Charges pressed against man who urinated inside mosques

Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) has pressed charges against Hassan Ziyad, 40, M. Shady Home, Male’ City, who had urinated inside the Islamic Centre and Friday Mosque in addition to in front of the President’s Office.

Ziyad is charged with two counts of committing an act that disturbs public order. If the charges against him are proven at court, he faces a jail sentence of two months.

PGO said that Ziyad had pled guilty to both charges during a hearing held at the Criminal Court on November 24.

Ziyad had urinated inside the Masjid al-Sultan Muhammad Thakurufaanu al- Auzam (Islamic Center) in Male’ City during Magrib prayer on October 3. On the same day – he also urinated inside the Friday Mosque and in front of the President’s Office.

He was arrested by the Police on October 4 – and was remanded in custody for 10 days by the Criminal Court on October 13. Following the conclusion of the investigation into the urinating incidents, Ziyad was released from custody on October 25 – after the Police had requested that he be charged on October 24.

On November 7, Ziyad had spitted on a holy Quran book at Masjid al-Ibrahim – following which he was rearrested by the Police.

Following this, Ziyadh was remanded for a period of 10 days. After the expiration of this period, his remand was extended by an additional five days. And, following the expiration of this period, his remand has now been extended by an additional 15 days.

Although the Police have previously stated that Ziyadh suffers from a mental illness, Gender Ministry has stated that they observed no mental illness from him during their investigation.  Therefore, they said that the case was forwarded to the Police and National Drug Agency.