Maldives reintroduces death penalty for drug trafficking amid conservative push before council polls

At a campaign rally last week, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu declared that his administration would introduce the death penalty for drug trafficking, alongside a series of socially conservative measures framed as protecting the Maldives’ “100 percent Islamic society.”

Enforcement of the promised new regulations would fall to city and island councils, he said, urging voters to back ruling party candidates in April's local council elections. Muizzu also touted his administration proposing a bill to criminalise online gambling, shutting down 104 illegal massage parlours in Malé, and introducing the death penalty for drug trafficking.