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Ali Naz Saleem Just who is insane? MDP newsletter 17 1-15 August 2004 edited slightly by Maldives Culture NSS dancing troupe at private Independence Day celebrations for President Gayyoom. Haveeru photo 2004 This week Gayoom unveiled a new bag of tricks to suppress dissent among the public. Whoever publicly criticizes Gayoom gets to be labelled as insane. Thus was the fate of Ali Naz Saleem.   Ali Naz Saleem After Friday prayers on 30th June 2004, Ali Naz Saleem approached Gayoom, shook hands and politely asked him to resign. Gayoom’s reply was extreme. He placed him under arrest and threatened to send him on an indefinite trip to Guraidhoo Island – an asylum for the mentally disabled. Ali Naz Saleem, a former guard at the presidential palace, and was dismissed from his job when he tried to leave Maldives without permission in 2001. He had been asking for no-pay leave from the service to complete his law degree in Malaysia. Instead, his superiors denied him leave, and jailed him for two months on the grounds that he attempted to leave the country without permission. NSS National Cadet Corps at president's private Independence Day celebrations President's Office photo 2004 Ali Naz Saleem like most young adults in the NSS, was drafted by force and without consent. All students who complete secondary education in the Maldives are liable to three years of National Service. Ali Naz Saleem had been very vocal about injustice and had questioned Gayoom in person on several occasions. The National Security Service informed Ali Naz Saleem’s father Ibrahim Saleem that his son made 'derogatory remarks' about Gayyoom, and causing the president 'distress'. The NSS also informed his father that his son would be detained indefinitely and he was to arrange with the Ministry of Gender, Family Development and Social Security to send his son to the Guraidhoo island Mental Institution. His father is extremely concerned about the well-being of his son. The police who are not competent psychiatrists, decided that his son was mentally ill, unilaterally and without any medical consultation. Is a person who stands up for his rights to be deemed certifiably insane? Certainly, if anyone is foolish enough to earn the wrath of the Maldives dictator. See also: Ali Naz Saleem arrested by Police for questioning Gayyoom Dhivehi Observer 30 July 2004 top

Related articles and links Ali Naz Saleem arrested by Police for questioning Gayyoom Dhivehi Observer 30 July 2004 Ali Naz denied access to a lawyer and is declared 'insane' by Gayyoom's Police Dhivehi Observer 1 August 2004

Maldives Culture is an independent internet magazine of Maldive cultural issues.
Editors and translators: Michael O'Shea and Fareesha Abdulla, Australia
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