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NSS asleep as Luthfee strolls to freedom Maldives Culture special report 30 Dec 2003   Ibrahim Luthfee One of the two Maldives National Security Service (NSS) officers sent to Sri Lanka with political prisoner Ibrahim Luthfee in May 2003, has been charged in a Malé court under section 39 of the Maldives Penal Code. In a Dhivehi report dated 22 December, Haveeru quoted an unnamed official from the Attorney General's office saying that the first court hearing against Warrant Officer (Grade II) Ibrahim Shukuree, from Gul-hazaaruge house in Hulhudhoo island on Seenu (Addu) atoll, was held on Thursday (18 December 2003). Haveeru said Maldives Penal Code section 39 'states that a person with the responsibility to guard a convicted criminal who escapes due to the negligence of that responsible person, that responsible person is punishable by a sentence of between four to eight years imprisonment or exile.'   NSS Chief Maumoon Gayyoom The decision to scapegoat and prosecute only one of the NSS guards is another example of how the NSS commander-in-chief, President Maumoon Gayyoom, manipulates the discredited Maldives court system to promote his political interests. Shukuree is from Luthfee's atoll, and this prosecution appears to be a deliberate attempt to use regional prejudices for political gain in Malé by creating the illusion of a southern conspiracy against the authority of the capital and the northern atolls which are traditionally heavily represented in the NSS. In this instance, prisoner Luthfee was taken to Colombo for medical treatment in May 2003. Sri Lanka is outside NSS jurisdiction and Luthfee was held without appropriate administrative and legal procedures. No one can be legally detained in Sri Lanka without a warrant from a Sri Lankan judge. Luthfee was therefore being held in contravention of Sri Lankan law by his two NSS companions. These officers, Ibrahim Shukuree and Lance Corporal Asad Waheed, were ordered by their superiors not to tell anyone in Sri Lanka that Luthfee was a prisoner, not even the staff of the hotel where Luthfee and the officers were staying. This seems to be a premeditated attempt by the NSS Commander-in-Chief Gayyoom to subvert the law of Sri Lanka and Maldives, and international legal conventions. There were no Sri Lankan police present at the hotel or outside. Luthfee walked out of his room while his two NSS minders were sleeping. The hotel staff regarded Luthfee's exit as that of a guest going for a stroll. Since Maldives has no jurisdiction in Sri Lanka, a Maldivian NSS officer cannot be prosecuted under Section 39 for what happens there. Without permission from the Sri Lankan authorities, Luthfee's detention in Colombo at the orders of President Gayyoom, was illegal. In fact, the sleeping NSS officers allowed Ibrahim Luthfee to exercise his legal rights. Nasreena Ibrahim   Ibrahim Luthfee was sentenced in Maldives (with Mohamed Zaki, Ahmed Didi and Fathmath Nisreen) to life imprisonment in 2002 for writing the email newsletter, Sandhaanu. Before Sandhaanu first appeared in 2001, Luthfee had been subjected to a three year campaign of harrassment, false charges, and imprisonment after he refused to vacate his Malé house and allow the premises to be used as the Miadhu editorial offices. Maumoon, his wife Nasreena Ibrahim and their close friend Ahmed Abdullah (Minister of Health) are active co-editors of the Miadhu daily. Nasreena Ibrahim's private butler, Ibrahim Ali, had warned Luthfee that he should not refuse Ahmed Abdullah's renting proposal.   Ahmed Abdullah In 1999, Luthfee wrote long letters to all the Maldivian Majlis members, the Minister of Justice, the Attorney-General and the President, in which he gave a respectful and detailed account of his treatment by government officials and the NSS. These letters were ignored. After his escape in Sri Lanka, Ibrahim Luthfee was granted political refugee status by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. top

Maldives Culture related articles Ibrahim Luthfee archive Ibrahim Luthfee escapes – Maldive political prisoner disappears from Colombo hotel during medical treatment 28 May 2003 Escaped political prisoner weak from torture injuries 16 June 2003 Sri Lanka CID officers paid to spy on Maldivians? 13 Oct 2003

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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