The imprisonment of the former president is a tragic commentary on Maldivian democracy.

In her presentation to the United Nations Human Rights Council last month, the foreign minister of the Maldives, Dunya Maumoon gave a rousing and patriotic statement about her country’s self-proclaimed extraordinary progress in recent years:

Maldivians are proud of what we have achieved . . . We are a world-renowned luxury tourist destination and a leader in sustainable fisheries. We are . . . a leader of small island developing states . . . we take great pride in the contributions we continue to make here, towards the promotion and protection of human rights . . . That sense of pride and responsibility has been a defining characteristic of our people . . . [it is] a story set out on our white sandy beaches and azure blue waters, a story of resilience; one we can proudly call, the “Maldivian story.”