Athuhar’s death: charges sought against two officers

Charges have been sought against two officers of the Maldives Police Service (MPS) in connection with the death of Adam Athuhar, who killed himself while in police custody.

The case was forwarded to the Prosecutor General's (PG) Office, seeking charges against two police officers involved in the case.

Athuhar, who was arrested on the night of 29 August 2024 in the congested capital Malé City for holding a woman hostage at knifepoint, was found hanging in his jail cell in Dhoonidhoo at around 7:02pm on 1 September 2024.

Athuhar was brought to Malé and rushed to IGMH's Emergency Room at around 7:25pm that night. While receiving treatment at IGMH, Athuhar passed away at around 4:08pm on 2 September 2024.

Providing the latest information on the Human Rights Commission (HRCM) investigation to the media, the commission's spokesperson Ali Zajil Shaheed said that they have sent a request to the PG Office to file charges against two police officers.

The police institution had earlier revealed that 23 minutes elapsed between finding Athuhar hanging and taking him to IGMH Hospital. However, CCTV footage shown to journalists by the police shows that 30 minutes passed between Athuhar hanging himself and the police discovering him.

In addition to HRCM, the National Integrity Commission (NIC) also investigated Athuhar's death case. The police also conducted an internal investigation into how he was given the opportunity to take his own life. However, no details have been disclosed so far regarding the National Integrity Commission and police internal investigations.

When Athuhar's body was taken to India for a postmortem on 7 September 2024, the autopsy report showed that he died by hanging, according to what the police had stated earlier. After Athuhar's postmortem, the police revealed that he died from injuries sustained in his attempt to take his own life. However, Athuhar's family and the public continued to claim that there was significant police negligence in his death.

The family has raised questions regarding the circumstances surrounding his death.

Earlier, the family stressed that they did not want to conduct a post-mortem examination on Athuhar, and that they wished to bury him as soon as possible. According to the suspect's brother, the family met the authorities and requested to see the footage showing Athuhar hanging himself.

A video circulating on social media shows Athuhar being hit with a baton on his head by a police officer, in the events that led up to his arrest. He drops to the ground, taking the woman with him. Chaos breaks out after this, and officers are seen trying to gain control of the situation as a bystander helps the victim up. Athuhar received treatment at both ADK Hospital and IGMH before being taken back to jail. Earlier, police stated that his test results did not indicate any serious injuries.

Since then, HRCM launched an investigation into the arrest, medical treatment provision and the events leading up to the death of the Maldivian man. They are probing the use of force by an officer in an attempt to arrest Athuhar on 29 August 2024. MPS assured that they will provide full cooperation with any investigations conducted by independent institutions regarding the incident. Transparency Maldives also issued a statement, urging authorities to conduct a fair and independent investigation into the death.

TM has urged all relevant authorities including the HRCM and NIC to conduct a fair, independent, thorough, and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding his arrest and the events leading up to his death.

The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) also claimed that based on the information received, it is believed that there was negligence in properly monitoring the activities of Athuhar inside the cell.

Acknowledging efforts of police officers in rescuing the woman during the hostage situation in the capital city, MDP stressed that how events unfolded have led to questions arising as to whether the police acted contrary to the established protocols for handling such situations.