Taking the option to deceive again :: Maldives News :: Dhivehi Observer

Nashid Column

Taking the option to deceive again

by Dr. Ibrahim Nashid, G. Keneree Ge, Male', 11 September 2005

To the politically observant members of the Maldivian public President Gayoom's tactic of lying to the international community in order to buy time to prolong his dictatorial rule is nothing new. Gayoom's government has been facing increasing criticism recently for the detention of the chairperson of the Maldivian Democratic Party, Mr. Nasheed. To appease the critical voices from abroad Gayoom's government has announce that his government will sign the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and the Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. With such a move, he hopes to buy time to carry on his rule of fear and suppression. In this light the signing of these treaties will be another valueless gesture of Gayoom's. His past actions demonstrate clearly that he does not intend to abide by any international treaty that requires him relinquishing his stranglehold on the Maldivian political system. His intentions are very clear from reading the recent communique' on the official website of the Republic of the Maldives. The communique' states "The "Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment" establishes an international monitoring mechanism that will enable the effective implementation of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment." This according to the website is the version that was read on the Voice of Maldives on the 7th of September 2005. From the omissions in this statement it becomes obvious to any reader what he is attempting to do. Article 1 of the Optional Protocol states that it attempts to establish "… a system of regular visits undertaken by independent international and national bodies to places where people are deprived of their liberty, in order to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." When both versions are compared it seems obvious that Gayoom's government is not going to allow the national part of the monitoring mechanism to work. For the national monitoring system to function, Gayoom will have to allow the registration of independent human rights organizations. Time and again he has refused registration of such organizations in the Maldives and it is difficult to believe that he has had a change of heart. The police and the security forces will have to allow the national independent organizations ad hoc access to the centres of detention.

The Maldives acceded to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) on the 20th of April 2004. Since then Gayoom's government has consistently and purposefully violated many of its articles. While Gayoom's ministers were presenting their first report under this treaty to the UN, his torturers were busy killing Muaviath Mahmood.

Article 13 of the convention states that "… Steps shall be taken to ensure that the complainant and witnesses are protected against all ill-treatment or intimidation as a consequence of his complaint or any evidence given." Instead of protecting, the actions of the police and the security forces have been exactly the opposite. The families of Evan Naseem and Muaviath Mahmood have not only to deal with the loss of their loved ones but have to continuously put up with police harassment in the form of intimidation and in certain cases detention and torture.

Recently the Attorney General of the Maldives admitted that more than ninety percent of the charges are based on confessional statements. It is common knowledge in the Maldives that these statements are made as a result of extreme torture. Often the first statement from the defense council when these cases come to court is to retract these statements stating that they were signed because the accused could not bear the physical torture anymore. According to article 15 of the CAT statements made as a result of torture should not be invoked as evidence in any proceeding. Despite agreeing to abide by this convention, Gayoom's judges pass sentences time and again based solely on confessional statements obtained through torture.

It would be unreasonable to expect Gayoom's police and security forces to stop torturing because torture has become a pivotal part of the system that keeps him in power. In the cases of Evan Naseem and Muaviath Mahmood they have shown that they are even willing to kill in order to instill fear in the Maldivian public. The torturers are fully aware that they can act with impunity without any worry of being brought to justice. During the twenty seven years of Gayoom's rule, only a handful of cases relating to torture have come to court, and these only after a public outcry.

In a democratic political system, signing the Optional Protocol to the CAT would be seen as something positive and most parties would welcome such a signing. But as Gayoom's government has repeatedly violated the Convention against Torture and the Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which they signed a year ago it is not foreseeable that they would respect the Optional Protocol either.

If Gayoom's government honestly wants to prevent torture, bringing the torturers more promptly to justice and charging them under existing Maldivian Laws, rather than waiting for a public outcry, would be a far cheaper and a more effective way of doing it.