US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO1212

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 001212 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, MV, Maldives 
SUBJECT: MALDIVES: DEMOCRACY IS NO DAY AT THE BEACH 
 
Classified By: AMB. J. LUNSTEAD FOR REASONS 1.4(b) and (d) 
 
1. (SBU) Summary.  On a recent trip to Maldives, poloff spoke 
with government officials and members of the newly registered 
opposition Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) about the 
country's improvements to the police and judicial systems and 
its transition to multi-party democracy.  While the 
Government of the Republic of Maldives (GORM) seems to be 
making some progress in improving human rights and 
instituting democratic processes, the road ahead remains long 
and arduous.  End summary. 
 
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POLICE AND JUDICIAL SYSTEM 
--------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) The Maldives recently bifurcated its police from its 
National Security Services.  Police Commissioner Adam Zahir 
told poloff that he wants the police to be "a service, not a 
force."  He mentioned that his team is in contact with 
neighboring countries' police services to share best 
practices, and that the Maldivian police also received some 
training from the USG.  He added that many lawyers from the 
Maldives were going abroad for training and returning with 
broader knowledge.  He also said that the police service's 
projected 5-year plan includes allotting an island for 
training purposes.  The island's institute will be a law 
enforcement academy to provide training for police, customs, 
immigration, and emergency response officers.  Zahir expects 
that officers who have returned from education programs 
abroad will act as the "backbone" for the proposed training 
facility. 
 
3. (SBU) At separate meetings, both Zahir and Principal 
Government Spokesman Ahmed Shaheed told poloff that in the 
past, the government has been guilty of human rights abuses. 
They said that the abuses were a result of a deeply flawed 
institutional system.  They were confident that with greater 
education for the police and with some new safeguards in 
place, abuses will be limited.  In terms of protecting 
individual rights, Zahir noted that the police were 
attempting to phase out confessions as an admissible form of 
evidence in court in order to eliminate forced confessions. 
Shaheed also said that while Maldivian law does not yet 
require arresting officers to inform detainees of their 
rights (similar though not identical in language to US 
Miranda rights), the GORM is encouraging all officers to 
institute the practice. 
 
4. (SBU) Zahir outlined the current legal system.  Detainees 
in the Maldives are permitted to hire a lawyer, though the 
court will not appoint one.  An arrestee's family must be 
informed of his/her arrest within 24 hours.  A prisoner has 
the right to a ruling on his/her bail within 36 hours.  Also, 
the arresting officer must present evidence to a legal 
committee within 24 hours.  The committee can then recommend 
detainment for up to 7 days for further investigation.  After 
7 days, the officer can petition a second committee, which 
can recommend detention for a maximum additional 15 days. 
After this 22 days' time has expired, if there is still 
insufficient evidence, the prisoner is released.  If the 
officer can move forward with the case, it is sent to the 
Attorney General, who then forwards the case to court for a 
hearing. 
 
5. (U) Despite the stated attempts to respect the rights of 
arrestees, during poloff's meeting with members of the MDP, 
they complained that the police still use trumped up charges 
to harass those that oppose the government.  They cited cases 
of journalists who published articles criticizing the 
government being detained for questioning.  However, they did 
say that they noticed a decline in instances of abuse in 
police custody. 
 
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HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION 
----------------------- 
 
6. (SBU) In order to address some of these concerns, 
President Gayoom created the Human Rights Commission by 
decree in December 2003, and he appointed  commissioner Ahmed 
Mujthaba.  Despite being personally selected by the leader in 
power, Mujthaba is an outspoken critic of the government.  He 
told poloff the GORM had been involved in wrongful 
detentions, abductions, using excessive force at 
demonstrations, and allowing uninhabitable prisons to 
continue functioning.  Like Zahir and Shaheed, he blamed 
institutional problems that permitted abuses to go unchecked. 
 
 
7. (SBU) Mujthaba said that the Commission had a role in 
informing the public of their rights.  To that end, 
Commission employees had been distributing Dhiveihi (local 
language) copies of the United Nations' Universal Declaration 
of Human Rights to the general public.  However, on July 5, 
the Commission received a letter from the government's 
Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs stating that as long as 
Article 16, pertaining to banning forced marriages and 
permitting inter-religious marriage, and Article 18, calling 
for freedom of religion and permitting religious conversion, 
were a part of the document, possession of copies of the 
Declaration was a criminal offense.  The leader of the 
Supreme Council is also the country's Chief Justice, and 
clause 4(a) of Law 4/75 gives the Supreme Council the 
authority to ban certain items.  However, Shaheed told poloff 
that the Office of the President did not support the Supreme 
Council's position, and Attorney General Hassan Saeed said 
that his office would never prosecute anyone for possession 
of the Declaration.  On July 11, Shaheed released a public 
statement in the Maldives announcing that the government 
supports international human rights standards and that the 
Supreme Council's statement had no legal basis for 
enforcement. 
 
8. (SBU) Mujthaba complained that his Commission was not 
independent because the Office of the President retained 
control of appointments and dismissals from the Commission. 
He wants the Commission to be codified in law so it can gain 
credibility and acceptance in the international community. 
 
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ELECTIONS AND POLITICAL PARTIES 
-------------------------------- 
 
9. (SBU) The last several Presidential votes in the Maldives 
were referenda rather than elections.  Mujthaba told poloff 
that his Commission sent 19 monitors to the last Majlis 
(parliament) election on January 22.  The monitors reported 8 
procedural improvements, but 12 irregularities that indicated 
that the elections were not/not "free and fair elections 
without undue influence."  The MDP continues to voice fears 
that the GORM will permit parties, but not free elections. 
 
10. (C) The government is still putting together a party and 
gathering the 3000 signatures required to initiate the 
official registration process, but it has not yet released a 
party-wide policy statement.  As of now, the MDP is the only 
officially registered party.  The MDP's platform remains 
anti-government and anti-President Gayoom, with 
democratization as its mobilizing appeal.    The Islamic 
Democratic Party, the Justice Party, and the Labor Party are 
all also attempting to gather enough signatures to begin 
registration.  The registration deadline for parties was set 
to be at the end of July, but Attorney General Hassan Saeed 
told poloff that if only the MDP and the government's party 
were registered by that time, he would extend the deadline to 
allow for at least one more party. 
 
11. (U) According to reports from members of the MDP, as well 
as journalists and government officials, the Islamic 
Democratic Party has a strong political platform but no real 
Islamic roots.  The Justice Party, on the other hand, is 
reportedly comprised of Orthodox Muslim clergy and Islamic 
scholars who are looking for a platform to discuss theology. 
 
12. (SBU) On June 30, the Human Rights Commission held a 
meeting for the various parties to relay their positions, 
ostensibly on human rights.  According to Mujthaba, who 
attended the meeting, the Labor Party representatives said 
they wanted to ratify the portions of UN covenants on civil 
and political rights and social, economic, and cultural 
rights that did not violate the Maldivian Constitution or the 
tenets of Islam.  Mujthaba said that the Islamic Democratic 
Party professed a similar platform.  However, Mujthaba quoted 
members of the Justice Party as saying that multi-party 
democracy is "a bastard child" that is anathema to Islam and 
Maldivians must reject it.  Mujthaba said that government 
representatives admitted to past human rights abuses but said 
they sought to improve and encompass minority views. 
According to Shaheed, the meeting was most heavily attended 
by MDP supporters who tried to shift focus from a general 
discussion to pointing blame at the President and his 
government.  Mujthaba noted that the MDP did not offer its 
own platform, but only a criticism of current practices. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
THE MDP AND THE GOVERNMENT: A CYCLE OF MISTRUST 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
13. (U) Members of the MDP have repeatedly told Emboffs that 
they place no credence in the government.  They are convinced 
that the current reforms are a facade designed to impress the 
donor community while not actually providing further rights 
to Maldivians.  MDP members continue to hold rallies at 
various atolls to garner support for their movement.  They 
remain highly critical of government practices, and they 
interface with embassies in Colombo to try to draw 
international attention to their cause. 
 
14. (C) Shaheed admitted that the government created some of 
its own credibility problems with the MDP.  However, he 
countered the MDP allegations by saying that its members are 
overly suspicious of the government's bona fide attempts at 
reform, and that many MDP members hold a personal grudge 
against the President.  Shaheed told poloff that the MDP 
demands change in ways that the West understands, but that 
confuse Maldivians.  He said that the vast majority of 
Maldivians do not understand multi-party democracy, and if 
the government permits too much dissent, it will lose public 
respect in the face of opposition. 
 
15. (SBU) Poloff asked Shaheed whether the MDP and the 
government were in a political Cold War, with each side 
trying to take pre-emptive actions against the other.  For 
example, on the day Parliament approved the existence of 
political parties, the government detained four MDP members 
out of fear that they would incite violence.  For their part, 
the MDP often goes to the international community with 
suspicions that human rights violations might be imminent. 
Shaheed agreed that this was a major problem for the two 
groups.  He was confident, however, that evolution, rather 
than revolution, will slowly bring a multi-party democracy to 
fruition in the Maldives. 
 
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OTHER LOCAL PERSPECTIVES 
------------------------- 
 
16. (C) Ismail Nazeer, a journalist for the daily paper 
Haveeru (please protect) posited that while the move to 
multi-party democracy is positive, the people still equate 
power with the President.  Nazeer saw problems with both the 
government and the MDP.  He criticized the government's 
monopoly on media and said that of the three daily 
newspapers, two are owned by cabinet ministers and the third 
is owned by the President's brother-in-law.  Yet he faulted 
the MDP as well, echoing other critics in saying that the MDP 
provides no viable alternatives and exists for the sole 
purpose of removing the current government from power. 
 
17. (C) UN Development Program (UNDP) Officer Nashida Sattar 
told poloff that there are still many bumps on the road to 
democracy.  However, she was hopeful, because in her view, 
politicians were responding to the public's needs for the 
first time. 
 
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COMMENT 
-------- 
 
 
18. (SBU) The current President has been in power for 27 
years.  Many of the people demanding reform, including 
several MDP members, are too young to have a political memory 
of a regime before the current one.  Their ideas about 
democracy have been formed through outside influences, 
including satellite television and the internet.  They are 
unfamiliar with the history of democratic development, but 
they see democratic successes in the rest of the world and 
want reform instantly. 
19. (C) The GORM, for its part, wants to manage change and 
bring about democracy piece-meal.  Mujthaba told poloff that 
his hunch was that the President was sincere in his efforts 
at reform, but that he was hampered by relatives and friends 
who stand to lose if the government shifts.  Shaheed told 
poloff that the President, now in his late seventies, sees 
multi-party democracy as a way to end his reign and leave a 
legacy.  Post agrees with Mujthaba's assessment.  The 
government's actions indicate that it seeks a move to 
democratic processes, but the greatest fear for many people 
in power is the immediate and complete overhaul that some 
reformers are demanding.  The Maldives is on the road to 
democracy, but there are pitfalls and obstacles on the path. 
LUNSTEAD