3 JANUARY 2006

Back to list

FOM Concerned over Maldivian Government’s Duplicitous use of Interpol to Target Opposition Media

Friends of Maldives (FOM) remain concerned over the Government of Maldives’ use of Interpol to harass and intimidate opposition journalists based outside the Republic of Maldives.

On 28 December 2005 Sri Lankan Interpol officers raided Minivan’s office in Colombo, following an allegation made by Maldives’ Commissioner of Police, Adam Zahir, through Interpol, that the office was being used for gun-running and seditious activities - allegations that were subsequently found to be baseless by the Sri Lankan Interpol officers.

Minivan Radio editor, Ahmed Naseer, speaking about the incident from Sri Lanka commented that “the Government of Maldives makes repeated claims to support press freedom. The recent raid by Interpol, following false allegations made by the Maldivian government, shows that their rhetoric remains unmatched by action.”

This is not the first time the Government of Maldives has used Interpol in order to crack-down on political dissidents. The office of journalist Mohamed Zaki, who was involved in the online newsletter Sandhaanu, was raided in Malaysia in 2002 after allegations made through Interpol by the Maldivian government. Zaki was arrested and charged by the Government of Maldives for ‘insulting the president’ in Sandhaanu and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was later made an Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience.

In April 2005, the Government of Maldives made unsubstantiated allegations to the Indian police that Maldivian citizen Ibrahim Asif was planning terrorist activities targeted at Maldives during a visit to India. He was subsequently extradited to Maldives.

Although the Government of Maldives never produced any evidence to link Asif to terrorism, they made a number of unfounded allegations in the international and local media and to foreign diplomatic missions that Asif is a terrorist linked to senior members of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and three British nationals, including FOM founder David Hardingham. The British nationals were blacklisted from the Maldives.

FOM believes that the Government of Maldives are deceiving international organisations such as Interpol in order to undermine the political opposition of President Gayoom.

The recent attack on Minivan in Sri Lanka signals that elements within the Government of Maldives are becoming distressed at the rising pressure for democratic change within the country. FOM remains extremely concerned that these elements may resort to increasingly desperate measures to attack their political opponents.

NB: Minivan is an independent Maldivian media (radio, news website and newspaper), run from Colombo and the Maldives. See www.minivannews.com

 FOM urges the Government of Maldives to: -

1. Desist from its continuous harassment of journalists and human rights activists in the Maldives and Sri Lanka.
2. Release all Political Prisoners of Conscience immediately.

FOM calls on the International Community to:

• Place an immediate travel ban on members of the Government and other officials of the Maldives from travelling abroad into concerned countries

• Determine where Maldivian government funds are banked overseas and to seize those funds and assets
• Cease the supply of arms and other weaponry used by the security forces against the pro-democracy opposition
• Issue travel advisories giving thorough warnings to all tourists planning to go the Maldives of the appalling human rights record of this country

• Commence investigations against individuals in the government who are accused of murder, torture and other human rights abuses by the opposition groups with a view to bringing these individuals to trial.
• Immediately cease all aid to the Maldivian government.  Ensure aid that has been given to the government is spent with full transparency and accountability.  Aid should be given to non-governmental Aid organisations working in the Maldives

Friends of Maldives
Media Contact: Sarah Mahir

64 Milford Street
Salisbury
SP1 2BP
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0)1722 504330
E: enquiries@friendsofmaldives.org
W: www.friendsofmaldives.org

NOTES TO EDITORS

Friends of Maldives – www.friendsofmaldives.org

Friends of Maldives (FOM) is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights in the Maldives. Based in the UK and established in 2003. FOM focuses its activities on providing support and publicity to prisoners of conscience and good governance in the Maldives.