Yameen: Police must guarantee safety of suspects in custody

The police must guarantee to the public that no harm will befall suspects in their custody other than that from natural causes, says former Maldivian president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

He made the remark during a meeting of his party, the People’s National Front (PNF) on Monday evening.

At the meeting, Yameen said the police service is the institution that works most closely with the people in order to maintain peace. He said that some of the actions of the police, though not necessary committed out of ill intent, can have grave consequences.

He highlighted on the recent incident which took place in Male’ City, in which Adam Athuhar, 32, held a woman hostage at knifepoint. He was found hanging in his jail cell on Sunday, and died the next day.

Yameen said that the people respect the work of the police and encourage them.

“There’s no doubt that he attempted to commit an atrocious crime. It is not something that can be tolerated. But the subsequent events were regrettable. He is now dead, right?” he said.

Yameen said that though the police may not have ill intent, their actions can have grave consequences.

He said that it is crucial in such situations to see if the police followed operational protocols.

“If they are found to have operated outside the SOP and if the action they took by discarding these protocols results in bad consequences, then they must be held criminally liable. This is how the institution can be reformed,” he said.

Yameen said that though the police conduct internal investigations into such incidents and produce results, they fail to follow through and take proper action.

He said that failure to investigate such incidents is a crime in itself.

“…They must guarantee that there will not be any bad consequences from operating outside the SOP, and that no harm will befall an individual in police custody unless its from a natural cause or health complications. They must guarantee no harm due to neglect on the part of the police, especially not something that results in death,” he said.

Athuhar was arrested from Male’ City on Thursday night in a high-stakes rescue operation after he held a woman hostage at knifepoint and attempted to evade arrest. The police hit him in the back of the head with a baton to rescue the woman. He was treated at two different hospitals in Male’ before he was taken to the Dhoonidhoo Custodial Jail.

He was rushed to the Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in Male’ on Sunday evening after he attempted to commit suicide. He was treated on a ventilator at the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit and was pronounced dead at 04:08 pm on Monday.

Information shared by the police show that officers found him hanging in his cell while viewing security cameras 30 minutes after he hanged himself. It took another 23 minutes to take him to IGMH.

Despite resistance from Athuhar’s family, the police have decided to conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death.