Licence to kill in Maldives :: Maldives News :: Dhivehi Observer

Nashid Column

License to kill

by Dr. Ibrahim Nashid, G. Keneree Ge, Male', 25 September 2005

Gayoom's government signed the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) in April 2004. Parties to this convention are required under its various articles to bring the national legal system up to international standards. In particular, article four of CAT requires the parties to "ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law." Major international human rights organisations working in the area of torture prevention such as Amnesty International and Association for the Prevention of Torture, recommend in this respect that governments expressly define torture as a crime in their national law in such a way that it independently covers the crime of torture. But Gayoom's argument is that the existing Maldivian laws on doing bodily harm are good enough and therefore the Maldives do not require to change their laws to conform to CAT. This gives the signal to Gayoom's torturers that they can carry on torturing with impunity. As the majority of tortures have not been brought to justice under the existing laws, the torturers do not have anything to fear. On the contrary, it encourages them to carry on torturing when they know that their leader would protect them in the face of national and international attempts to bring them to justice. The impunity with which the torturers can act is exemplified in the case of Evan Naseem who was tortured to death in 2003. It took a prison riot and violent demonstrations on the streets of the capital Male' for Gayoom's government to start an enquiry into the killing of Evan Naseem. When the enquiry eventually started, the head of security of the prison at the time of the killing, Adam Mohamed, was told by his superior, the Commissioner of Police Adam Zahir, that "only real men have to face such situations... and we don't know what the enquiry will come up with yet." In the resulting trial in February this year, eight officers of the National Security Service were found guilty of murder and four others were acquitted. All twelve were charged with murder and none with the specific crime of torture. The presiding judge, appointed by Gayoom, found Adam Mohamed not guilty of being party to the murder of Evan Naseem, but guilty of insubordination. It was rumoured in Male' during the time of the trial that Adam Zahir told Adam Mohamed to do what he says and things would turn out all right.

With the establishment of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives in December 2003, people hoped that a key instrument to prevent torturers acting with impunity would finally be put in place. The commission was given powers, albeit by presidential decree, to investigate complaints made by people whose rights have been violated in order to bring the torturers to justice. But the reality showed that it is yet another Gayoom farce and yet another veil over the faces of the international community. When the time came to give the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives credible legal status, Gayoom backed down. He ordered government members of parliament to water down the Human Rights Commission Bill so much that by the time the bill came through parliament the commission found that their hands were tied behind their backs. The indications to the torturers by Gayoom's government members were clear from the debates in parliament. To these members saving a few Rufiyaas were far more important than the lives of Maldivians. One member was quoted as saying that if we allowed the commission the powers stated in the bill we "would loose our property." The commission, which began its work almost two years ago with real purpose now seems to be on its last leg. Its credibility has been damaged beyond repair and its independence is questioned by all. More than eight months after the killing of Muaviath Mahmood by Gayoom's torturers the commission is still unable to bring the case to court. It is highly unlikely now that the killers of Muaviath Mahmood will ever be brought to justice. Meanwhile the current chairperson of the commission is on the verge of resignation because of a lack of will on the part of Gayoom's government to allow the commission to function along the lines of the Paris Principles.

From the information we get it seem the number of "suicides" of inmates in Maldivian prisons is on the increase. As there are no post mortems conducted by independent doctors there is no way of determining the real cause of death. The existing procedures allow the torturer to hide the evidence and carry on torturing without the slightest fear of being brought to justice. Furthermore, senior government officials such as the current foreign minister chip in with their help. They attempt to justify a possible killing of an inmate by saying the inmate was just "a drug addict" and possibly would have gone on to say that it was a "suicide".

Despite the setbacks faced by the Human Rights Commission and the obstacles that are put in front of the parliamentary investigation commission into the death of Muaviath Mahmood, I do hope that they push forward to bring the people responsible for killing this young man to justice.