FORUM-ASIA calls on Maldives to drop all charges against Shahindha and ensure ‘security and protection’

The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) has called on Maldivian authorities to drop all charges against the Maldives Democracy Network (MDN)’s executive director, reminding the Maldives to commit to its international obligations.

Maldives Police Service (MPS) launched an investigation into Shahindha Ismail last Thursday, over a post on her Twitter account.

Responding to President Abdulla Yameen’s speech where he declared that he would not allow any religion apart from Islam to thrive in the country, Shahindha had tweeted that ‘religions other than Islam exist in this world because Allah allowed for it. No other religion would exist otherwise, is it not’.

In a statement released on Wednesday, FORUM-ASIA expressed concern over death threats and online intimidation against Shahindha.

Noting that news website Vaguthu Online had published an article over the matter without even contacting her for clarification, FORUM-ASIA said that the website had ‘deliberately and maliciously distorted the words of Shahindha’.

“The articles accused her of blasphemy and branded her an apostate – both crimes with serious legal penalties in the Maldives, including death penalty in some cases,” noted FORUM-ASIA.

Furthermore, noting that the Islamic Ministry had released a statement on the same day condemning ‘anti-Islamic’ speech, FORUM ASIA emphasized that this is ‘believed’ to be in reference to Shahindha.

“The news articles and statement by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs propagated death threats and harassment against Shahindha on social media,” said FORUM-ASIA, adding that the MPS chose to investigate Shahindha, ‘rather than the serious threats and intimidation she faced’.

Shahindha told FORUM-ASIA that her Twitter comment escalated ‘due to the targeted and false news article published on Vaguthu Online,’ and that she believes that ‘it aims to encourage violence’ against her.

“There have been similar occurrences experienced by others who have criticised the regime, especially the bloggers Yameen Rasheed and Ahmed Rilwan. The harassment and death threats still continue but the police have not taken any actions yet,” added MDN’s executive director.

FORUM-ASIA’s executive director John Samuel said that ‘the trends as observed in the Maldives are clearly the efforts to silence critics and human rights defenders’ and that ‘online threats and intimidation is part of planned attacks against dissidents and indicate an effort to stifle freedom of expression and human rights advocacy contrary to the spirit of international human rights standards and constitutional freedoms guaranteed in the Maldives’.

FORUM-ASIA called on the relevant authorities ‘to take prompt action against the death threats and online harassment against human rights defender Shahindha Ismail and drop all charges against her,’ ‘to ensure that social media platforms are available to all its citizens for free exchange of ideas, public debate and access and dissemination of information’ while reminding it to ‘commit to its [international] obligations and guarantee an enabling and unrestricted environment on the internet, free of censorship, intimidation and threats, in keeping with values of democracy and human rights’.