Day: April 18, 2015

President Yameen remains defiant as calls grow for Nasheed’s release

President Abdulla Yameen has said he has no role in releasing jailed opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed, despite growing calls for negotiations over the imprisonment of political rivals.

“I cannot do anything. A verdict has been issued. I would like to encourage former president Nasheed and his party officials to seek an appeal. There are two more appeal stages, the matter should be resolved through the courts,” President Yameen said at a rare press conference on Thursday.

Nasheed was convicted of terrorism last month and sentenced to 13 years in jail in a trial widely criticized by foreign governments for its apparent lack of due process.

The former president has refused to seek an appeal stating he has no faith in the judiciary.

Thousands of opposition supporters have signed an ongoing petition requesting the president Yameen to release Nasheed, and are continuing daily protests in the capital.

International NGOs, businessmen and environmental activists have called for sanctions on the Maldives, while some 15 religious scholars last week pleaded with the president to heed the calls for dialogue.

The opposition Maldivians Against Brutality coalition has meanwhile called for a mass protest on May Day in the hopes of forcing president Yameen to initiate talks.

The coalition has also called for the release of ex defence minister Mohamed Nazim, who was jailed last month for 11 years on smuggling illegal weapons. The coalition accuses the government of breaching the constitution and unfairly targeting the businesses of rival politicians.

But reiterating the claim he has no power over the judiciary, Yameen said Nasheed will be released immediately if the courts overturn his sentence.

“The President’s Office did not rule on this case,” he said, noting Nasheed was first charged over the judge’s arrest in 2012 before he assumed power.

Yameen maintained that the opposition was unable to prove allegations of constitutional breaches or brutality.

“These politicians cannot point out how this government has been brutal. [They say] it’s by punishing offenders through the courts. If that is brutality, then this government is indeed enforcing their sentences,” he said.

Yameen said Nazim must also appeal his sentence. The ex defence minister’s lawyers filed an appeal at the High Court last week.

The opposition’s campaign is aimed at obstructing the government’s agenda, he alleged, but said he believed the campaign was proving to be unsuccessful.

The opposition coalition is made up of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), former ruling party ally Adhaalath Party, members of Nazim’s family, and members of Jumhooree Party (JP).

JP leader and tourism tycoon Gasim Ibrahim has ceased his vociferous criticism of president Yameen after his Villa Group was slapped with a US$90million fine.

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Comment: A climate hero languishes in prison. Let’s fight to get him out

This article is by Bill McKibben. It was first published on April 16 on www.commondreams.org

The underwater pictures from the Maldives last weekend brought back a staggering rush of memories.

In 2009, when 350.org was still a fledgling organization and not the world’s largest grassroots climate campaign, we’d called for our first global day of action. All around the world people rallied in iconic locations, from the summit of Antarctica’s highest mountain to the middle of Times Square. There were 5,200 demonstrations in all, in what CNN called ‘the most widespread day of political activity in the planet’s history.’ But maybe the most memorable was from the Maldives.

Or rather, from below the Maldives. Where newly elected president Mohamed Nasheed, who had taught his cabinet to scuba dive, convened their regular meeting underwater, on the edge of their threatened coral reef. There they signed a proclamation to the UN, asking that it work to lower the level of carbon in the atmosphere.

Underwater Cabinet

That picture helped bring home the newly dawning truth of global warming—that entire nations like the low-lying Maldives were on the edge of extinction. It also marked Nasheed as the most committed head of state in the climate fight.

But that’s not all Nasheed represented. He’s also the Mandela of the Indian Ocean, the man who through long years of nonviolent resistance freed his nation from a long tyranny and won its first democratic election.

That thug government just receded into the shadows, though, and a few years lateroverthrew Nasheed in a military coup. And now it has jailed him for 13 years on absurd charges of terrorism after a trial that would have delighted Kafka—among other things, the presiding judges were also witnesses against the accused.

The long-suffering people of the Maldives are fighting back, though—peacefully, with massive demonstrations night after night in the streets of Male. And over the weekend, a hundred of them dove down to the reef with scuba tanks, and with banners demanding Nasheed’s release. The picture—a purposeful echo of the moment when he made the world notice his embattled archipelago—should alert the planet once more.

There are signs of international support beginning to emerge. Maybe most significantly the renowned human rights lawyer Amal Clooney (yes, that Clooney) has joined his defense team, bringing both great skill and a bright spotlight. But much more is needed.

For one thing, though Nasheed and his colleagues have not called for a tourist boycott, it’s hard to imagine anyone with a conscience wanting to support the goons running the country at the moment. Its beaches are indeed beautiful—but they will be more beautiful once the Maldives have returned to democratic rule.

Our leaders, too, need to act. India, America, the EU all need to be firm in the demand for Nasheed’s safety (there are great fears for his life as he returns to the prison where he’s already spent so many years) and for his release.

For those of us in the worldwide climate movement, this is not just a moment to stand by one of our own. It’s also a good reminder that we need working, inclusive, democratic governments if we are to make real progress. The autocrats now running the Maldives of course abandoned the Nasheed government’s remarkable plan to turn the nation carbon-neutral and even offered to drill for oil in the surrounding waters; as in so many places around the world, tyranny and fossil fuel have a friendly working relationship.

The Maldives is existentially imperiled by a rising ocean. But before it can fully deal with that predicament it needs its voice back. At the moment that voice is languishing in prison.We all should work to get him out.

Bill McKibben is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College and co-founder of 350.org. His most recent book is Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet.

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