 |
Press Release from Nirj Deva DL MEP |
23rd
September 2004 |
|
Moderate
Muslim Detainee Nominated
for the Sakharov Prize |
Ibrahim
Hussain Zaki, a former Government Minister and Chairman of the South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation has been nominated by
Members of the European Parliament for the coveted Sakharov Prize
for Freedom of Thought.
The $15,000 prize, which was launched in 1988 and named after the
Russian Soviet dissenter Andrei Sakharov, is designed to reward
those who have made landmark contributions towards the struggle for
human rights and democracy.
The nomination of Ibrahim Hussain Zaki for this prestigious award
follows on the back of the near-unanimous* passing of a Resolution
by the European Parliament condemning the actions of the Gayoom
regime which has denied Maldivians basic human rights for the past
twenty five years.
Past winners of the coveted prize include United Nations Secretary
General Kofi Annan, former South African President Nelson Mandela
and Burmese democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi.
Commenting upon the fact that in excess of twenty-five Members of
the European Parliament have nominated Zaki for the honour, the
spokesman for the MEPs said:
“I am delighted that Ibrahim Hussain Zaki, a moderate Muslim and
leading proponent of democracy has won the nomination of so many
Members of the European Parliament.
“His life philosophy is diplomacy, non-violence and progressive
democratic reform with an emphasis upon basic human rights, good
governance and the rule of law.
“His values are, at this moment, utterly incompatible with the
vicious regime in power in the Maldives who have forced him into a 5
x 9 foot cell without any access to legal or medical advice and
minimal contact with his close family members.
“Each of the fifty-two years of Zaki’s life have been dedicated to
public service and the fight for democratic reform, entering the
Foreign Ministry at the lowest possible level only to rise to the
position of Foreign Secretary.”
Zaki’s close involvement with the Democratic Movement came following
the President’s commitment to democratic reform and following riots
and reports of the beating of prisoners on purely political grounds.
Following his election to the ‘Special Majlis’ (Parliament),
designed to amend the President’s outwardly pro-democracy
Constitution, Zaki associated himself with the opposition and joined
many members in a mass walkout of the Parliament in July in protest
at the failure of the Government to incorporate pro-democracy
amendments.
Three weeks alter the leaders of the pro-democracy party were all
arrested.
Notes to Editors
-
The vote
passed with 170 in favour, 0 against and 7 abstentions.
-
In 1992,
Zaki became the Secretary General of SAARC (the South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation), serving the full 2 year
term with distinction and gaining a wide international reputation
for honesty, tolerance, regional co-operation and civil rights
support.
-
Zaki
served as Minister for Tourism between 1995 and 1998, when he put
in place the foundations of the successful Maldives tourist
expansion.
-
1998 to
2003, he was Minister for Planning, from which position he
launched the first Maldives human development plan with the UNDP,
and the first Maldives strategic economic plan aimed at
diversification of the tourism and tuna dependant trade and
economic investment base.
-
In 2003,
he refused new posts within the Government both on personal
grounds and in the belief that he could make a more effective
contribution to democratic reforms as a moderate former Minister
than as a member of the Government of the day.
|
|
