A man who showed a child a sexual act has been sentenced to seven years in prison by the Criminal Court.

The sentence was handed down against Ahmed Naeem. Under the Special Provisions Act on Child Sex Offenders, the state had filed a total of three charges against him, but only the charge of exposing a child to a sexual act was proven.

The other two charges were for grooming the child for the purpose of sexual abuse. However, the Criminal Court ruled that these two charges were not proven beyond reasonable doubt, as stipulated in Article 51(e) of the Constitution of the Republic of Maldives.