The Maldives has in recent times become a desirable tourist destination, famed for its vast archipelago of coral islands, lagoons, and chains of atolls. However, this small country also boasts considerable poverty and, since 1978, has been under the political stranglehold of a ruler who seems unwilling to move the country toward genuine democracy. President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom is elected to repeated five-year terms, and himself appoints eight of the members of the so-called People's Parliament. Although a revised Constitution was enacted in 1998, which included an article protecting the right to freedom of expression, Amnesty International notes that this has not deterred the leadership from imprisoning those who exercise this right. In September 2003, pro-democracy demonstrations prompted the president to promise reform; but as of today, despite the formation of a National Human Rights Commission, and further demonstrations, signs of real change are few. The continuing imprisonment of three cyber-dissidents - journalists for an online webzine, Sandhaanu - is an example of the perversions of justice that still occur.

The arrest of the Sandhaanu Four

Ahmed Ibrahim Didi, Fathimath Nisreen (a woman), and Mohamed Zaki have been jailed since January 2002. Along with another journalist, Ibrahim Moose Luthfee, they were handed down heavy sentences for "committing acts hostile to the government". Their case has been taken up by all the major human rights groups.

A remarkable feature of the Sandhaanu case is that no less than three sovereign states were involved in their arrest - the Maldives, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. Perhaps the Maldives had persuaded the authorities in the region that the four were terrorists. However, the facts do not support this. Mohamed Zaki, who is normally resident in Malaysia, was arrested on 30 January, 2002 while on a business trip to Malé (the Maldives' capital city), but the Malaysian police co-operated with the National Security Services of the Maldives by ransacking his home in Kuala Lumpur. Meanwhile, Ahmed Ibrahim Didi was picked up the next day at the International Airport in Colombo by Sri Lankan Interpol officers. He had been on his way to Bangkok where he was reportedly going to receive medical treatment for a heart condition. He was returned to Malé, into police custody. Ibrahim Moose Luthfee, 39, was seized without a warrant the same day from his home in Malé. The day after, Luthfee's secretary Fathimath Nisreen (who also contributed to the webzine), was arrested from Luthfee's computer business premises.

The four were held in solitary confinement for two weeks at the Malé Police Headquarters. After this period, they were transferred to Dhoonidhoo detention centre, based on a small island five miles from Malé. They were not permitted to see any relatives. Mohamed Zaki, for example, after protesting his incommunicado status, was first permitted to see his family for a few hours on 2 May 2002 - more than four months after his initial arrest.

The trial of the Sandhaanu four

The four were charged with "committing acts that were hostile to the government" and "defamation" and brought before the criminal court on 29 May and 26 June 2002. Amnesty International reports that "at no time were the detainees allowed the representation of a lawyer." After the second hearing, they were transferred to Mafushi prison, where conditions were reportedly extremely harsh. They were kept, it seems, in solitary cells measuring four square feet, and were given only a piece of plywood for a bed on the concrete floor. Finally, in July, they were taken back to court for sentencing. They were given a document stating five, rather nebulous, accusations: they had insulted the President and his government, tried to overthrow the government by calling on the people to "come forward and fight", sown hatred by forming Sandhaanu, spread false news, and forwarded the webzine to others using email. Although Nisreen was similarly charged, she was seen as a supporter, rather than a ringleader. She was sentenced initially to ten years' imprisonment while the three men were given life sentences. The four were informed that they had no right of appeal. These sentences were later reduced to 15 years' imprisonment for the men, and five years' "banishment" for Nisreen.

Sandhaanu: an online journal

Sandhaanu had a sudden appearance and quick growth among Maldivians. It has occasional English-language editions, although most appear in the local language, Dhivehi. It is undeniably severely critical of the government, but Amnesty International's investigation of its contents concludes that no explicit incitement to violence appears in it. Human Rights organisations have concluded that the Sandhaanu writers neither committed nor planned any violent acts. They were guilty only of exercising their right to freedom of expression.

From Prison to House Arrest

In May 2003, Luthfee staged an extraordinary escape. He slipped his guard while in nearby Sri Lanka, where he had been escorted for an eye operation. (He was suffering chronic conjunctivitis, due in part to poor conditions in captivity.) After months in hiding, he managed to leave for Switzerland, where he has now obtained refugee status. He has since campaigned ardently for his colleagues' release.

The three remaining in prison had their sentences reduced in December 2003. However, worrying reports about the failing health the two men gave rise to mounting concern. Didi was hospitalized for heart trouble; then, in early 2004, he was then temporarily put under house arrest until such time as he recovered. At about the same time, Zaki was also house-arrested because of deteriorating health (he reportedly suffers from a bladder condition). Nisreen, meanwhile, had been banished to Feeail Island in December 2003. In 2004, she was also permitted to return to house arrest in Malé for medical treatment.

Recent developments

In August 2004, the three managed to leave their house-arrest to attend a peaceful pro-democracy rally in Malé. They were as a result detained among scores of dissidents taken to police headquarters in the wake of the demonstrations. Zaki's son and Nisreen's brother were also targeted. Some of those arrested had been recently elected to the new assembly, which was about to draft a new constitution. It was yet a further sign of President Gayoon's reluctance to grant concessions.

The Writers in Prison Committee has now received reports that Fathimath Nisreen was released from this latest arrest on 26 October 2004 and transferred back to Feeail Island to complete her five-year term of "banishment". Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) reports that she is in good health but she claims to have been "psychologically disturbed" by the torture she witnessed while detained. It is believed that Mohamed Zaki remains under house arrest, while Ahmed Didi, whose heart problems persist, was apparently transferred back to Dhoonidhoo prison after a spell in hospital.