Maldives court overturns girl’s sentence of 100 lashes

A 15-year-old girl who was sentenced by a Maldives court to 100 lashes for engaging in premarital sex has had her conviction quashed.

The country’s High Court ruled that the girl had been wrongly convicted by a lower court of having premarital sex, which is illegal in the Maldives.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged after she told police that she had been raped by her stepfather and that she had also had consensual sex with another man. The court said she had likely been suffering from post- traumatic stress disorder when she made the confession.