Abdulla Shaheem, president of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party branch in Kanditheemu, has been released from state custody.
Shaheem was apprehended at the allied opposition parties’ rally on February 16th and had been incarcerated since.
Shaheem was arrested during an altercation with officers of the police’s special operations unit, who have been criticized for their on-field tactics and for using excessive force.
His family has filed a case at the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives claiming that police have treated him unjustly during arrest and while keeping him in incarceration.
His wife Minaam Mohamed told local news outlets last week that authorities have denied Shaheem use of a knee-guard, for injuries he sustained while police arrested him.
While Shaheem sustained a dislocated shoulder and a swollen knee during the aforesaid altercation, authorities claim that the doctor’s prescription did not specify him requiring a knee-guard.
Similar abuse of detainees apprehended under the government ongoing state of emergency have also surfaced.
Mohamed Nadheem, son-in-law to detained opposition leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, as well as Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed are being kept in squalid conditions without access to clean drinking water, their lawyers have alleged.
