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My Diary

Am I to face the same fate as Fahala Saeed?

By Ali Rasheed, 22 October 2007

Almost every day is filled with surprises. But then, one should always bear in mind that this is the Maldives with Gayyoom at its helm and anything is possible. The man claims himself to be a Muslim scholar but have yet to learn that mercy is one of the uppermost facets of a practicing Muslim.

On June 5, 2007, I gave an interview to Al-Jazeera accusing the Maldives Police Services of proliferating the drugs-culture in the Maldives. It is the simple truth as the public believes. Exactly a month later – on June 5, 2007, members of the Drug Enforcement Unit of the Maldives Police Services barged into my home – there was a friend named Shareef inside at the time – handcuffed us and took us both to the Male' Police Custodial.

Before they checked us in, we were informed that we were being arrested on suspicion of possessing and using drugs in a room at M. Fadigge. Four of us were taken that night – 2 men who were outside my home – and all of us were made to sign this document with our fingerprints affixed prior to being assigned our cell.

As usual, I refused to cooperate with the cops. They neither did get a urine sample nor a statement from me and after 43 days of being subjected to their hospitality released me. Just told me to go; that was all the instructions I got.

On the first week of this month I discovered I had been sentenced in absentia. I was sentenced on 2 counts on September 9, 2007: disobedience to order and possession of drugs with intent to sell. I had been in town; yet they had failed to send me a summons to the court.

Last Friday, I got the court reports and to my chagrin, discovered I had been framed by the cops. The address where I was picked up was changed including several other details such as the number of people in the room. I have yet to appeal to the High Court though I am sceptical as to whether it would make any difference.

In the past Gayyoom had tried to frame me on charges of attempted murder, gun running and even giving bad advice to little children. Therefore one more attempt to frame me doesn't surprise me at all.

This time, however, I am prepared to prove that Gayyoom and Adam Zahir are intent on having me framed. Whether I succeed or not is a different matter but I will not give in to their blackmail: win or lose I will fight.

The one document that the police cannot doctor is the one that I had signed and had my finger-print affixed to it. This document was excluded from the court report even though the report will not be complete without it. If the police part with a copy of this particular document, I can easily prove the cops are intent on framing me and put me away for life. If they refuse to part with it, they obviously have something to hide.

The cops have another option too. They can simply put me in jail on the basis of the lower court's decision and let me wriggle around like a trapped fish in a cell in Maafushi Jail while the High Court takes their own sweet time in reaching a decision.

All this reminds me of the conclusion made by the Professor Paul Robinson of Pennsylvania (USA) who did research into the Maldives justice system sponsored by the UNDP couple of years ago. His report rightly concluded that "The Maldivian criminal justice system systematically fails to do justice and regularly does injustice."

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Related Publications by Ali Rasheed

17 October 2007

Special Review

Latest in a series of dirty tricks

On June 5, 2007, I gave an interview to Al-Jazeera laying the blame for the proliferation of the drug-culture in the Maldives on Maldives Police Services. Considering the fact that the population of the Maldives is around 300,000 people, 70% of them are under 35 years of age. It works to around 210,000 people. That's the total number of youth in this country and 40% of them are unemployed. Perhaps you may surmise it is the lack of jobs that is the problem. Not so. The problem is drugs: mostly brown sugar. 40% of the youth are jobless, aimlessly hanging around and the natural cycle ending in finding solace in drugs with the result crime rates soaring to unprecedented heights. more

Monday 15 October 2007

Ali's Diary

Reflections from exile
Had it not been for Anni ( Mohamed Nasheed ) life may have taken a different course. I was at the back of the shop with my colleague Ibu when Anni poked his head around the partition where we did our printing. The front was our show-case and retail outlet. 'Nice Guys' as the name board outside read was on Faamudheyri Magu, a busy section of the so-called Singapore Bazaar in the Maldives' capital, Male'. more

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