:: Dhivehi Observer :: Peoples Press ::

Maldives to prosecute opposition party members for "inciting riots"

By senior correspondent in Male', Maldives

MALE, Feb 16 -- Maldives State Prosecutor on Monday filed proceedings at the Criminal Court to prosecute six people, including members of the opposition Maldives Democratic Party, for inciting riots in the capital Male in September last year.

The six identified were MDP spokesperson's daughter and MDP council member Jennifer Latheef, Iklil Ibrahim, Abdulla Alexander Nasheed, Ahmed Zia Abbas, Abdulla Shabeer, and Ahmed Moosa.

"They will be prosecuted under the terrorism laws of Maldives and their trials will be held in open court," Attorney General Dr. Hassan Saeed said.

The six are accused of vandalising and setting fire on community police centers, the elections office, and the office of the Maldives supreme court.

Jennifer Latheef was arrested on Friday for organising a mass peaceful protest on Saturday to protest alleged human rights abuses by President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom's administration.

Amnesty International on Saturday protested Latheef's and seven others' arrests, and demanded the release of these pro-democracy activists.

President Gayyoom's promises of reforms to protect human rights are in sharp contrast to the arrests made by the police. Our message to the government is clear: release these detainees now; ensure their well-being while in custody; reform the laws that allow the detention of prisoners of conscience; and ensure that no such arrests take place in the future, Amnesty said in a statement on Saturday.

The highest punishment accorded under the terrorism laws of the Maldives is either the death penalty or life imprisonment in jail for 25 years. If convicted, these six people possibly face the death penalty.

The last time in recent memory that the death penalty was passed under terrorism law was on the Sri Lankan mercenaries who attacked Maldives in Nov 1988. But President Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom overturned those sentences and gave them life imprisonment instead. They were later handed over to the Sri Lankan government. Their subsequent fate is unknown.

A few years back, a Maldivian man was sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labor, when he was found guilty by the court for trying to explode a device at the Institute of Islamic Studies in Male where Gayyoom was due for a lecture as he is a lecturer at the Diploma in Law and Sharia course at the Institute. This case was not made public.

In this case too, if the Criminal Court passes the death sentence on these six people, Gayyoom may overturn the verdict to life imprisonment sentences.