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Isthafa Ibrahim Manik's role
in the death of Evaan Naseem and shootings at Maafushi prison translated with new headline by Maldives Culture editors 16 May 2004 The round of torture that began after the 1998 confrontation between the prisoners and their NSS guards at Maafushi prison came to an end in 2002 when Muizzu Adnan took over as head of prisons' department. It is claimed that the most brutal acts of torture ever seen during Gayyoom's rule, were committed during these four years from 1998 to 2002. The chief officer directing and participating in these brutal acts was Fusfaru Adam, an NSS officer who remained as the prison's chief up until recently. He is now on trial for the murder of Evaan Naseem. Anyway, the fact cannot be hidden that since the beginning of the Maumoon's rule in 1978 until September 2003, gross crimes against humanity have been committed in the prisons of Maldives. In 1989, when complaints from the public soared and torture practices in prisons became widely known, Maumoon Gayyoom held a meeting with Isthafa Ibrahim Manik. After this meeting, Isthafa went to the prison and held a meeting with some prison inmates and NSS officers, and Isthafa said, 'It is not authorised by the government to physically harm prisoners or to subject any inmate to punishment in excess of their court sentence.' This news was widely circulated to appease the public. Isthafa's words in 2002 were the same thing that Gayyoom said when he presented Abdul Sattar's commission of inquiry report of the September 2003 disturbances to the Majlis in January 2004. Maldivians are not the only ones who believe that Isthafa should take responsibility for torture in Maldive prisons. He is well known as a torturer in neighbouring Sri Lanka and India. Due to the threats he has received from Sri Lankans and Indians who have been tortured in Maldive prisons, Isthafa cannot travel to either of these countries. Once another Maldivian named Ibrahim Manik was nearly kidnapped in his hotel room in Sri Lanka by a group of Sri Lankans armed with pistols. The people came to seize Isthafa, and they carried a photograph of him. When they realised the Ibrahim Manik in the room was not the man in the photograph, they left him alone. Maumoon Gayyoom, Adam Zahir (police chief) and Isthafa have together committed crimes against humanity that could be compared with the crimes committed in Cambodia on Pol Pot’s orders. Their crimes are too immense and too numerous to be written in one column in a small newsletter like Sandhaanu. This list will have to wait for another time. In 2002, Isthafa was quietly removed as the head of the prisons' department and Muizzu Adnan, a just man from a well-respected Male’ family, was given the position. This was Gayyoom's way of hiding the truth at a time when there was increasing criticism of Maldive prisons from international human rights organizations. However, the plan misfired. Sandhaanu has received information from a reliable source, claiming that Isthafa had a hand in the murder of Evan Naseem at Maafushi in September 2003. Isthafa deliberately fomented this violence to incite the inmates, and create a situation similar to the prison fire in 1989, so he could take control of the prisons once again. He incited the trouble at Maafushi in September 2003 to show that only he could control the prisons in Maldives. Isthafa was the defence ministry executive director, and shared the lucrative business of supplying food and other essentials to the prisons with his partners police chief Adam Zahir and the defence ministry budget director Ghafoor. Earlier this month, the surprise news was Isthafa’s resignation from the defence ministry. Gayyoom respectfully accepted his resignation, praising him for his 'highly valued services' at a meeting with photographers present. Maldivians were told that Isthafa will keep his position as a leader of the Public Servant’s club, which functions in reality as a propaganda office. What sort of message does it send to the people of Maldives when a known torturer like Isthafa is so highly praised and given so much respect by the president of the country? Readers can answer that question for themselves. |
Maldives Culture is an independent internet magazine of Maldive cultural issues.
Editors and translators: Michael O'Shea and Fareesha Abdulla, Australia
We invite contributions from Maldivians and others interested in Maldives.
Contributions and comments - mc_editors@hotmail.com