Detained Yemeni national's family accuses Maldives government of negligence

Family of Yemeni national Yasir Yahya, is still under detention, has accused the government of “negligence” in his case.

While Yahya was arrested in March 2017, on terrorism allegations, days prior to a scheduled visit by the Saudi King which was later cancelled, his family said that he has been on a hunger strike for the past 43 days.

Noting that has been kept at the Hulhumalé Detention Center “without a conviction for the past two years and four months”, his family said that authorities said that Yahya has been on hunger strike from June 26.

His family said that the long hunger strike has led to his health deteriorating, and that he was admitted at the Hulhumalé Hospital on August 2.

Further accusing authorities of not doing anything to resolve the matter, Yahya’s family said that it has been five days since he was admitted at hospital and that ‘only the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) had given importance to this.”

While HRCM members are to have visited him at the hospital, his family said that there were “obstacles to this as well.”

Authorities have decided to deport Yahya claiming “threat to national security,” reports indicate that he is refusing to provide his passport to authorities on the grounds that it was “not property of the Maldivian state.”

The family said that Maldives Immigration had informed that it will send them a response within five days, since he was admitted earlier this month, but that they have yet to hear from them.

While Yahya is being given IV fluids while admitted at hospital, he is to have told doctors that he does not want to proceed with them on Wednesday.

Noting that Yahya had made this decision without the family’s approval, they said that it is very worrying and that all relevant institutions have been informed.

In addition, the family said that doctors had warned him of risks to his life due to malnutrition.

The family was accused authorities of “inhumane treatment”.

Yahya, a school teacher at both Ahmadhiyya and Arabiyya Schools, was arrested on 3rd March 2017. He has been detained at the Immigration Detention Center in Hulhumalé since.

He is married to a Maldivian, and his wife was expecting at the time of his arrest.