:: Dhivehi Observer :: Peoples Press ::

The Garbage uttering despot; Gayyoom should stand trial at an International Court of Law

by Mariyam Mohamed - Tuesday, 14th September 2004

A month after Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom ordered police to torture, terrorise and lock up suspected pro-democracy activists, the ageing dictator is struggling to hold out against increased national and international outcry against his brutality.

Gayyoom may have thought that the continuing state of emergency would suffice as cover for the atrocities committed, but no emergency laws can justify what happened inside police headquarters on the nights of 13, 14, and 15 August 2003.

And no amount of cabinet reshuffling will divert attention from what has been Gayyoom's habitual response to opposition; only this time around, it has been exposed to the whole world.

Atrocities

According to sources from within the armed forces, hundreds of suspects were handcuffed from behind, kicked and severely beaten by a throng of manic brutes, who may have been hastily fitted with smart new uniforms but cannot escape responsibility for their actions anymore by saying they were following orders.

Female suspects, including Mariyam Manike, the mother of Hassan Eevan Naseem who Gayyoom's police officers last year bludgeoned to death in a Maldives prison, were not only meted out with similar beatings, but also had their breasts and crotches fondled, squeezed and punched.

Reports from inside also claimed that police grabbed and hit the genitals of many young men and boys.

Child abuse

Scores of children were arrested along with the reformists, and eyewitnesses have said that they were severely kicked and beaten.

Interestingly, the president’s website, which in the Divehi section lists child rights laws as among the rights currently suspended under emergency laws fails to mention the fact in the English section.

Gayyoom and his gang have gone too far this time, and now they must deal with the consequences.

Supporting atrocities

By commending police “restraint” on 13 August on national radio and TV, and by denying allegations of torture of the arrested demonstrators, Gayyoom is indirectly both supporting the atrocities and admitting that he knows they were wrong.

As head of the armed forces, as the executive who ordered the mass arrests, as the person who announced emergency laws to facilitate the atrocities, and as the dictator continuing to lie to both his own people and the international community, Gayyoom has a lot to answer for.

International court

Since it is unlikely that he will be asked to do this in a country where he has had absolute power for nearly three decades, it is now time to initiate proceedings against the dictator in an international court of justice.

Gayyoom's partners in these crimes must not be forgotten either.

Informants have revealed that the team of cabinet ministers dispatched by the dictator to visit the detention centres, including attorney general Dr. Hassan Saeed, are fully aware of the atrocities.

Continuing in Gayyoom's cabinet under these circumstances make all these men liable for future prosecution, especially when they have publicly said that the detainees are being treated well.

But ultimately Gayyoom holds the largest responsibility for the atrocities committed, and Maldivians will never forgive or forget this man’s crimes against his own people.

India and the EU simply cannot afford to wait and watch to see if the dictator’s promised reforms materialise.

Garbage-uttering despot

After 27 years of rampant repression, nepotism, thieving, and terrorism, Maldivians have had enough of Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom and they will try to kick him out in any way they can, even if it means sending the most peaceful nation in the world into anarchy.

The international community must immediately send a strong team to oversee the release of illegal detainees, the restoration and implementation of basic human rights, the education of people in democracy and good governance and, most importantly, to open up the national media for activists, presidential and parliamentary candidates to campaign and to inform the people that they have choices other than a cheap, garbage-uttering despot to lead them into the future.