purpose of knowingly transmitting a disease.
Matters and disputes relating to family have customarily been governed by principles of Islamic Sharia, and the penal code passed in 2015 faced initial criticism from a number of local clerics.
