The Criminal Court convicted Haisham under
Article
4 [a][1] of the Drug Act after he tested positive for
cannabis, an illegal substance under the Act.
Possession or use of illegal drugs are offences under Section 4
of the Drugs Act 17/77 that carry a penalty of 10-15 years of
imprisonment or banishment.
=================================================
4 (a)
1. It is an offense to use, or to keep in possession for use,
any prohibited psychotropic substance.
(e) The penalty for a person who has committed an offense stated
in (a) of this Article is remand in jail or banishment or house
arrest for a term between 5 and 12 years.
=================================================
Haisham received five years for using the drug and five years
for possession - sentences to run CONSECUTIVELY.
The judge ruled that according to witness statements, evidence,
and Haisham’s own confession, he owned the bag containing
illegal narcotics with which he was found.
Haisham was the lead artist of the band "Palm Fever." He also
produced his own music and had acquired a popular following
during a career which he started as a child performer at the
Inter-school singing competition.
Important: Please
read some or all of the following links before sending email
to the President
You may like to read these links to
get a little background on this country, before contacting the
President.
Basically, the Maldives is a string of islands in the Indian
Ocean and is a Muslim country.
This is the main news article on the sentencing of
Haisham
Mohamed Rasheed.
Fans
and friends seek redemption for jailed reggae musician
Wikipedia
page on the Maldives
UN
document on Drug situation in the Maldives
***This is heavy-duty drug law in the Maldives - which even
includes banishment -
please
read this***
English translation of the Maldives
Law on
Psychotropic Substances (found it at last, took me hours)
Proposed new
Drugs
and Narcotics Amendment Bill of the Maldives (in Dhivehi
language)
OK, we're onto this now. The President of the Maldives has
email!
His name is President Mohamed Nasheed and should be addressed as
"Your Excellency."
Very Important:
Please write
a very
calm email or letter. Yes, we are very angry at the ten
year sentence that Haisham Rasheed has received for possession
of less than one gramme of cannabis -
but we do not want to
damage his case, or bring a bad result on him by our being
angry. It is very
important that we maintain respect to the President at all
times.
Also, this is the FaceBook link to post onto the main Maldives
newspaper: Please post and tell them what you think about
Haisham Mohamed Rasheed's excessive
prison sentence.
MINIVAN
NEWS | Independent News for the Maldives
Please copy and paste the message below into an email, or adapt
the text, or maybe write your own, as you may feel comfortable
with doing. Whatever works best for you is fine, in this
respect.
Suggested Subject of email:
Request for Review of Sentencing of Haisham Mohamed
Rasheed
====================================
Dear Mr. President Nasheed, Your Excellency, Mr. President,
Salam Al Akum,
It has been reported in the world's press that one of your
citizens, Haisham Rasheed, has been sentenced to ten years in
prison for the use and possession of less than one gramme of
cannabis.
Many people, myself included, feel that this is a very harsh
sentence for such a very small amount of cannabis - less than
one gramme.
Cannabis is quite a harmless drug, already legal for public
medical use in 15 States in the USA.
http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000881
On November 2nd, 2010, the people of California are going to
vote on whether to make cannabis legal for general use for
adults over the age of 21 years. This initiative is known as
Proposition 19.
Here is a link on this forthcoming vote, Your Excellency, so
that you may become familiar with this event, in case you may
not already be so.
http://yeson19.com/about
There is also a very interesting page on this forthcoming vote
on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_19_(2010)
I ask you please, Sir, that you might kindly reconsider the case
of Haisham Rasheed, with consideration to the following
information in relation to his sentence.
The proposed Drugs and Narcotics Amendment Bill of the
Maldives:
http://www.majlis.gov.mv/di/download/majiliha_hushahelhifaivA_komitee_maruhalaa_gaivaa_kankan/Drugs_Bill_FINAL_DRAFT_16.12.2009_clean%20copy.pdf
would combine the offences of possession and use, creating a
single offence of "possession for the purpose of use." It would
remove the ambiguity in the current Act, and prevent the
situation where a judge sentences an offender concurrently for
both possession and use.
The new Bill also states that if a person is found with less
than 25 grams of cannabis in any form, the courts should assume
it was in their possession for the purpose of personal use. If
the amount found on the person is less than half of the
stipulated 25 grams, the sentence should not exceed six months.
If it is more than 12.5g, the sentence can be longer than six
months, but cannot exceed a year.
Haisham Mohamed Rasheed's sentences, for being found with less
than one gram of cannabis and for its use, is nine years and six
months longer than what is recommended in the proposed Drugs and
Narcotics Amendment Bill.
I ask, Your Excellency, that you will reconsider the sentence of
Mr. Haisham Rasheed.
I thank you for your kind attention in this matter, Your
Excellency, Mr. President.
Yours sincerely,
Your Name
Your address
Date
====================================
Thank you for sending your email and/or letter to the President
of the Maldives.
If you receive a reply from the President's office, please let
everybody know about it on the
Haisham
Rasheed FaceBook Page.
Thank You.
Jayelle Farmer
Coordinator
Legalise Cannabis International
on behalf of the friends of Haisham Rasheed
Please share this page
link as widely as possible
