|
Maldives arrests over riots
25/09/2003 21:47 - (SA)
Colombo - Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on Thursday removed his top police officer and placed six more security men under arrest in connection with rioting in the capital island, his office said.
Gayoom, who on Thursday won a key parliament vote that will almost certainly give him his sixth five-year term to lead the Indian Ocean's most expensive holiday destination, made the changes amid foreign criticism of his rule.
He removed Brigadier Adam Zahir from the twin posts of deputy chief of staff of the National Security Service (NSS) and Commissioner of Police and made him executive director at the Ministry of Information, Arts and Culture.
The brief one-paragraph statement from Gayoom's office did not give any reason for the sudden removal of an officer who had served in the police for about 25 years.
However, the action followed intense criticism by Amnesty International of President Gayoom, who directly commands the NSS.
The London-based human rights watchdog linked the weekend arson attacks in Male to simmering dissension and rights abuses in the tiny archipelago of 250 000 Sunni Muslims governed by Gayoom since 1978.
Earlier in the day, the president's office announced the arrest of six more NSS men in connection with the killing of prisoners at the Maafushi prison that triggered unprecedented mob violence in Male, the tiny low-lying island protected by a wall of concrete tetra pods.
The nation of 1 192 tiny coral islands has been better known as an upmarket tourist paradise.
11 NSS personnel arrested
"The total number of NSS personnel arrested in this connection is now 11," Gayoom's office said in a statement a day after London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International linked weekend arson attacks to simmering dissent and rights abuses in the archipelago of 250 000 Sunni Muslims.
"The scale of civil protest in Male last weekend and the targeting, by the protesters, of government buildings which are closely associated with endemic human rights violations, underlines people's anger caused by the blatant abuse of their human rights," Amnesty said.
The troubles started when NSS, which is supervised directly by Gayoom, clashed with inmates of the Maafushi prison, located on a tiny coral island near the capital Male, leaving two prisoners dead on Friday and Saturday.
A third prisoner died after admission to a hospital in Sri Lanka.
Rampaging mobs torched the elections office, the high court, several police stations and police vehicles and stoned other public buildings, including the nation's main international conference centre.
Maldivian authorities have stressed the unrest was unrelated to the re-election bid of Gayoom, who won a sixth five-year term at the first stage of a vote in parliament on Thursday.
Discussion Forums - Have your say about this article
View our various picture galleries
|
