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20th April 2006

Minivan Journalist Sentenced to Life Imprisonment

Minivan journalist Abdulla Saeed (Fahala) was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for alleged possession of drugs. The verdict has been widely condemned as yet another attempt by the Maldivian government to suppress media opposition.

The charges against him are manufactured to silence him as a journalist. He is the most recent in a long line of opposition journalists who have faced harassment, abuse, and detention on politically motivated charges. Despite the Maldivian governments claim to support increased freedom of the press, repetitive incidents such as Fahala’s case reveal the hostile treatment directed at independent journalists. Minivan News describes the state as having ‘created an atmosphere of intimidation that scares all but the most committed, courageous journalists who are willing to risk their personal safety and liberty to provide independent news coverage.’

During his time at Minivan, Fahala has written articles deeply critical of the regime’s policies He was initially called to attend a police station on 13 October 2005. Upon arrival at the station Fahala was separated from his lawyer and then directed to empty his pockets; he complied, producing his wallet, cell phone, cigarettes, and lighter. Police found nothing else on his person in the initial search.

Fahala was then asked to strip for a full search. His lawyer was again kept in a separate room. Fahala removed his clothes and faced away from the police as directed. During the second search one officer claimed he found four packets in the pockets of Fahala’s trousers, the same pockets which had yielded nothing illicit when emptied in front of several police officers earlier.

The police asked Fahala to take a urine test. Fahala refused, stating that if the police were not above planting drugs on his person, they could certainly alter the results of his drug test to suit their trumped-up charges.

In Fahala’s first trial on 27 March, he was found guilty of disobeying a police order to provide a urine sample and sentenced to two months in prison. His trial this week concerned more serious drug charges.

Maldivian law presumes that possession of over 1 gram of a drug implies a prima facie intent to sell, and the perpetrator faces life imprisonment. Fahala’s trousers purportedly yielded 1.1 grams of heroin in the form of “brown sugar,” just enough so that Fahala faced the harshest punishment possible in the Maldives judicial system.
During his trial, Fahala was not permitted to present witnesses who sought to speak in his defence or to take an oath that he had not brought the drugs to the police station on his person. However, the prosecution was given freedom to present its case, and the state produced two police officers who reported they had only acted in accordance with accepted procedures. Another expert witness for the state claimed that the four packets contained brown sugar totaling 1.1 grams of the drug.

Numerous organizations, including Reporters Without Borders and Committee to Protect Journalists, have criticized the Maldivian government over its treatment of journalists. Diplomats have also expressed concern over limitations on press freedom.

‘The conviction on 19 April of Minivan journalist Abdullah Saeed and his sentence to life imprisonment was engineered by the authorities in order to harm the country's only opposition newspaper, Reporters Without Borders said today, calling for his retrial by an impartial court and urging President Gayoom to keep his promise to allow more press freedom.’

A spokesman from the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, which is accredited to the Maldives, told Minivan News, “The United States believes in a free and open judicial process and we are concerned about recent cases involving journalists for the independent newspaper Minivan. Without commenting on the specifics of Fahala’s case, we will be monitoring any appeal that might be filed closely. The circumstances of the case raise questions and we will be following up with Maldivian officials on that and other cases involving journalists.”

Other Minivan journalists have been targeted this month. Minivan subeditor Nazim Sattar was recently charged before the Male criminal court with "disobedience to order" over an allegedly "illicit" article published in August 2005. He faces six months of banishment, imprisonment or house arrest. Mohamed Yushau, the newspaper's correspondent in the south of the country, was arrested on 9 April for allegedly refusing to respond to a police summons and was put in Dhoonidhoo prison near Male. Musa Ismael, its correspondent on Faafu atoll, has been harassed by the authorities and fears he could be arrested. Minivan photojournalist Jennifer Latheef is meanwhile under house arrest after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for "terrorist" activities.