PG Office shares confidential material in Aruham's murder case, accidentally

Prosecutor General (PG) Office has accidentally revealed secret information related to the murder of 16-year-old Mohamed Aruham.

While the Criminal Court had, in 2016, acquitted three of the four suspects in the murder, the state had appealed the decision at the High Court; the second hearing in the case was held on Wednesday. He was killed in a gang fight with sharp weapons in June 2012 in the capital.

At the hearing, the judges’ bench noted that the prosecutors had revealed information regarding in the case at the summary hearing in 2016.

Further noting that some of the documents submitted to the court by state -which in turn are shared with the defence - contained confidential information of anonymous witness, the judges’ bench said that the court will not be taking responsibility for this.

While six individuals were initially suspected of the crime, PG Office had raised charges against four; Mohamed Wisam, Mansoor Yoosuf, Mohamed Sufyan and Athif Rasheed. Wisam was found guilty of the murder and sentenced to death, while the rest were acquitted.

Following an investigation into the murder, police noted that Aruham did not have any criminal records and that five of the six suspects in the murder had previous records.

Wednesday’s hearing concluded with the judges’ bench deciding to give the defence the opportunity to respond to the state’s allegations via writing; as requested by the defence attorney Ali Shah, who gave assurance that the confidential information regarding secret witnesses will not be shared with the defendants.