Raajje TV journalist Asward [Ibrahim Waheed] was brutally assaulted yesterday morning. He is now in critical condition at a hospital in Sri Lanka. On Wednesday, 20 February, he aired the above report on Raajje TV. It was a response to Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s statement the previous day that Mohamed Nasheed seeking refuge at the Indian High Commission was ‘shameful’. This is a translation of Asward’s script.
This is a translation of an extract from the former Police Commissioner Ahmed Faseeh’s testimony to the Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI) on the events of 7 February 2012. Despite being a national inquiry, none of the evidence has been shared with the public. Faseeh’s testimony was leaked on the Internet recently.
by Azra Naseem
An especially trained squad known as Special Operation were at the forefront of the police mutiny that ended in the resignation of President Mohamed Nasheed on 7 February. Together with Riot Police squads, they have since led violent attacks on protesters and re-introduced into Maldivian society the culture of impunity and violence of the pre-democracy era. Although their abuse of power and violations of human rights have been documented by local and international institutions, there have been no prosecutions or disciplinary actions against them.
Late last year, Nasheed’s Police Commissioner Ahmed Faseeh, gave evidence to the Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI) on the events of and surrounding 7 February 2012. Although it was a national inquiry held for the benefit of the public, none of the statements and evidence submitted to CoNI have been made public. A transcript of Faseeh’s evidence, however, was leaked online recently.
He provided members of CoNI with a detailed description of how the SO was created in 2004, as a means of crushing the Maldivian people’s uprising against dictatorship and their agitation for democracy. This is an English language translation of the evidence, reconstructed in narrative style. The only changes made are to style, facts remain as shared by Faseeh: