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Mohamed Nasheed

Malé Member of the Majlis and writer Mohamed Nasheed was summoned to the High Court on the morning of 14 March, and a lower court's decision was upheld: conviction and banishment for 2 years 6 months.

Earlier, in a thirteen page submission to the High Court, Nasheed denied all the charges brought against him. He had been found guilty of petty theft during an auction of household effects at ex-President Nasir's old residence.

There is strong evidence the charges were politically motivated. Mohamed Nasheed is one of the long-term leaders of the movement for political reform in the Maldives. In 2001 an attempt was made in the Majlis to allow the formation of political parties. This move was fiercely resisted by President Gayyoom's supporters, and when Nasheed announced plans to make government ministers accountable to the Majlis for their actions, the decision was made to neutralise him.

The next Presidential referendum is due in 2003, and the length of Nasheed's sentence is a lesson that any challenge to the regime faces harsh and ruthless suppression. Observers are worried that Gayyoom's campaign to crush Nasheed and his supporters will further alienate younger Maldivians in Malé who voted Nasheed into the Majlis in the last parliamentary elections.

President Gayyoom 'grave matters of hypocrisy, sin and morality are also involved'

The aging President relies strongly on the National Security Service to maintain his power, a risky strategy due to the NSS's close relationship with the public. The recent graffiti attack on the President, and his wife Nasreena Ibrahim, at NSS Malé headquarters after a threatened health benefits cut, is an indication that the regime's hold on power is increasingly tenuous.

There is no realistic suggestion of armed revolt against Gayyoom's rule. Traditionally, changes of government only occur when the ruler loses the confidence of the militia/police structure. This is what happened to President Nasir in the late 1970s, and Gayyoom allowed him to leave the country peacefully. President Ameen's fate in 1953 was far nastier, but it could be argued that Ameen's mental condition played a significant role in that tragedy.

Gayyoom's crushing of all dissent and refusal to allow a party system, or any real ministerial accountability, is not in the long-term interests of the Maldivian people. It is only in the interests of his family's grip on power. The mis-use of the courts against his opponents is undermining intelligent Maldivians' faith in their legal system, and the President's position as head of Islam in Maldives means that grave matters of hypocrisy, sin and morality are also involved.