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Escaped political prisoner weak from torture injuries Maldives Culture special report 16 June 2003 Ibrahim Luthfee remains in hiding and is recovering slowly from the effects of torture and chronic conjunctivitis while imprisoned in Maafushi gaol south of Malé, according to reliable sources. In May, Luthfee fled Maldive National Security Service police custody in Colombo where he had been taken for specialist medical treatment on the advice of doctors from Malé. Luthfee is weak, and suffering from numbness throughout his body, hair loss and impaired hearing, caused by torture at Maafushi prison in September 2002 after he was found with an old wristwatch belonging to another inmate. Luthfee was handcuffed and chained to an eighteen inch H-shaped iron girder, and left unable to move, sit or bend over properly for eleven consecutive days. He could not sleep, and the chains were only removed and replaced with handcuffs for three 10-15 minute meal breaks each day. These brief periods were also the only time Luthfee was permitted to use the toilet. Taking a shower was an offence which could extend the punishment for another week.
For months, Luthfee received no medical assistance at the prison until he was taken to Malé's Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital for eye surgery. He claims that more than 500 inmates in Block C witnessed what happened to him. (Block C on Maafushi island is a converted dried fish warehouse, divided into five cells with a capacity of 104 prisoners in each cell.). Luthfee says that in desperation he wrote to President Gayyoom from his Malé hospital bed and asked for an investigation into the torture at Maafushi. His letter was ignored. After the escape, Luthfee's brother Mohamed, who had insisted on accompanying Ibrahim and the officers to Sri Lanka, was shifted to another room in the Colombo hotel and held in police custody. Mohamed was flown to Malé on Friday 30 May 2003. On arrival at Hulhulé airport, he was taken to police headquarters. Mohamed's luggage was searched, and his passport confiscated. After six hours in police custody in Malé, Mohamed was released without interrogation and told 'the case is pending'. Maldive NSS police confiscated all Ibrahim Luthfee's belongings and have refused to return anything to his wife. The two NSS officers who escorted Luthfee to Sri Lanka, were gaoled when they returned empty-handed to Malé. Ibrahim Luthfee continues to refute claims that he is an Islamic extremist and a supporter of radical religious ideology. He denies he is a follower of the Wahhabi Islamic sect, and claims to be a moderate Islamic theorist, upholding the original teachings of that religion. Luthfee rejects extremism in any cause. He believes the teachings of Islam have been distorted and misinterpreted to suit the requirements of rulers and elites, and that Islam is a religion that should provide peace and harmony. |
Maldives Culture is an independent internet magazine of Maldivian cultural issues.
Editors and translators: Michael O'Shea and Fareesha Abdulla, Australia
We invite contributions from Maldivians and others interested in Maldives.
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