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NSS police beat 19 year old Malé man to death Maldives Culture Special Report January 2003 A young Maldivian man has died in a coma at Malé's Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, after being bashed while in NSS custody at Maafushi island prison. Ali Shaahir, 19, from Maimagumatheege house in Malé's Maafannu ward, was arrested on a minor charge after an altercation with other young men. He was held in custody for 25 days, and when the family reported him as a missing person they were told Ali was in a coma in Maafushi prison. The boy is believed to have been bashed by NSS staff after he refused to sign a statement. Ali was still comatose when he was sent from Maafushi prison to hospital in Malé in a dhoani vessel. The trip to Malé from Maafushi takes approximately 2 hours and there were no medical facilities on the boat. At the hospital a senior Maldivian doctor, Ahmed Razi, is believed to have signed the death certificate. People who prepared the body for burial are believed to have seen bleeding from Ali's nostrils and ears. There were allegations that the X rays of the body were deliberately distorted to hide evidence of Ali's injuries, which led the boy's parents to complain directly to President Maumoon Gayyoom, who is ex-officio Chief Commander of the NSS, with the official rank of General. Ali Shaahir was a relative of Maumoon Gayyoom — the boy's father is Abdul Gafoor, the son of Fiyaathoshi Ahmed Manik who was a first cousin of Gayyoom's father. President Gayyoom visited the house of the dead boy where he was ordered to leave by the women of the family who accused him of being personally responsible for Ali Shaahir's death because he was in charge of the police. The women said they were not interested in the president's condolences. Maumoon Gayyoom is said to have left quietly, while saying that he was not aware of the full facts. Soon after, the president, accompanied by a private secretary, Adam Naeem, and one other person, made a surprise visit to Maafushi prison island and spent four hours there. Following this inspection, several prisoners have been transferred to their homes in Malé. At a meeting in the president's office, Brig. Adam Zahir, Isthafaa Ibrahim Maniku and a senior staff member of the Dept. of Corrections were questioned at length in connection with the death of Shaahir. Internal investigations are still in progress, but Cpl. Mohamed Shahdhee is believed to be in police custody over the matter. Several leading doctors were also interviewed by the president. Another prisoner from Maafushi is in a coma in the hospital after surgery to his chest. It is alleged that he had been hung upside down and beaten. These events are not being reported in the local Maldivian media, and the NSS is threatening people who talk about the subject. |
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Maldives Culture is an independent internet magazine of Maldivian cultural issues.
Editors and translators: Michael O'Shea and Fareesha Abdulla, Australia
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