:: Dhivehi Observer :: Peoples Press ::

Gayyoom forced to release Black Friday detainees but will they get justice?

by Donim, 12th October 2004

Dictator Gayyoom

The Maldives dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom is bending under international pressure and released detainees daily.

But the atrocities committed by his National Security Services during and in the aftermath of the brutal crackdown on a peaceful protest by pro-democratic activists must not go unanswered.

Maldivians will be grateful to the EU and the US for bringing the regime down to its heels, and now the international community can play an equally important role in bringing the perpetrators of the grave human rights abuses to justice.

There is overwhelming evidence of gross physical, sexual and psychological abuse of scores of men, women, and children by Gayyoom's police, catalogued not only by the EU fact-finding mission, but also by the country's own national human rights commission.

It is unlikely that the victims will get the necessary legal representation required to fight Gayyoom and his government for the abuses they have suffered and to demand compensation, given the lack of qualified and experienced lawyers in the Maldives.

But a team of smart international lawyers, funded by donor countries sympathetic to the plight of the Maldivian people, could easily build a case to initiate legal proceedings against the dictator and his government in an international court of law.

As Gayyoom starts bogus hearings against his opponents in his most audacious attempt ever to crush dissent, Maldivians desperately need overseas assistance to seek justice for the grave atrocities they have suffered in 27 years riddled with intimidation, horror, and human rights abuses.