Freedom Now, a non-governmental organization that
serves as pro bono counsel to Mohamed Nasheed, the former President of
the Maldives, has forwarded the White House a list of top government
officials and businessmen responsible for human rights abuses in the
Maldives.
The undisclosed list was sent to the White House, following the launching of a 30-page report ‘Moving From Condemnation to Action: The Case for the United States to Impose Targeted Financial Sanctions and Travel Bans on Serious Human Rights Abusers in the Maldives’.
According to the organization, in addition to the White House, the list—similar to the one submitted to the British government in November 2015—has also been sent to the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, and key Members of Congress.
In the report, Freedom Now highlights the broad range of human rights violations committed by the current Maldives’ regime, including the politically-motivated sentencing of political opponents without due process, suppression of civil society organisations, and the crackdown on media.
Furthermore, the report recommends “President Barack Obama issue an Executive Order creating a human rights-based sanctions program in response to the crisis in the Maldives and immediately update the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List of the US Department of the Treasury to include the senior Maldivian government officials implicated in major human rights abuses. (A confidential list of proposed designees has been provided to the US Government)”.
The report also calls on the US government to impose travel bans on the perpetrators.
During the ceremony held to launch the report, founder of Freedom Now and legal counsel to former President Nasheed said: “We have been incredibly grateful for the strong support of the United States both to secure President Nasheed’s freedom and to address the rapidly deteriorating rights situation. Given Yameen’s utter intransigence, it is time for the United States and other countries to move from condemnation to action by imposing targeted sanctions on key regime officials.”
Freedom Now also notes that the current human rights situation of Maldives is on the same level as the situations in Zimbabwe in 2003, Belarus in 2006, and Burma in 2007—which had led to the imposition of sanctions by the United States.
The undisclosed list was sent to the White House, following the launching of a 30-page report ‘Moving From Condemnation to Action: The Case for the United States to Impose Targeted Financial Sanctions and Travel Bans on Serious Human Rights Abusers in the Maldives’.
According to the organization, in addition to the White House, the list—similar to the one submitted to the British government in November 2015—has also been sent to the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, and key Members of Congress.
In the report, Freedom Now highlights the broad range of human rights violations committed by the current Maldives’ regime, including the politically-motivated sentencing of political opponents without due process, suppression of civil society organisations, and the crackdown on media.
Furthermore, the report recommends “President Barack Obama issue an Executive Order creating a human rights-based sanctions program in response to the crisis in the Maldives and immediately update the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List of the US Department of the Treasury to include the senior Maldivian government officials implicated in major human rights abuses. (A confidential list of proposed designees has been provided to the US Government)”.
The report also calls on the US government to impose travel bans on the perpetrators.
During the ceremony held to launch the report, founder of Freedom Now and legal counsel to former President Nasheed said: “We have been incredibly grateful for the strong support of the United States both to secure President Nasheed’s freedom and to address the rapidly deteriorating rights situation. Given Yameen’s utter intransigence, it is time for the United States and other countries to move from condemnation to action by imposing targeted sanctions on key regime officials.”
Freedom Now also notes that the current human rights situation of Maldives is on the same level as the situations in Zimbabwe in 2003, Belarus in 2006, and Burma in 2007—which had led to the imposition of sanctions by the United States.
source- https://raajje.mv/56044
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