Police are investigating a violent attack on a ‘silent protest’ calling for religious tolerance, held at the Artificial Beach to mark Human Rights Day.
Witnesses said a group of men threw rocks at the 15-30 demonstrators, calling out threats and vowing to kill them.
One witness who took photos of the attacked said he was “threatened with death if these pictures were leaked. He said we should never been seen in the streets or we will be sorry.”
Among those injured in the attack was Ismail ‘Khilath’ Rasheed, a controverisal blogger whose website was recently blocked by the Communications Authority of the Maldives (CAM) on the order of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs.
Rasheed suffered a head injury and was rushed to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).
“They started hitting us with bricks. They were aiming at our heads – we could tell they were serious and wanted to kill us,” Rasheed told Minivan News from hospital. “I was taken on a motorcycle to IGMH, but I could see them behind me still hitting my friends.”
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said police attended the scene after the attackers had departed, and were currently investigating the cause of the violence. No arrests had yet been made, he added.
The protesters, calling themselves ‘Silent Solidarity’, had earlier issued a press release stating that their intention was to “make the Maldives and the international community aware of the rising religious intolerance in the Maldives, and to condemn the Constitutionally endorsed suppression of religious freedom. We also denounce the increasing use being made of Islam as a tool of political power.”
“Silent Solidarity will be protesting against discrimination of all races, gender, sexual preferences and religious beliefs and supporting freedom of thought and expression. In our silence, we speak volumes,” the group’s statement said.
The Maldives has come under increasing international scrutiny following an apparent rise in religious intolerance.
Several monuments gifted to the Maldives by other SAARC countries during the recent summit in Addu have been defaced or stolen on the grounds that they are idolatrous. Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari has condemned the monuments while the opposition has hailed the vandals as “national heroes”.
Protests also erupted last month after UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay spoke in parliament calling for the government and the judiciary to issue a moratorium and debate on flogging as a punishment for extra-marital sex.
“This practice constitutes one of the most inhumane and degrading forms of violence against women and should have no place in the legal framework of a democratic country,” Pillay said.
“The issue needs to be examined, and therefore I called for a countrywide discussion. It is much better if the issue is transparent and debated.”
Pillay also stated that requirement under the Maldivian constitution that all Maldivians be Muslim ”is discriminatory, and does not comply with international standards. I would urge a debate again on the issue to open up entrance of the constitution to all.”
Challenged by a local journalist that the Maldives was both obliged to protect the religion of Islam, she replied: “You have a constitution which conforms in many respects to universal human rights. Let me assure you that these human rights conform with Islam.”
She added that the Maldives had signed international treaties that are legally-binding obligations, “and such a practice conflicts with these obligations undertaken by the Maldives.”
The following day protesters gathered outside the UN building, carrying placards stating “Islam is not a toy”, “Ban UN” and “Flog Pillay”, and called on authorities to arrest the UN High Commissioner.
MPs roundly condemned Pillay’s statements.
‘”What we should be worried about holding discussions against the fundamentals of Islam in a 100 percent Muslim country such as the Maldives is that we may start questioning about worshipping God Almighty tomorrow,” said opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Dr Afrashim Ali.
Ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed said the Maldives “will never ever open doors for religions other than Islam in the Maldives. We’ll not give the opportunity to speak against the fundamentals and principles of Islam in the parliament.”
MP Riyaz Rasheed, from the opposition-aligen Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) condemned the Speaker Abdulla Shahid from allowing Pillay to complete her address.
“There is a good chance for us to directly say that Abdulla Shahid has made a good deal with this government to wipe out the religion of Islam from this country,” MP Rasheed said.
President Mohamed Nasheed has meanwhile said that Maldivians “should have the self-belief and resolve not to have our faith shaken by listening to statements or opinions expressed by others.”
“That the punishments and rulings of Islamic Sharia are not inhumane is very clear to us,” Nasheed said. “We have the opportunity to show the whole world how noble and civilised Sharia is. That is because we are the only Islamic nation with a democratically-elected government.
“Wasting that opportunity in a Jihadi spirit” with the claim of “defending Islam” was unacceptable, Nasheed said. “Opposition parties will always attack us by using religion as a weapon. [But] I believe that this country is the only Islamic nation where Islamic Sharia has been practiced uninterrupted for 700 years.”
Religious sentiment in the Maldives can often be vocal and heated, but has rarely led to physical violence.
In late May 2010, well-known Islamic preacher Dr Zakir Naik visited the Maldives and delivered a sermon in the capital Male’. During a question-and-answer session 37 year-old Mohamed Nazim stood up and declared himself “Maldivian and not a Muslim”.
Nazim’s declaration angered the 11,000 strong crowd, and he was escorted from the venue by police and officials from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs amid calls for his execution.
After two days of religious counselling in police custody, Nazim appeared before television cameras at an Islamic Ministry press conference and gave Shahada – the Muslim testimony of belief – and apologised for causing “agony for the Maldivian people” and requested that the community accept him back into society.
In July 2010, 25 year-old air traffic controller Ismail Mohamed Didi was found hanged from the control tower of Male’ International Airport in an apparent suicide, after seeking asylum in the UK for fear of persecution over his stated lack of religious belief.
“Maldivians are proud of their religious homogeneity and I am learning the hard way that there is no place for non-Muslim Maldivians in this society,” Didi wrote in a letter to an international humanitarian organisation, prior to his death.
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I think the government and police must take this very seriously. We cannot allow the extreme religious fanatics to hijack our democracy and run havoc in the country. These guys must be brought to justice. If we continue this path no one is going to invest in the country. We are going to become a banana republic
We cannot allow these type of things in the name of Islam. What is the difference between Taliban and Maldivians. I guess we have to keep a close watch on Pakistani educated gangs hanging around. These stories are all over the news today in the western world. This is bad for the country. I urge the government to take actions against anyone who cannot accept views of others. We cannot take law into our hands in the name of Islam. This is wrong then and this wrong now
Absolutely shameful.
But I absolutely expect the government to turn a blind eye to this violence.
If you're a thug, a terrorist or a politician in the Maldives, you can always get away with anything in the name of religion.
According to eye-witnesses, the hired bearded hoodlums that attacked this silent gathering threatened and abused the people right in front of the Police, who just watched in silence.
The government of Maldives supports this acts of new religion within the country, well if we try to stop these types of religious beliefs around male' we are called terrorist or criminals , Well.. this has never happen over the years for freedom of religion
not tolerating other religions is not an Islamic ideology. It's rather a nationalist ideology and these ignorant, lentil soup-fed mullah should be brought to justice.
I applaud the brave Mujaaheddeen for bravely standing up to vile Islamophobic bigots.
I hope they have more protests like this, there are so many maldivians with similar views but forced to be silent but social stigmas,
I support religious freedom in maldives!!!!
(and no that doesnt mean no islam)
a non moslim cann't be called as a Maldivian person. Majority of Maldivian people don't want that statement to be changed; welcome to western decmocracy. Always majority wins. Hilath claims he is a sufi muslim, but is he really? Does he pray five times a day and practice his religion? If not Why i or anyone Should be listening to him. Oh and the group of men who threw rocks! Are they really good moslims?
Well what they were protesting was against the constitution .. so those protesters should be brought to justice ....
These Habee maniacs always go the potentially fatal blow, don't they? I hope they have fun in jail.
Poor islam - reduced to hiring thugs to enforce its laws. This is the day islam was truly destroyed to serve the needs of some greedy arab-wannabes.
Today you have a choice. Join Taliban or live a fee democratic life. Unfortunately there is no middle ground. All this is done by Maumoon A Gayoom and Yaameen. They think this is the only road to get into power to replenish the dwindling bank accounts.
I think it is about time India severed all links with the backward intolerant 100% muslim Republic of Maldives. Why is it that when Maldivians travel abroad they expect to take their islamic faith and culture with them but deny other faiths the same rights in the Maldives?........I thought islam was a religion of peace and tolerance?Clearly Maldivians are very insecure in their faith.......the mere sight of an 'idolatrous' monument might send them rushing to convert to christianity and hinduism......even one non believer in Maldives will send the mad mullahs in an apoplectic fit.
I would like to see all flights from Maldives to Trivandrum, Kochi, Hyderabad and Bangalore discontinued and all Maldivians in these cities rounded up and sent back to their primitive '100% muslim' atolls.
Please, please, please.........don't pollute our happy heathen secular environment with your intolerant faith. Go to Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Turkey for medical treatment and higher studies..........anywhere but India.......Give us idol worshippers a break.
I WILL NOT be travelling to the Maldives...not now after hearing what has been happening. And now that I know it's 100% muslim rule...NO WAY!!! I'll stick to a civilized CHRISTIAN society in my travels.
Dave The Canadian Capitalist
I seriously want to know what Azra, the Human Right Commissioner has to say about this. I hope you will not opt for the easy way out and remain silent.
The so called protestors simply want to create divisions in the country.. I totally support to stop these people before they poison the society.
Most of us know who Hilath is and what he wants. But I think we should respect what the majority wants. Majority supports neither sexual freedom (to practise homosexuality) nor religious freedom ( to practise religions other than Islam). So I call on Hilath and other perverts to stop this nonsense.
Freedom of religion is inevitable. Today there were 30 protesters tomorrow there will be 300. Wait and see, by 2020 there will be freedom of religion in this country whether mullah's like it or not.
Forbidding religious freedom is the original sin in our constitution.
If there is any civilized Maldivian out there, they should not go in front of this monkey brained people of this country. They are more dangerous than any predator in the wild. They are the most dangerous animals who can use their brain to carryout complex hand movement with the intention of harming others and motivated by fanatic ideas. It is not intelligent thing to go in a cage where animals are locked and tease them. Those few who are educated should be thankful that they are free people who can live a better life, and let this ignorant brain dead mass live in a hollow world and die an animal life with wish of eternal life waiting there with all material lust.
Agree with markaz.
Those who 'protested' in defiance to our constitution should be locked up and procecuted immediately so that these type of things do not happen again.
Maldives will always remain 100% Muslim country and we will never give freedom of apostacy in Maldives. Those that cant digest this, should get their citizenship revoked and leave us in peace for us and our future generations.
There is NO COMPULSION IN RELIGION...this is categorically spelt out in Soora Bagara Verse 256.
One of the fundamental truths established by the sacred texts is that no one can be compelled to accept Islam. It is the duty of Muslims to establish the proof of Islam to the people so that truth can be made clear from falsehood. After that, whoever wishes to accept Islam may do so and whoever wishes to continue upon unbelief may do so. No one should be threatened or harmed in any way if he does not wish to accept Islam.
Any attack on his head will be an improvement to his current mental state. lol
I condem the police for not preventing this illegal gathering from taking place. It is sad that ordinary citizens have to take law into their own hands in order to protect the constitution.
When will these 30 idiots learn democracy?
The over whelming majority of maldivians doesnt want 'freedom' of religion.
And the 'discriminatory' constitution which you were talking about was passed unanimously by the peoples representatives of the parliment.
standing shoulder to shoulder to the brave maldivians who stood for maldives and our religion.
we have been tolerating these actions, threats and mockings from these crooked secular thugs for too long.
Where is our president Mohamed Nasheed who became president after taking an oath which states that "I promise to protect the religion Islam in maldives".
Mr. president, full fill your oath!
the protesters actions are illegal according to our constitution.. The government should arrest these thugs apply the law on them..
first of all this protest is against the constitution.
if you want to be a cristian or gay, lesbian go some where else, try abroad (america or india etc) we live in maldives and we accept the religion and its concepts
freedome of speeh does not mean that you go against the religion and try to allow other religions in to this small community
This is neither a political nor a religious issue. Majority maldivians support the status quo. Hilath and his supporters are not outside the maldivian law. They cannot just break the law to pursue their agenda.
Hillath is president's relative. So he can apply for assylum in UK. I think Prince Andrew can do the needful for him.
@ Ali
good one. hehe.
Oh the irony, the defenders of the religion of peace, love and humanity, expressing such tolerance.
I blame the the crazy ass "secularists" for bringing this upon themselves. They were looking to reason with diseased rabid dogs, what did they expect?
It takes cunning and a more systematic approach people. The good news is in the name of Allah along with their humanity, they have given up their intelligence and the instinct of self preservation.....lets take it from there.
I thought Islam permits Thaqiyaa( hide their faith) a preference to life than the death. In a predominantly secular tolerant world, small vulnerable rats like Maldivian whose survival is only guaranteed by modern world, these zombies still think they can act like savages. If the rest of the world that is secular behave same way like these zombies, than we will see how their Thaqiyaa will function. Survival instinct….
So religious fanatics are above the law? It is legal for them to kill and murder their fellow Maldivians because of their beliefs?
The foreign commentators on this article are even more hilarious. Saying we're intolerant and then grouping all of us together and saying you'll never visit our beautiful country. We are all not like that. The people that got attacked were Maldivians too. If you actually gave a crap rather than being all high and mighty about how civilised your own country is you would have a different attitude.
There should be freedom of religion in the Maldives. The notion that 100% of Maldivians are Muslims is a total and utter lie.
Hate can be a powerful tool for control and radicals are easy to manipulate. It's no surprise that most of the fanatics are led by politicians.
Islam doesn't need protection and it's pretty obvious the people trying are just destroying it with their misguided jihad.
I thought Islam let people choose religions for themselves and we can only advise them and explain to them about Islam, if they have thoughts about leaving Islam or becoming an atheist or what-not...=S at least that's what i was taught when i was in school. (I am a Muslim btw, no hate towards me please! Just letting out my thoughts =/)
The Maldives is 100% Muslim but the people or the citizens are not 100% and it is a fact.
For Muslims Quruan commands more authority than the constitution. The point is Allah doesn't force a particular religion on anyone!
Islam is peace and the violence seen is contrary to Islamic principles.
There is no religious unity in Maldives. There are various faction of Islam itself operating in maldives.
It is in the interest of the country to encourage a tolerant society. The country's economy is heavily dependent on tourism and tourists are mainly kaafirs. If Allah blessed us with oil wells, we could have prohibited tourists of other faiths from arriving to Maldives.
Besides Hilath and his group voiced their concern over the growing intolerance of the Mullahs.
this is what happens when president let criminals out of jails for simply being his relative. we all know that hilath was found with a drug overdose and with illegal narcotics and he was arrested. but the president let him go as he is a relative of him.
the only freedom hilath deserves is to be in jail where he belongs.
There always is a hidden motive behind all these fundamental attacks. Maybe people should stop fire-fighting and sit down to pick at the root of the problem.
no one is above the law, let it be the mullas or anyone else. there is no religious freedom given the maldivian constitution nor is it provided in the constitution allowing for people to take the law in to their own hands and cause physical harm to others.
hilath should be thankful he didnt get killed.. next time we gonna not only injure your head..
those so called habiee are criminals who took the form of "Habiee" in jail or when released, its a cover they put on. they are violent uncivilized barbarians, who is using islam as an excuse for violence. and they believe they are defending islam but brutally attacking civilians. they are violent and intolerant people. and what can i say, they fit right into islam as islam promotes such violence by asking followers to kill those who oppose islam or leave it. this is the reality.
to all the so called moderate muslims, GO TO (YOUR IMAGINARY) HELL!!! there is no such thing as moderate muslims, islam is islam, its based on what the Quran and Hadith sasy. your liberal ideas or moderate idea will fly out the window the moment you have to put it into action. your nothing but hypocrites who thinks you can pick and choose what to believe in islam, you are FOOLS!!!
as for apostates, this is the reality, do not ever be fooled to think that islam is a religion of peace and its followers are peaceful humans, no sir!! yesterday was just the tip of the ice berg. be safe and careful who you speak to and where you speak regarding your beliefs. its not easy to be against a bunch of primitive thinking barbarian who thinks 72 virgins are waiting for them if they die in the process of trying to kill us apostates.
@Markaz
"brave Mujaaheddeen for bravely standing up to vile Islamophobic bigots"
What's brave about throwing bricks at silent peaceful protesters? How is using violence against defenseless members of society a brave action?
How does a silent protest, protesting for freedom of religion equate to islamophobic bigotry? With democracy, wahabis have been allowed to spread their own extreme Islamic beliefs from the podium in a way that they believe to be true, using freedom of speech. So why shouldn't these protesters be allowed to express what form of Islam they believe in, a religion which has existed peacefully in this country for 100s of years, until I may add these wahabis have infiltrated society?
@democracy
So a silent protest by 30 young protesters can poison society huh? What about the relentless fear-mongering by these extreme mullahs? We all have to bear their extreme views on a daily basis. Just switch on the TV, turn on the radio, sit waiting for a ferry, get a taxi, poison coming from every direction, poison that did not exist 10 years ago. And now all of a sudden, we are all subjected to it as this is the "true" Islam. What nonsense. Wake up and smell the reality.
@aisthath
"Majority supports neither sexual freedom (to practise homosexuality) nor religious freedom ( to practise religions other than Islam)." Oh really? Please provide the stats? I beg to differ. Every single person born as a Maldivian is automatically forced to be a Muslim as is stated in the constitution. This does not mean they will forever refuse to support religious freedom.
@Ali
Your ignorance and lack of wit is absolutely astounding. May Allah bless you some day and develop that little pea-sized object inside your head.
@dhivehin
"The over whelming majority of maldivians doesnt want ‘freedom’ of religion." I'm looking forward to seeing those stats which you have based this on.
Decmocracy was initially at this level. People thought it was impossible and many were injured and put into solitary confinement. History is repeating with a bigger challange whether you like it or not. This time will see how tolerant you faith heads really are. Enjoy the show.
for someone who goes on issuing threats against others in his blog, he deserve what happened to him.
Fellow Maldivians.
Do you see how these apostates are trying to convert our country? Why? Because we have not done our religious duty.
All these guys need is a healthy amount of flogging to cure them of their desire for religious freedom.
We need to start carrying out more flogging to correct society. Hilath needs a weekly/monthly dose of flogging, then we can all sleep much better.
Thank god for flogging.
Praise Allah for giveth us flogging. He is all wise and all knowing!
democracy = majority wins.
sorry guys, majority wont allow you few bunch of people to carry on those silent or non silent protests.
To my belief, Allah and Islam allows anyone and everyone to believe what ever one may want to believe.
If not Allah would not be feeding and granting life to them unbelievers who form the majority of this planet!
Surath Al Kaafiroon is sufficient for one to know this truth!
Fanatic scholars cannot, or do not want to believe this truth!
Islam, does not need no protection from no one.
And there can be no one more tolerant than Allah Almighty and HIS Prophet, Muhammad (pbuh) who has "completed" Islam, as he was ordered to.
Being together as true believers would make us stronger for sure. Divided, we definitely will be weaker in all respect.
The mere truth is that it is not democracy that is prevailing today!!!!
yes! i vote for the extremist..... pls next time just kill da bastard....i am so sick of this 'heelath' and all his stupid friends...