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SPECIAL REPORT
A twist in a tragic tale

Mariyam Mohamed, Male', 11th Aug 2004

“A young man found dead of a drug overdose in a guest house” screams the Haveeru headline (19^th May 2004) but there is a slight twist to this tragic tail of a brother wrongly accused in death. The victim Mr. Mohamed Shiyaam of (Gaaf Dhaal Gadhoo Saamiyaanaa) was found dead in a guest house by a friend at around 11:45 pm. The Deputy Commissioner of Police Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Latheef said, there was blood and other discharge from his mouth, and the doctors say Shiyaam has been using a lot of drugs. What drug was it? How much of this drug was in his blood? How much of the said drug causes an overdose? There are no answers to these questions. The fact is DC cannot answer these questions. When asked whether a postmortem was done to determine the cause of death. His response was that Maldives don’t have the capability to do a postmortem. Like most of us Shiyaam was a victim of one of the regimes biggest failings’ heroin. But like most Maldivian he was smoking it and not shooting. A careful check of his body revealed no needle mark confirming that he was not using heroin intravenously. Thames valley Police Drug information website says “injecting heroin is particularly risky because it reaches the brain almost immediately, increasing the possibility of an overdose.” The purity of the heroin increases the chances of an overdose. Generally the quality of the heroin in Male’ is low. A heroin overdose by smoking it off tinfoil is highly unlikely. Shiyaam dying of an overdose is absurd and we don’t buy this story.

Sources in Male familiar with the case are saying that the Police are trying to cover-up their guilt. We believe Shiyaam was murdered by the police. Here is what we know of his last ours, based on the recollections of friends and others. Shiyaam was taken to Police Headquarters sometime late afternoon, a couple of friends saw him there. He was questioned and during a search the police came across some brown, but before the cops could do anything he put it in his mouth and swallowed it, during the fight to stop him from swallowing it they also vented out their anger at him for defying their authority. Shiyaam lost consciousness the cops panicked and as soon as he came around they took a short statement and let him go.

Shiyaam went to meet his paatey (friend), but fainted again pretty close to his friends’ house. A neighbor alerted the friend about Shiyaam. They took Shiyaam to his house and treated him but the elders of the house were not happy with Shiyaam being there. They were forced to take Shiyaam to his room at Farivaa guest house. They told the reception about his condition and asked them to keep an eye on him. He was found dead by some friends who visited him around 11:45pm. They took him to the hospital. A video shot by a friend of AK reveals a black ink mark on his thumb and, when you sign a statement you have to give your thumb print (standard police procedure). But the police deny taking Shiyaam in for questioning. But the ink mark on his thumb is evidence that he was in the cop shed that day.

The death of AK as Shiyaam was affectionately known send a shock through our community. His closest friends could not believe it. As the crowd both inside and around IGMH grew bigger, so did the police presence. A well known high ranking police investigator was questioned regarding AK’s death. He said that since the death was suspicious they are going to look at it as a murder. It was just sweet talk to defuse the tension that was building around IGMH. The way the police behaved was very unlike the usual Maldivian cop.

At the time there were rumors of a gang fight, where these boys attacked AK to steal his brown and in the ensuing struggle AK managed to swallow the stash and while trying to stop him they accidentally strangled him.

The police admit that it was a suspicious death and that they were going to investigate it. Well they did investigate, but not the mysterious death of Mohamed Shiyaam. Instead, they did an investigation on a video of Shiyaam in hospital and his funeral. The video was shot by a friend of AK and it showed AK lying in the hospital. The video proves that Shiyaam was in the cop shed that day. A close up of his thumb revealed an ink mark and when you sign a statement you have to give your thumb print. The police deny taking Shiyaam in for questioning. The video also shows a doctor next to Shiyaam the doctor said that there was no external injuries, but that AK has suffered internal injuries. The doctor further stated that without a postmortem they cannot confirm the cause of death.

Falah was inside the cop shed for more than 44 days and the only questions they asked were regarding the video. They asked “Where is the tape?” They then gave him an ultimatum you will be released when you give us the tape. Why are the Police so interested in this video? What are they trying to hide? Was Falah kept in solitary for 44 days just for the tapes or did the cops think Falah knew how guilty they were? Many who know how the cops operate in these situations say those rumors of AK being involved in a gang fight and that he was mugged for drugs were being spread by the police themselves. They also mislead the public by telling the press and the media it was a drug overdose. But most of all the police let down his family by, depriving them of the truth about the death of their loved one.

We are ashamed of the Maldivian media too. Are they just plain ignorance or are they too scared to question the validity of DCs’ answer. They knew what the DC said had no scientific proof. Journalism is all about truth and finding facts. Anyone can see that DCs’ answer raised more questions then it answered. What will you do if it was your child next time?