:: Dhivehi Observer :: Peoples Press ::

Over 300 activists arrested and jailed in Male – MDP

By Harischandra Gunaratna, The Island Newspaper, 17th August 2004

With tension and unrest in the Maldivian capital Male the number of arrests of pro democracy activists by the National Security Service (NSS) has risen to nearly 300. A spokesman for the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said most of their members arrested since Saturday has been badly tortured by the police after being transferred to the jails in the island of Dhoonidhoo, Girifushi and Maafushi.

Among those arrested were Aminath Najeeb who had been campaigning for pluralistic democracy and against arbitrary arrests of which she had been a victim in the past. For the MDP who didn’t who didn’t want to be identified said another woman activist Jennifer Latheef was badly humiliated and beaten in on of the island jails with her head covered with a hood so that she couldn’t identify her torturers. Many former public figures who were arrested Saturday are also being tortured and humiliated by President Gayyoom's brother Yameen's private militia. Among them are Dr. Mohamed Munavvar former Attorney General and Former SAARC Secretary General Ibrahim Zaki.