MP Mahloof nominated for Human Rights Award

South-Galolhu MP Ahmed Mahloof has been nominated for the Law Society of Ontario’s 2018 human rights award.

This was announced in a tweet on Tuesday by Kyle Mathews, Executive Director of Canada's Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (MIGS Institute).

The nomination is supported by Alex Neve, the Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada.

MP Mahloof has also been appointed as the first ever 'Democracy Fellow' of MIGS Institute.

The Canadian institute noted that it “recognizes and supports Mahloof’s struggle for democracy and human rights and stands by him as a victim of suppression in fighting trumped up charges.”

Executive Director Mathews noted that the lawmaker “is a global citizen, a father and a powerful voice for human rights and democracy” at a time of rising authoritarian governments.

Mahloof, who has been issued four charges by the state, has been in and out of jail for the past two years for leading protests against embattled President Abdulla Yameen. He has recently served a prison sentence of 10 months and 24 days and is currently under house arrest

Amnesty International has declared him a Prisoner of Conscience and denounced the charges as “frivolous” and politcally motivated. Amnesty said that the parliamentarian has been a victim of the government’s “wave of repression” ever since he left the ruling party and became one its more vocal critics.

Mahloof’s case was also used as a case study at a human rights forum held at a side-event of the 38th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in June. At the forum, a group called ‘Friends of Mahloof’ was also established to monitor his situation.

Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) conferred him the “Defender of Democracy Award”.