A group of high profile US senators introduced Tuesday a
resolution calling on the Maldives government to free jailed former
President Mohamed Nasheed and other political prisoners.
The submission was
led by Senator Patrick Leahy and was backed by a coalition of 31
senators including John McCain, Marco Rubio and Richard Durbin.
According to the bill, it is aimed at expressing the sense of Congress that the government of the Maldives should immediately release Nasheed and all other political prisoners in the country, and guarantee due process for, and respect the human rights of, all of the people of the Maldives.
In the bill, the senators stressed that increasing human rights violations in the Maldives fuel instability and pose a threat to regional security due to the Maldives being “strategically important due to its location, which straddles major trade routes in the Indian Ocean”.
“Since January 2015, President Abdulla Yameen [Abdul Gayoom] of the Maldives has increasingly cracked down on dissent within his own party and the political opposition, presided over the erosion of judicial 16 impartiality, and put increasing pressure on civil society,” the resolution read.
It cites several comments made by international personalities, including the US Secretary of State John Kerry and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad, over the political turmoil in the Maldives.
In his speech in Sri Lanka on May 2, the US’ top diplomat had said that the Maldives democracy was under threat.
“… former President Nasheed has been imprisoned without due process. And that is an injustice that must be addressed soon,” he had said.
On September 14, in his opening statement at the 30th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad had warned that the Maldives government was manipulating the rule of law in order to achieve its political ends. @haveeru.com.mv
According to the bill, it is aimed at expressing the sense of Congress that the government of the Maldives should immediately release Nasheed and all other political prisoners in the country, and guarantee due process for, and respect the human rights of, all of the people of the Maldives.
In the bill, the senators stressed that increasing human rights violations in the Maldives fuel instability and pose a threat to regional security due to the Maldives being “strategically important due to its location, which straddles major trade routes in the Indian Ocean”.
“Since January 2015, President Abdulla Yameen [Abdul Gayoom] of the Maldives has increasingly cracked down on dissent within his own party and the political opposition, presided over the erosion of judicial 16 impartiality, and put increasing pressure on civil society,” the resolution read.
It cites several comments made by international personalities, including the US Secretary of State John Kerry and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad, over the political turmoil in the Maldives.
In his speech in Sri Lanka on May 2, the US’ top diplomat had said that the Maldives democracy was under threat.
“… former President Nasheed has been imprisoned without due process. And that is an injustice that must be addressed soon,” he had said.
On September 14, in his opening statement at the 30th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad had warned that the Maldives government was manipulating the rule of law in order to achieve its political ends. @haveeru.com.mv
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