Covering events from January-December 2001

Republic of Maldives
Head of state and government: Maumoon Abdul Gayoom
Capital: Malé
Population: 0.3 million
Official language: Maldivian Dhivehi
Death penalty: abolitionist in practice

Prisoners of conscience continued to be held. A bill on the protection of the rights of detainees was reportedly defeated in parliament.

Background

As in previous years, no political parties were allowed to function. On 28 February, 42 people including academics, intellectuals, businessmen and three members of parliament, handed a petition to the Minister of Home Affairs requesting permission to set up the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). By the end of the year, permission had not been granted and a number of signatories had been detained.

Prisoners of conscience and political prisoners

  • Umar Jamaal, Mohamed Latheef, Abdul Hannan and Abdul Aziz were reportedly detained by National Security Service personnel for several weeks in December 2000 and January 2001. Their detention was believed to have been related to their support for a bill before parliament on the protection of the rights of detainees. The bill was reportedly defeated. The four men were warned on their release against making public statements about their detention.
  • Abdulla Shakir, a member of parliament for Malé and leading petitioner for the MDP, was arrested on 18 July. His whereabouts remained unknown until his release several days later.
  • Mohamed Nasheed, member of parliament for Malé and a prominent petitioner for the MDP, was arrested on 8 October and held incommunicado for several weeks. On 8 November, he was reportedly sentenced to be banished for two and a half years on charges of theft of unspecified "government property" although the real motive appeared to be political. Mohamed Nasheed was not permitted a lawyer or to speak in his own defence.
AI action

Throughout the year AI called upon President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to confirm that the rights of those seeking to establish the MDP would be respected and that they would not be harassed by government officials. In June the Ministry of Information, Arts and Culture stated in a letter that "the government of Maldives does not arrest or detain people for the exercise of their freedom of expression, which is a right granted to its citizens by the Constitution of the Maldives".

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