Nirj Deva,
Member of the European Parliament for South East England and a
member of the influential Foreign Affairs Committee in the
Parliament has today (Friday) lifted the lid on the true horror of
the dictatorship in the Maldives, a nation commonly associated with
peace, serenity and relaxation.
Today, former Government Minister Mohammed Ibrahim Zaki who is known
to suffer from extremely serious heart problems has been thrown into
prison by the regime and may be being brutally beaten - yet another
nail in the coffin of freedom.
Speaking from Sri Lanka, the MEP said:
“The truth is, far from being the majestic paradise promoted by
scores of glossy brochures in Travel Agents up and down High Streets
across the United Kingdom, the Maldives is a land of torture,
oppression and murder with the tourism industry underpinning the
lavish lifestyle of the dictator Gayoom and his cruel lieutenants
whilst the vast majority of the population survive on less than a
dollar a day.
“During his twenty-five year hold on power, President Gayoom and his
regime have flouted international human rights agreements, laughed
in the face of democracy and brought about unknown terror to
hundreds of thousands of innocent people.”
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Gayoom was a close ally of Saddam Hussein and was said to
model many of his torture techniques upon those employed in
Iraq.
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Women
are unable to stand in elections for President and Gayoom’s
party, which has a monopoly on all levels of Government, is
the only Party allowed to canvass for support during
elections.
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Gayoom, as the self-appointed Head of State and Chief of State
fills key Government posts, such as Speaker of the Parliament
and Minister of Trade and Industry to close family members
rather than individuals genuinely qualified for the posts.
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Gayoom is the ultimate Judicial Authority and appoints and
sacks Judges on a whim depending upon their loyalty to his
regime.
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The
Maldivian Democratic Party, an independent movement with a
peaceful political programme, has been denied the opportunity
to establish as a political party with those who have offered
their names as signatories requesting its establishment being
subjected to arrest and harassment.
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Prisoners in the Maldives are frequently denied basic
facilities such as a pen and paper to mount a defence to their
often-false convictions.
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Freedom of speech is curtailed with Ibrahim Fareed, a moderate
Muslim who made reference to Government corruption in a sermon
he gave in a Mosque being thrown in jail without a formal
trial. There are countless similar examples of this form of
senseless incarceration.
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The
scale of injustice is so severe that, when measured against
population, 1 Maldivian prisoner is equivalent to that of 881
American citizens.
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“The 77,400
British, 106,451 Italian and 77,642 German tourists who visited the
country in the past year alone, paying an average of $200 a night in
plush hotels, are supporting a tyrannical regime where 329,000
people are scrounging out an existence on less than sixty pence a
day.
“Whilst many have a vision of the Maldives as a land of relaxation
and peace, few are aware of the true state of the nation.
“The only way to guarantee the fall of this evil regime is for the
tourist trade, which funds the gold-plated taps in Gayoom’s many
mansions whilst the citizens of the country starve, to cease
immediately.
“I urge all British citizens who have holidays booked to the country
to cancel them immediately as a show of solidarity against this evil
dictatorship and in favour of every human being who has suffered
from Gayoom’s oppression.
“Unless the Maldivian Government begin a process of vast political
and social reform in the country, including freeing innocent men
like Ibrahim Zaki, European Union trade sanctions as well as a
Travel Ban will be immediately imposed upon the nation. Now is the
time to act”. |
