PGO raises charges against opposition leader

The Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) has forwarded charges against an opposition leader, to the Criminal Court on Monday.

PGO confirmed that charges were raised against Abdul Raheem Abdulla, the leader of the opposition People’s National Congress (PNC), for using foul and indecent language in public, outside of the Criminal Court, the day former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom was sentenced.

The charges come under Section 615 of the Penal Code, which states that a person commits an offense if they knowingly harass, annoy, or alarm another person in public whether it be engaging in a fight, violent threatening behavior, makes unreasonable voice, uses abusive or obscene language or creates a hazardous, physically offensive, or seriously alarming condition by an act that serves no legitimate purpose.

The offense is deemed a Class 3 misdemeanor and the charged could face a prison sentence of one month and six days at maximum, with a minimum sentence of nine days in prison, If found guilty.

Yameen was convicted on money-laundering charges and slapped with a five-year prison sentence and a MVR five million fine to be paid to the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) on November 28, last year.

Charges against the opposition leader come at a time he has been accused of using derogatory and obscene language during recent opposition protests and rallies as well.