Day: April 30, 2015

Ex-president kept in ‘inhumane prison conditions’

Former president Mohamed Nasheed’s lawyer say he is being kept in an isolated and filthy cell at a maximum security prison, but the home ministry maintains Nasheed is treated as a VIP and given special comforts.

Following a visit with the opposition leader at Maafushi Island jail on Tuesday, lawyers said the ex-president’s cell is adjacent to the prison garbage dump and is infested with flies and mosquitoes.

Nasheed, who is serving a 13-year sentence on terrorism, is forbidden from exercising, while the food is “barely edible.”

“The cell is situated far from the main prison and other inmates –nobody would be able to hear President Nasheed should he call out for help,” lawyers said.

Nasheed’s family and the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party have repeatedly expressed concern over alleged plots by the government to assassinate the opposition leader. But the government has dismissed the allegations as slanderous and baseless.

Meanwhile, Nasheed’s international legal counsel Jared Genser described the conditions in which Nasheed is held as “cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment” in violation of international anti-torture laws.

President Abdulla Yameen and home minister Umar Naseer may be “held legally responsible for the use of torture – we will take all necessary measures to hold the government to account for this treatment,” he added.

Nasheed was transferred to Maafushi Jail, on an island three hours from the capital, last week from a minimum security prison. Lawyers alleged security officers threatened to use force against Nasheed when he asked for time to pack before the transfer.

Speaking to Minivan News, a home ministry official said Nasheed “is afforded benefits no other prisoner receives.”

The opposition leader is allowed to see seven members of his family for two hours every week and he is given a ten minute phone call with his family for ten minutes every week, spokesperson Thazmeel Abdul Samad said.

Other prisoners are only afforded one family visit a month and one phone call a month.

Nasheed is given a menu to choose mildly-spiced meals and include fruits on the doctor’s advice. The special apartment has a flatscreen TV, a refrigerator, he continued.

The former president is allowed to read books sent by his family, and there are always a team of security guards within eyesight if he needs any help, said Thazmeel.

Nasheed’s arrest has sparked international outrage, with the European Union parliament today passing a resolution urging the government to release the former president immediately.

The resolution also calls on European countries to warn tourists on Maldives’ human rights record on their travel advice websites.

The opposition is meanwhile planning a 25,000 strong march in Malé tomorrow over Nasheed’s jailing and ex-defence minister Mohamed Nazim’s imprisonment.

The government has labeled the rally as an attempt to overthrow President Abdulla Yameen, but opposition coalition insists the demonstration will be peaceful.

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European parliament to vote on travel advisory for Maldives

Parliamentarians of the European Union have expressed concern over the imprisonment of former president Mohamed Nasheed and will vote on a travel advisory for the Maldives on Thursday in Strasbourg, France.

Europeans make up nearly half of the tourist arrivals in the Maldives, and a travel advisory may have a devastating impact on the country’s economy as it depends largely on revenue from tourism.

Nasheed’s 13-year jail term on terrorism charges in a rushed trial last month sparked international outrage over lack of due process. The charges relate to the detention of a judge during his tenure.

The seven parliamentary groups in the EU parliament have each submitted a motion for a resolution, all of which noted a lurch towards authoritarianism in the Maldives.

In addition to the imprisonment of opposition politicians, MEPs also raised concern over growing radicalization, a crackdown on the freedom of speech, press and assembly, deteriorating conditions for migrant workers, slow judicial reform and the reinstatement of the death penalty.

At Wednesday’s debate, UK MEP Charles Tannock said human rights were deteriorating in the Maldives at an “alarming rate” and urged the Maldives to “unconditionally release former president Nasheed, and take the necessary steps to reform the judiciary in order to restore confidence in the rule of law.”

Tannock said the resolution by the conservative MEPs calls “for warnings to be given to EU tourists visiting the Indian Ocean tourist destination,” and said he hoped the Maldives as a commonwealth country could be brought back from the brink.

The resolution also calls on the EU to freeze the assets abroad of Maldivian government officials if democratic gains backslide further.

Netherlands MEP Marietje Schaake said Nasheed’s charges were politically motivated and expressed concern over the disappearance of Minivan News journalist Ahmed Rilwan in August last year.

Rise of Islamic radicalization in the Maldives and recruitment for the Islamic State is “very troubling,” she continued, and said the liberal MEPs also support a travel warning for tourists on the “possible risk of instability.”

UK’s Richard Howitt, MEP of the alliance for socialists and democrats, called for “European tourist advice to be explicitly used to apply pressure for change.

“The Maldives may be small dots in a large ocean, but we will not stand by when its democracy and respect for human rights is disappearing beneath the waves.”

The vote comes ahead of a major antigovernment protest on Friday.

The opposition has vowed to hold a 25,000 strong march in the capital Malé, but police have threatened a crackdown saying they’ve received reports protesters are planning to attack the security forces and residences of government officials.

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