:: Dhivehi Observer :: Peoples Press ::

Gayyoom knows about torture and sanctions it: How about ministers, IGMH doctors and the Human Rights Commission?

By "Donim" - Wednesday, 15th September 2004

It has now emerged beyond a shadow of doubt that Gayyoom's troops recently did indeed torture hundreds of Maldivians. Indiscriminate terrorisation of unarmed civilians, many of them children, was carried out by the national security services in the first 48 hours of the regime's most brutal crackdown on dissent in Maldivian history.

The atrocities include blindfolding and shackling, kicking, beating with truncheons, and punching and fondling the genitals of unarmed men, women, and children. Many prisoners have had their backbones seriously injured and may well end up with severe disabilities, if not permanently paralysed.

Members of Gayyoom's cabinet are aware of atrocities committed by the police. DO has learnt from reliable sources [NOTE: I HAVE SPOKEN TO SEVERAL DETAINEES WHO CONFIRM THIS] that Mahmoud Shaugee, Ismail Shafeeu, and attorney general Dr. Hassan Saeed have all heard personally from the victims about the horrific acts carried out under the guise of Gayyoom's state of emergency.

There is no way that Gayyoom can pretend to be ignorant about this. The fact that the dictator has still not had any of the prison guards prosecuted for the murder of inmate Hassan Eevan Naseem, which was exposed to the whole world last September, can only mean one thing: Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom knows and approves of torture.

Gayyoom and his supporters can shout themselves hoarse but they cannot erase the recent atrocities, many of which happened in the full view of the public.

Unofficial sources also claim that the Maldives national human rights commission, the EU delegate, and doctors at IGMH are aware of the torture of prisoners detained following recent pro-democracy activities.

The fact is, Gayyoom has always supported the locking up and torturing of his political opponents, and anyone else he takes a dislike to. The dictator's 26 year rule is strewn with examples and anyone who bothers to document them can easily find victims willing to talk.

People who can do something about it, such as members of Gayyoom's cabinet, especially his attorney general Dr. Hassan Saeed and the supposedly decent Ismail Shafeeu, must understand that if they remain silent and go along with Gayyoom's games they are supporting the atrocities.

Likewise, if the Maldives human rights commission are aware of the abuses but are powerless to do anything about it, failure to resign means they are with the government and its desperate and increasingly ridiculous bids to pull wool over the eyes of the international community.

It is time for decent people who know about the atrocities to take a stance: either they support Gayyoom's human rights abuses or they don't. You are either with the terrorist that is Gayyoom or you are with the freedom loving people of the Maldives. Its time to decide.

Gayyoom's time is up, and the rest of us must make the choices that will influence our lives in post-Maumoon Gayyoom Maldives.