The Maldivian man who was arrested and remanded for taking a woman hostage and assaulting her, has died after a foiled suicide attempt.
Maldives Police Service (MPS) showed the video footage of Adam Athuhar dying inside his prison cell, to the media.
Police officials met with journalists on Monday evening, in response to the increasing questions about the suspect’s death while in police custody at Dhoonidhoo Prison.
Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusaan led the presser, where two video footages were shown to media.
One video has been circulating on social media and the other footage was from the CCTV inside the cell the suspect was held in.
Here is what is seen in the 36-minute-long CCTV footage:
6:30 – Athuhar is seen sitting on the bed with his back to the CCTV camera and making movements, he appears to be doing something with the rubber attached to his shorts
6:30 – Athuhar stands up and moves towards the barred window of the cell
6:31 – He is seen attaching something to the bars, it appears to be the rubber from his shorts
6:32 – A rope is seen around his neck
6:32 – He slowly sits down near the window
6:33 – He leans slightly to the left, bending his right leg at the knee while sitting
6:33 – As he lowers himself while sitting, the rope gets tighter
6:34 – He is seen lying down with the rope tied around his throat, he appears to be struggling
6:35 – He is seen struggling as if unable to breathe
6:36 – His movements slow down, and no further movement is observed
From 6:35 until 7:02, no further activity is seen.
7:02 – Three police officers arrive, open the cell door, and remove the rope from his neck.
Two of the officers lift him and place him on the ground, while the third officer exits to call for medics.
7:04 – A stretcher is brought in.
7:05 – He is placed on the stretcher and taken out of the cell to the medical facility.
7:06 – After being shown to the custodial doctor, instructions were given to immediately transfer him to Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH)
7:14 – The police speedboat departs from Dhoonidhoo, heads to Malé
7:17 – The speedboat arrives in Malé and he is transferred to an IGMH ambulance.
This is a timeline of the events that occurred inside the cell Athuhar was detained in, as shown in the video displayed by authorities.
However, neither the police nor the home minister provided any additional details regarding the matter.
Minister Ihusaan stated that the information cannot be disclosed yet as investigations are ongoing at three different institutions.
He added that the press was held informally, solely to show the video to journalists and discuss certain related matters.
Some of the questions asked by journalists include why special attention was not given considering the fact that Athuhar was someone who could harm himself.
In response, the minister stated that if someone is observed to likely to self-harm, there are Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to monitor such individuals, and the internal police investigation would bring this to light.
Ihusaan added that no further details could be provided as the investigation is ongoing.
In addition to this, Ihusaan denied claims that the police had abused and killed Athuhar stating that the CCTV footage was a raw file and therefore did not show any such actions.
