State produces 79 witnesses against Zihan; testimony of two taken

The Criminal Court on Sunday heard testimony from two out of 79 witnesses submitted by the state against Ibrahim Zihan - charged with the murder of a 13-year-old boy, whose body was found stuffed inside a suitcase back in 2021.

The investigation into the case led to the arrest of two people. The identify of the second suspect has not been disclosed as he was 17 years at the time. He was charged with murder, while Zihan was pressed with 13 charges, including murder.

The charges:

• One count of voluntary homicide
• Five counts of unlawful sexual contact with a minor
• One count of drugging a minor in order to have sexual relations
• One count of grooming a minor in order to have sexual relations
• One count of unlawful restraint of a person
• One count of abuse of a human corpse
• One count of soliciting a minor for the commission of a crime

The state has submitted 79 witnesses against him, including 16 secret witnesses.

The Criminal Court heard testimony of two of the secret witnesses at a closed hearing on Sunday morning.

The court also decided to uphold the order to keep Zihan detained pending the outcome of his trial.

The 13-year-old boy was reported missing by his family on June 20, 2021. The police were investigating the case as a possible kidnapping, when the Hulhumale' police received a report on the evening of June 21, 2021 of a child being tortured in the restricted area of Hulhumale' Phase II, prompting the police to search the area.

His body was found dumped in a suitcase in the lagoon northeast of Hulhumale’ Phase II at 02:38 am on June 22, 2021.

The young boy's body was sent to Trivandrum, India, for a postmortem two weeks later, on July 5, 2021.

His body was transported back to the Maldives and buried on July 12, 2021.

Zihan faces a 100-year prison sentence if convicted of the charges.