On 7 July 2002, one day before Writers’ Day in the Maldives, the brutal government of Gayoom slapped hard on the face of writers. The judiciary, which was functioning directly under the government as designed by the flawed constitution of 1998, sentenced three journalists to life in prison. They were convicted of writing and producing an underground electronic newsletter called Sandhaanu. Furthermore, a girl named Fathimath Nisreen was convicted to ten years in prison for alleged involvement in the production and distribution of Sandhaanu. The message to writers in Maldives was clear: no dissent against the government could be tolerated.
The men sentenced to life in prison were Ibrahim Lutfy, Ahmed Didi and Mohamed Zaki. Ibrahim Lutfy was a successful businessman from Hithadhoo, Addu Atoll. Ahmed Didi had been a political prisoner before and he had contested in the parliamentary election of 1994 against Dr Munavvar for an Addu seat. Didi was detained during the election to prevent him from winning. Didi is from Hulhudhoo, Addu Atoll. Mohamed Zaki is a successful businessman holding shares in Nazaki. He currently owns e-Sandhaanu weekly.
The circumstances under which the editors and writers of Sandhaanu were arrested and sentenced were covered by Maldivian Rebels in their underground magazine Maverick in issue 1 and issue 2.
“No defense by the prisoners or lawyers was allowed at the trial on Sunday, and Luthfee appealed to the judge to increase his sentence from 25 to 500 years, stating that it was his desire to remain in gaol until President Gayyoom was out of office. Everyone inside the court burst out laughing,” maldivesculture.com reported.
The Idhikeeli blog posted in January 2007 a well-researched article about the prosecution and sentencing of Sandhaanu writers. In the blog post Idhikeeli gives reference to a BBC article which shows how the government had tried to undermine the credibility of Sandhaanu.
The charges against them were “purely criminal and not motivated by any other reason except to enforce the penal laws” of the Maldives, a statement sent to the BBC by its High Commission in London said.
The four had been working on an electronic newsletter, Sandhaanu.
Sandhaanu “was not a newsletter registered anywhere with any authority”, the statement said. Its authors were anonymous, “proving the nature of the activities they were engaged in”.
The statement said they had been found guilty of inciting people “to violence and violent and illegal acts against a lawfully elected government and its officials”.
The flawed constitution of 1998 also gives provision for people to seek legal assistance when they are prosecuted. However, in criminal cases legal assistance from lawyers were not allowed for years after the constitution was ratified. Even though legal representation is a basic right, procedures for legal representation in criminal cases were not in place. After the constitution of 1998 was ratified, the government did not send to the Parliament several laws which had to be passed under that constitution and people’s basic rights were denied. The Attorney General of that time Dr Mohamed Munavvar simply ignored those issues and was comfortable in serving Gayoom, while legal procedures and laws that were required under the constitution were not available to the people.
The government of Maldives thought it could fool the international community by lying about the Sandhaanu case. Idhikeeli notes that “the biggest lie that was sold to the world was that Sandhaanu writers received legal representation” and gives reference to the BBC article in which BBC reports that the government of Maldives claimed that the four people had the right to be represented and assisted by a lawyer.
However, RSF’s Vincent Brossel insisted that the Maldives authorities should review the sentences.
“We found no call to violence in their newsletters,” he told BBC News Online on Wednesday.
“It’s a group of people that has always been critical of the government.
“It’s a very harsh sentence for people who have just expressed their opinions on the government policy.”
But the Maldives Government says the four were “tried in open court, and like anyone else, had the right to be represented and assisted by a lawyer and had the right and opportunity to appeal their cases”.
The Attorney General of that time Dr Munavvar was participating in Gayoom’s crimes by not ignoring the fact that the government was not sending necessary bills to the Parliament and thus obstructing the basic rights of people. In addition, his alliance with the regime of Gayoom was obvious in how the Office of the Attorney General amended the charges against Sandhaanu writers so that they were accused of treason against the state. This charge caused the judge Abdulla Areef to pass sentences of life in prison to the three men. Separate sentences were passed to them and Nisreen on defamation charges as well.
An article that was published in MaldivesCulture.com with the title “Previous Maldives Attorney-General conjured treason charge for Sandhaanu trial” included a letter by Mohamed Zaki sent to Human Rights Commission of the Maldives on 20 January 2004. The letter, which was translated into English by MaldivesCulture.com, explains how the charges were amended by the Office of the Attorney General in 2002 so that maximum sentence could be given to the writers.
People will not accept to that, overall, the claims made in Sandhaanu were acts of treason. Sandhaanu was an expression of thoughts – a guide along the path of reform.
In relation to Sandhaanu, the state prosecutor’s allegation against me was made under article 29, alleging the offence of conspiracy to commit treason. According the prevailing customs of Maldives, the judge found me guilty of the charges brought by the government. In addition to this, I received a sentence of one year’s exile for defamation, under articles 150 and 152.
I was denied my basic human rights during the investigation and the court procedure .
3. Under Chapter 2 article 15(b) of the constitution, when a person is being arrested the person should be informed of the reason for arrest. In accordance with this, at the time of my arrest I was informed it was on suspicion of spreading false information in a way that would cause loss of public peace. The police informed me of this in writing, and made me sign and fingerprint the document. But in court, the prosecuting lawyer from the Attorney General’s office presented a completely different accusation to the court. Yes, it was a charge of committing high treason!
It was surprising to see that, in reality, the government has little respect for the constitution of the country. I do not believe these are merely mistakes. After keeping me locked up in a cell in Dhoonidhoo without any access to the outside world, the only charge the state prosecutor could think of bringing against me was high treason, punishable by life imprisonment. This charge had no connection with the reason for my arrest.
Sandhaanu was a beacon of hope during the darkest days of Gayoom regime. By participating with Gayoom to conjure treason charges against the Sandhaanu cyber-dissidents, Dr Munavvar had hit hard on reformists in the Maldives. Now that Dr Munavvar is aiming to get elected for the top post in the government, he should remember the pain and suffering he had caused to several reformists in the past, and realize that the ghosts of his past are finally coming back to haunt him.
Reference
Letter sent to Human Rights Commission of the Maldives on 20 January 2004 by Mohamed Zaki, translated and published by MaldivesCulture.com on 14 April 2004
Idhikeeli blog post on prosecution and trial of Sandhaanu writers
BBC article on the sentencing of Sandhaanu writers and arguments put forward by government of Maldives
Maverick, the magazine of Maldivian Rebels, Issue 1 published June 2002
Maverick, the magazine of Maldivian Rebels, Issue 2 published August 2002
http://www.do2004.com/DO/Maverick_Resist.htm
http://www.maldivesculture.com/news/maldives_maverick_index.htm
If you agree with us that Dr Munavvar worked as a servant of Gayoom in unfairly prosecuting Sandhaanu writers, send this article by email to your friends, write about it in your facebook groups and write about it in your blogs. We can’t let the lies of Dr Munavvar go unchallenged.
