15 Minutes with Ibra

Minivan News spends 15 Minutes with MDP MP-elect Ibrahim Ismail.
1) You have just returned from a trip to the UK. What was the purpose of the visit?
Mainly it was to familiarise myself with the Westminster system. Also to meet MPs, the British Foreign Office and others who have been very supportive of reform ideas and the reform programme in the Maldives. Also, I specifically wanted to meet Friends of Maldives who have been assisting in the Tsunami relief work.
2) You’ve also been in the media a lot whilst you were in the UK and have been very outspoken. Do you have any apprehensions about returning to the Maldives?
Well, yes and no. Yes because my past experience shows that the police have not always been rational. They have consistently broken the law in arresting people. No because I have not committed any offences under Maldivian law.
3) Of course, you didn’t commit any offences during the 12-13th August rally but you were still jailed.
Precisely. I have some apprehension because the police haven’t always been rational in their arrests. I did not commit any offence on 12-13th August yet they kept me under arrest for months.
4) On the question of the police, you must have now seen the pictures of the shootings of inmates Maafushi Jail in September 2003, that were recently published in the Dhivehi Observer. How did the photos make you feel?
Sickened. And it wasn’t just the photos. I’ve been reading some of the statements from the Commission’s enquiry into the shootings and I’m sickened to my guts that something like this could happen. That there has been an attempted cover-up makes it even worse.
The portions in the Commission’s report that were removed; it was clear that a lot more people were involved and should be charged and they haven’t been. If the statements hadn’t become public we would never have known how brutal the whole thing was.
5) On the question of imprisonment, I’d like to raise the question of four constituents of yours, namely Fathimath Nisreen, Mohamed Zaki, Ahmed Ibrahim Didi (the Sandhaanu prisoners) and Naushad Waheed. All four are under lengthy periods of detention and are also Amnesty International Prisoners of Conscience. What are your thoughts on their continued detention?
They should be released immediately. I don’t believe they committed a crime and I don’t believe they had a fair trial – they didn’t have access to lawyers for instance. I think their Constitutional rights have been violated.
6) Amnesty International said they have been jailed solely for excising their right to freedom of expression. Would you agree?
Yes.
7) Some people have said that the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) shouldn’t engage, shouldn’t talk to, the government until all political prisoners are released. What are your comments on that?
I don’t think that is a sound position to take. Whilst MDP does espouse the human rights issues, MDP is larger than human rights alone and I think in order to make progress we must engage with the government. That’s not to say we should compromise any principals and policies, we will not, but I seriously believe we can only see results through some sort of engagement with the government. But ultimately, that’s for the MDP Council to decide and that’s my view on that.
8) How do you see the reform process moving on? President Gayoom has repeatedly said over the last week that it’s a matter for the Special Majlis. He’s done his bit, he’s given you his ideas, now it’s up to the parliament to enact them.
Technically, President Gayoom can say that but we all know he controls the Special Majlis. He controls when it sits and when it doesn’t sit. It’s a bit pretentious for him to say that.
In the reform programme he has outlined, there are many things that don’t require constitutional change and he doesn’t have to wait for the Majlis to make these things happen.
Political party registration is one of these things, as is freedom of association and a free press. These are critical things that the President could do tomorrow if he wants to. Indeed, why have they not been done already? I don’t know why, only he knows why.
There is nothing to stop him [Gayoom] doing these things. If he is genuine about his commitment to reform why is he delaying in doing these things?
The onus on the President is to get things going.
9) Some political analysts have expressed concern that although specific reforms have been outlined, there is no road-map to reform and broad principals are not being discussed. Would you agree?
If you look at things the reform-minded people have been talking about for a long time and what the President talked about on June 9th last year, they do relate to these broad principals.
What is lacking is a coherent and strict timeline to bring about change. For instance, there are many things in the reform issues which are inter-linked. We now need to decide how we will bring them about, which ones first and what effect will certain reforms have on others. That strategic planning is missing. It is not clear who will do it. But if we don’t have that the whole thing could be de-railed very easily.

Minivan News spends 15 Minutes with MDP MP-elect Ibrahim Ismail.

1) You have just returned from a trip to the UK. What was the purpose of the visit?

Mainly it was to familiarise myself with the Westminster system. Also to meet MPs, the British Foreign Office and others who have been very supportive of reform ideas and the reform programme in the Maldives. Also, I specifically wanted to meet Friends of Maldives who have been assisting in the Tsunami relief work.

2) You’ve also been in the media a lot whilst you were in the UK and have been very outspoken. Do you have any apprehensions about returning to the Maldives?

Well, yes and no. Yes because my past experience shows that the police have not always been rational. They have consistently broken the law in arresting people. No because I have not committed any offences under Maldivian law.

3) Of course, you didn’t commit any offences during the 12-13th August rally but you were still jailed.

Precisely. I have some apprehension because the police haven’t always been rational in their arrests. I did not commit any offence on 12-13th August yet they kept me under arrest for months.

4) On the question of the police, you must have now seen the pictures of the shootings of inmates Maafushi Jail in September 2003, that were recently published in the Dhivehi Observer. How did the photos make you feel?

Sickened. And it wasn’t just the photos. I’ve been reading some of the statements from the Commission’s enquiry into the shootings and I’m sickened to my guts that something like this could happen. That there has been an attempted cover-up makes it even worse.

The portions in the Commission’s report that were removed; it was clear that a lot more people were involved and should be charged and they haven’t been. If the statements hadn’t become public we would never have known how brutal the whole thing was.

5) On the question of imprisonment, I’d like to raise the question of four constituents of yours, namely Fathimath Nisreen, Mohamed Zaki, Ahmed Ibrahim Didi (the Sandhaanu prisoners) and Naushad Waheed. All four are under lengthy periods of detention and are also Amnesty International Prisoners of Conscience. What are your thoughts on their continued detention?

They should be released immediately. I don’t believe they committed a crime and I don’t believe they had a fair trial – they didn’t have access to lawyers for instance. I think their Constitutional rights have been violated.

6) Amnesty International said they have been jailed solely for excising their right to freedom of expression. Would you agree?

Yes.

7) Some people have said that the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) shouldn’t engage, shouldn’t talk to, the government until all political prisoners are released. What are your comments on that?

I don’t think that is a sound position to take. Whilst MDP does espouse the human rights issues, MDP is larger than human rights alone and I think in order to make progress we must engage with the government. That’s not to say we should compromise any principals and policies, we will not, but I seriously believe we can only see results through some sort of engagement with the government. But ultimately, that’s for the MDP Council to decide and that’s my view on that.

8 ) How do you see the reform process moving on? President Gayoom has repeatedly said over the last week that it’s a matter for the Special Majlis. He’s done his bit, he’s given you his ideas, now it’s up to the parliament to enact them.

Technically, President Gayoom can say that but we all know he controls the Special Majlis. He controls when it sits and when it doesn’t sit. It’s a bit pretentious for him to say that.

In the reform programme he has outlined, there are many things that don’t require constitutional change and he doesn’t have to wait for the Majlis to make these things happen.

Political party registration is one of these things, as is freedom of association and a free press. These are critical things that the President could do tomorrow if he wants to. Indeed, why have they not been done already? I don’t know why, only he knows why.

There is nothing to stop him [Gayoom] doing these things. If he is genuine about his commitment to reform why is he delaying in doing these things?

The onus on the President is to get things going.

9) Some political analysts have expressed concern that although specific reforms have been outlined, there is no road-map to reform and broad principals are not being discussed. Would you agree?

If you look at things the reform-minded people have been talking about for a long time and what the President talked about on June 9th last year, they do relate to these broad principals.

What is lacking is a coherent and strict timeline to bring about change. For instance, there are many things in the reform issues which are inter-linked. We now need to decide how we will bring them about, which ones first and what effect will certain reforms have on others. That strategic planning is missing. It is not clear who will do it. But if we don’t have that the whole thing could be de-railed very easily.

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