Adhuham Ahmed Rasheed, 26, the man who exploded the IED in the May 6 attack on People’s Majlis Speaker and former President Mohamed Nasheed, pled guilty to all charges in the Criminal Court on Tuesday.
He was charged with four terrorism-related offences: carrying out an act of terrorism, conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, attempted murder with a sharp-edged tool or hazardous weapon, and supporting a terrorist organization.
Adhuham was charged based on evidence that he strapped the IED to the motorcycle, exploded the IED with a remote, critically injured Nasheed and endangered the lives of others in the area at the time, and confessed to authorities that he supports ISIS, Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem said in August.
According to the prosecutor general, Adhuham signed a plea agreement under the Criminal Procedure Code to withdraw the charge of conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, which will reduce his sentence from 37 years to 23 years in prison if he confesses to the charges pressed against him at the Criminal Court.
Adhuham pled guilty to all counts in the Criminal Court hearing soon after the prosecution read the four charges.
He further stated that the authorities did not compel him to plead guilty. Adhuham’s future hearings will now be held in private.
