Ex-President Nasheed calls for Yameen Rasheed's murder trial to be opened

Former President Mohamed Nasheed has joined the local call for writer Yameen Rasheed’s murder trial to be open to monitors and the press.

In a statement to mark a year since his brutal murder, Nasheed said that there is little public trust in the state’s prosecution of the suspects arrested for the murder and it ‘discredits the justice system’.

“The issues that form the basis of this case have far reaching consequences for the integrity and security of the Maldives and the Indian Ocean region” the statement says.

The statement also noted the Maldivian state’s failure to tackle death threats Yameen received when he was alive. Yameen was subject to it primarily due to his forward expression of opinion and for his work on his satirical news blog, The Onion.

“Several members of Yameen’s family have been threatened, harassed and even dismissed from their jobs for calling for a proper investigation” the statement read.

Yameen was found murdered in the stairwell of his home in capital city Malé in the early hours of April 23rd, 2017. The writer was found with over thirty stab wounds on his chest and his throat slashed.

While the murder received international attention, the investigative process has been marred with accusations of negligence and hostility.

Yameen’s father, who submitted a set of 800 letters to the police from individuals asking that the investigation be made independent and trustable as per the wish of the family, was shunned by authorities for his attempts to bring attention to the state’s handling of the case.

The family has said that they do not believe that the current judicial proceedings over Yameen’s murder are appropriate, with his father having said at a panel discussion on Sunday that he does not believe the current suspects are ‘responsible for the death’ of his son.