The 41 human rights abusers marked by the European Union to have sanctions imposed against them include the entirety of the cabinet and a number of pro-government parliamentarians, says MP Mohamed Musthafa.

MP Musthafa, who represents the Thimarafushi constituency, said in a tweet on Wednesday that the list of 41 indivduals, recognized by the European Union as abusers of human rights in the Maldives, includes senior public officials and officers of law enforcement as well.

The parliamentarian’s tweet translates to, ‘All praise be to Allah, the 41 include the entire cabinet, Maseeh, a lot of MPs, police and military chiefs, some judges, and EC chief Shareef. This time they will definitely concede. They will not even have the energy to flee’.

In his tweet, MP Musthafa is naming Elections Commission chief Ahmed Shareef and Parlaiment Speaker Abdulla Maseeh. In a tweet he posted on Tuesday night, Musthafa said that 15 lawmakers now aligned with the government will soon defect in favour of the opposition.

While the EU council previously announced their decision to impose travel bans and asset freezes, EU parliamentarian Tomas Zdechovsky said that he has seen the list.

"We have that list. It has 41 names on it; I have seen it. We have targeted sanctions. Now it is time for strategy. The resolution is clear; the articles are clear," said Tomas Zdechovsky, to online news website EP Today.

The government has shunned the European Union’s repeated calls to ensure democratic freedoms, independence of the judiciary, and the fairness of the upcoming elections, and asserted that it will not compromise on its ‘traditional’ values, and denounced the concern as a political attempt to undermine Maldives' sovreignity.