The Sunday Times News - Relentless fighter against HR violations in Maldives

The daughter of a leading Maldivian politician living in exile in Sri Lanka after she was freed from house arrest recently said she was heading for Europe where she would take up the issue of widespread human rights violations taking place in her country.

Jennifer Latheef (32) who was in Colombo en route to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Geneva speaking to The Sunday Times said during her time in jail, she experienced first hand the brutality as well as the appalling conditions to which prisoners were subjected to in the Maldives.

“The conditions in jails are deplorable. There are unhygienic living conditions and there isn’t adequate food or medical facilities. The only medicines you get are anti-depressants,” Jennifer said. She said during the initial stages of her detention she was beaten up by Police and as a result suffered back and spinal injures.

Jennifer – whose father Mohamed Latheef is a founding member of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) – was first arrested after the 2003 riots and released without being charged.

She was subsequently arrested in October last year and convicted on charges of terrorism and sentenced to ten years imprisonment. After serving two months in prison and eight under house arrest, Jennifer was granted a pardon by President Abdul Gayoom last month.

“I was only charged with terrorism after my father helped form the MDP in November 2003 while he was living in exile in Sri Lanka. I was arrested as a proxy for him with the intention of pressuring him to return to the Maldives,” Jennifer a graduate of the San Francisco University said. The 2003 violence which occurred after the death of five prisoners was unprecedented in the history of the Maldives which has largely been a peaceful country. Jennifer said the absence of any human rights organisations in the Maldives has resulted in violations going unchecked.

“They only get to hear what the government or the opposition say but they don’t get to see first hand the conditions prevailing in the jails or of the prisoners or how they are being treated,” she said.

“There is an urgent need to reform the judiciary and free it from government control so that prisoners can get a fair trial. There must be social reforms as well because the poverty levels are increasing and people are not benefiting from the vast amounts of foreign exchange that the country earns from tourism,” Jennifer added.

Jennifer said she had no intention of getting involved in politics and her first priority was to get the other four who were arrested along with her released and thereafter canvass for the release of the other prisoners of conscience.

“The Maldives does not get enough international attention because there is so much happening in India, Sri Lanka and other neighbouring countries and as a result human rights violations and undemocratic practices in the Maldives are increasing and there is no one to stop them,” she added. Jennifer feared that Maldivian people who have so far been peaceful may turn to extremism if the Government continued to suppress their democratic freedoms and this might in turn make Maldives a possible hotbed for international terror groups.