Chair of opposition Adhaalath Party’s media committee has called on the government to stop abusing the situation in Palestine, in order to “gain already drained public support”.
In a series of posts on twitter on Saturday, Ali Nazeer said that he was “deeply shocked and saddened” to see a group claiming to be friends of Palestine in the Maldives “abusing the Palestinian cause to whitewash the tyranny and corruption” of the current regime.
I am deeply shocked & saddened to see a group claiming to be #friends of #Palestine in #Maldives abusing the #Palestinian Cause to #whitewash the #tyranny & #corruption of the #Current #Maldivian #Regime. pic.twitter.com/zN2K6feigU
— Ali Nazeer (@alynazeer) April 7, 2018
On Saturday, Facebook page ‘Friends of Palestine in Maldives’ shared pictures of individuals holding the Maldivian flag at the protest near the Gaza border, with the caption “ordinary Palestinians showing their appreciation to the people of Maldives which they know support Palestine due to their big contribution across the country during the last War on Gaza by apartheid Israel.”
These pictures were being shared by government officials as well.
Noting that incumbent President Abdulla Yameen’s “regime” has done nothing for the Palestinian people, Nazeer highlighted that the President has even severed ties with the biggest contributors to the cause, including Qatar.
Three years ago, Adhaalath Party had organized a fund-raising drive for the Palestinian people called the Help Gaza Fund. While USD 1.91 million was raised through the fund, Nazeer noted that the fund was initiated and chaired by Adhaalath Party leader Imran Abdulla, ‘with little to no support from the authorities’.
Noting that it was “the most organized and most successful of the kind so far in the country,” Nazeer described it as “the people’s campaign”.
While Adhaalath’s leader Imran Abdulla has been sentenced to 12 years imprisonment over terrorism, Nazeer called on “corrupt Yameen and his supporters” to stop abusing the situation in Palestine, ‘especially after wrongly jailing the most prominent advocate of the cause’.
We strongly urge the #corrupt #tyrant Yamin & his supporters not to #abuse the #Nobel cause of #Palestine in the #wake of #presidentialelection2018 as a #desperate act to #gain already #drained #public #support.
— Ali Nazeer (@alynazeer) April 7, 2018
He added that Imran was jailed for political reasons ‘via a flawed judicial procedure, while the local and international community repeatedly called for his freedom’.
The Adhaalath Party leader was convicted in February 2016, under a 1990 anti-terrorism law with inciting unrest during an anti-government rally in May 2015 in capital Malé City. His arrest and subsequent charge and sentencing came shortly after Adhalaath Party joined the opposition.
