MP Faris Maumoon is a 'prisoner of conscience': Amnesty International

Amnesty International has on Thursday said that Dhiggaru constituency MP Ahmed Faris Maumoon is facing unfair prosecution, declaring him to be a prisoner of conscience.

In a statement on their website, Amnesty highlighted that the lawmaker has been detained for almost a year now, adding that the four-month and 24-day prison sentence passed against him is the result of unfair judicial proceedings.

Additionally, Amnesty has deemed the state’s allegations against the lawmaker to be ‘politically motivated’.

Including allegations of bribery, terrorism, and conspiring to overthrow the government, MP Faris is facing a total of seven charges, all of them ‘trumped’ up, Amnesty says.

In September last year, Amnesty had called on Maldivian authorities to ensure MP Faris gets a fair trial in charges he was facing then, that ‘stemmed from his attempt to move a vote of no-confidence against the parliament speaker’.

“The Maldives has long denied members of the political opposition a fair trial. There have been convictions on trumped-up charges, for all sorts of alleged offences from trespassing to terrorism. There are serious concerns that Faris Maumoon will suffer the same fate. He must be given a fair trial in line with international standards,” said Biraj Patnaik, Amnesty International’s South Asia Director.

Earlier this year, Amnesty also dubbed opposition aligned MP Ahmed Mahloof a prisoner of conscience, while stating that the charges against him are ‘frivolous’ and politically motivated.

Amnesty said that Mahloof is a victim of the government’s ‘wave of repression’ ever since he left the ruling party and became one its more vocal critics.