Man Previously Convicted of Mosque Damage Arrested Again for Trespassing at Furuqaan Mosque

A man previously convicted of causing damage to the Furuqaan Mosque in Malé has been arrested again on allegations of trespassing inside the same mosque. The suspect has been identified as Naushad Moosa, 32, of G. Maléhiyaa 2, 02-13. According to information received, Naushad stood exposed and made gestures in front of a woman who was at the Furuqaan Mosque to perform the Luha prayer, violating the sanctity of the mosque. The police said a person went to a police centre and filed a case alleging that such an act had occurred at the Furuqaan Mosque. Police also said that, in connection with the information given by the party who filed the case, Naushad has now been arrested, and that necessary steps are being taken in coordination with relevant institutions to prevent him from repeating such an act. Naushad was most recently arrested on October 12. At that time he was arrested on suspicion of committing an act contrary to public social norms that violate the sanctity of the mosque, and of trespassing inside the mosque by force. In that case, when the first 15 days of remand expired, upon his second production before the court, the Criminal Court ordered that he be kept in custody until the trial concluded. After his release from custody, in connection with a photo that became public on the 4th of this month showing him lying asleep in the Furuqaan Mosque, police said that in the case of damage caused to the mosque he was proven guilty and a sentence of one month and 15 days imprisonment was imposed on the 1st of this month. However, because he had spent one month and 21 days in custody under the order to keep him in custody until the trial concluded, the court determined that, after deducting that period from the sentence, there was no further prison sentence to be executed, and police revealed that the custody order was annulled. Naushad is also a person who had previously been arrested in a case of throwing away the stones present in the Furuqaan Mosque, causing damage to the mosque, and destroying some electrical boards, and in a case of showing his sexual organ to women who were in the mosque.