By Daniel Bosley
MALE, Maldives
U.S. senators have called on their government to pressure the Maldives into releasing political prisoners, including former President Mohamed Nasheed.
In a letter published on Monday, Senate Armed Services Committee members John McCain and Jack Reed said the “deteriorating situation” in the Maldives was damaging bilateral ties.
“[T]he United States must also urge the Maldives to release all political prisoners, including President Nasheed,” read the letter released on McCain’s official website. “[We] urge the State Department to increase high level engagement with the government of the Maldives and send a strong message that the country should abide by its international commitments, especially to the rule of law.”
Former President Nasheed - the Maldives' first democratically elected leader until his ousting in 2012 - was handed a 13-year jail sentence in March in relation to the detention of a judge in the weeks prior to his departure from office.
Lengthy sentences for other high profile government opponents soon followed, prompting Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party to declare that the country had reverted to a dictatorship.
Current President Abdulla Yameen is the half-brother of former 30-year dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who was defeated by Nasheed in the country’s first multi-party elections in 2008.
International criticism continued last week after new terror charges were brought against opposition leaders in relation to large scale protests held in the capital Male’ on May 1st.
Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon - daughter of former President Gayoom - recently responded to concerns expressed by western nations by defending the country’s much-maligned judiciary and denying government involvement.
“I am concerned about the reaction by some foreign Governments regarding some judicial trials in the Maldives, including the trial of the leader of the Islamic religious party of the Maldives. Rest assured the Government will not intervene in the judicial process of the country,” the minister tweeted last week.
“Justice will be served as per our laws and the Constitution of the Maldives. Criminal activities and incitement to violence will not be condoned,” she said.
Comments made on the Maldives situation by US Secretary of State John Kerry shortly after the May Day unrests were dismissed by President Yameen’s office as his personal views.
The President’s Office spokesmen have not responded to attempts to contact them for comment.
The leader of the religious Adhaalath Party, Sheikh Imran Abdulla, was last week arrested prior to the start of a terrorism trial against him, while opposition Jumhooree Party leaders arrested after the protests have since left the country.
The U.S. senators’ letter comes just days ahead of another opposition rally in the capital, planned for Friday.
Nearly 200 opposition protesters were arrested after a record 20,000-strong demonstration descended into clashes in which both police and protesters received injuries.
“In short, while the Maldives may be a small island nation, there are big principles at stake,” read the senators’ letter to Kerry and U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.
“The United States should work with India and other democratic countries to impress upon the Maldives that its decisions are having serious adverse consequences on its relationships abroad. And the United States must also urge the Maldives to release all political prisoners, including President Nasheed.”
