Amnesty calls on Maldives to release Nasheed or give him a fair trial

Amnesty International has called on the Maldivian government to release former president Mohamed Nasheed or give him a fair trial.

In a press release published on Amnesty International USA website, Amnesty International said that the Maldives government’s rejection of an as yet unpublished United Nations decision criticizing Nasheed’s imprisonment underscores the insidious disregard for judicial independence in the country.

“Nasheed’s trial was a politically-motivated sham and a travesty of justice from start to finish. The erosion of judicial independence is taking the Maldives down a slippery slope to political repression with no check on the government’s opposition crackdown,” Amnesty International’s South Asia Research Director David Griffiths said.

Griffiths further said that Nasheed was not the only person in the Maldives imprisoned after unfair trials, and called on the government to either release other political opponents or ensure an appeal process for them that guarantees a fair hearing.

This comes shortly after the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) ruled in favour of a complaint submitted by Nasheed, and called for his release. This decision has been rejected by the government.