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Eyewitness accounts of arrests by NSS on 13 February 2004 11 Mar 2004 Aishath Najeeb Suddenly, around 2am, about 20 policemen entered the house. My son Hadhin Ahmed and I were reclining on the joalifathi in the garden at Nedhunge house in Maafannu ward in Male'. The National Security Service (NSS) asked for my sister Aminath Najeeb. I told them she did not live with us. We were scared so we then went inside the house, into our room and closed the door. They told us to open the door. I told them this was not Aminath Najeeb's house and they should leave. I had to tell them this because my 9 year old daughter was sleeping in the room and she was scared stiff of the police. This was due to the incident that took place when we were about to leave for another island on our Eid Holiday. We were in the boat when the police suddenly arrived, jumped aboard and shouted for my husband Ahmed Falah, (from Kudaveyomatheege house, Maafannu ward) and started running around the vessel. My daughter Sarah started crying with fright and lost consciousness. When she gained consciousness she started crying again saying that the police would kill her father. Again she started panicking so we had to take her to the hospital. The doctor wrote a prescription and said her reaction was due to extreme shock. After that night she would suffer the same shock symptoms and cry in her sleep at times. Later I phoned the police headquarters and asked them why they had come looking for my husband that night (on the boat) and there was not a soul who knew the answer. The NSS claimed they did not even know the incident had occurred. Because of this previous incident, I found it hard to believe that even this time (early morning 13 February) the police had come in an official capacity. They never showed us any documents to prove it. The police forced the door open and entered the room. My daughter woke up and started crying. The police grabbed my arms, head and anywhere else they felt like grabbing and tried to handcuff me. My son Hadhin shouted for them stop doing that to mom and to let her go. They did not stop and pushed me towards a wardrobe. While they were grabbing me some of them even squeezed my breasts. Then they handcuffed me and violently dragged me outside the room. My brother came at the time and demanded to know what was going on. They said something to him. So he told the NSS they were holding Aishath Najeeb and not Aminath Najeeb. He asked them to release me since they had not come to arrest me but Aminath Najeeb. But they did not comply. I was extremely angry so I forced the handcuffs off and threw them on the floor. The police were videoing constantly, ever since they entered our house. No one wants strangers to film inside their houses. Especially not private places like bedrooms. My husband's brother Ibrahim Falah and my eldest son Shafin Ahmed entered the house and when they asked about what was going on, I told them the police had come and violated me physically. People were all crowding around and shouting so the police went outside to their vehicle which was parked some way off on Majeedhee Magu near the shop called Eve. We too followed them outside to go to Kuda Veyomatheege. That was when my younger brother Abdullah Najeeb came held my arm and asked me what was going on. I told him briefly what had happened. My brother got real angry and told me to come with him. He started shouting at the police to come and look his sister's wrists which were swelling up. At the time the police were calling for more police and vehicles to be sent to the place. My eldest son also demanded from the police to know why they had handcuffed his mother. So my brother-in-law Ibrahim Falah and sisters-in-law Shaheeda and Zulfa took his arm and told him to come with them to Kuda Veyomatheege. Suddenly the police reinforcements came in a number of vehicles. Some of them ran after us and surrounded my son and in-laws. They pointed at Shafin (my eldest son) indicating that they wanted him in the police van. My in-laws were still holding onto my son and also told him not to do anything rash in his anger. Then the police grabbed hold of all of them and they all fell to the ground. The police also dragged them some way along the street. Then they grabbed hold of Shafin, took him towards a police lorry and threw him in the back of the vehicle. My other son Hadhin was also pushed into the back of a police van, his arms handcuffed behind him. Then they grabbed onto my arms and legs and threw me into the back of the lorry. Ibrahim Falah was also taken in. One of his shoulders was dislocated during the shoving and pushing by the police. My brother Abdullah Najeeb was also pushed into the lorry and we started off towards Kalhuthukkalaa Koshi (NSS headquarters). There we saw Hadhin handcuffed. I told them that he was not even 18 years yet and to remove the handcuffs. Later they removed his handcuffs. Hadhin Ahmed On 13 February 2004 at around 2am, mom and I were chatting on the joalifathi at Nedhunge, when around 20 policemen came and asked for my aunt Aminath Najeeb. Mom answered that she did not know where she was. They asked her where she lived. Mom replied that she did not live with us and that she did not know where she was. I was really scared ever since the police entered our house, because of the stories circulating around Male' such as the death of an inmate, Evan Naseem at the hands of the police, and also because of the way they had behaved when we had been about to leave to another island for the Eid Holidays. After we gave our replies we went inside our room and closed the door. When they asked us to open the door, mom replied that we were scared of them and that they should leave. Then they forced the door open, rushed inside, grabbed hold of my mother and tried to force her outside the room. When mom resisted, they pushed her towards a wardrobe. I was scared and was pleading with them to stop what they were doing to mom, to let go of my mother. Mom, my little sister Sarah and mom were the only people at home at the time. Sarah woke up at the commotion inside the house and was crying hard. She screamed that the police might shoot our mother and then she fell unconscious. One of my aunts came in at that time and took Sarah away from the scene. The police were still holding on to mom and pushing and shoving. I could nor bare it any longer and went and wedged myself in between the police and my mother to save her from them. They tried to handcuff me. They pushed me onto the floor. Then they handcuffed my mother and started roughly pushing her towards the door. I shouted for them to let go of my mother and tried to go to her when they pushed me onto the bed. By that time they had pushed and shoved mom outside the room. I then saw my uncle Ahmed Najeeb talking to the police. Two of them held my mother while the other went and spoke to my uncle. They moved out into a hallway when another two of my uncles Yusuf Najeeb, Ibrahim Falah and my elder brother Shafin Ahmed asked what was going on here. My mother told them what the police had done and everyone got really angry and started shouting. So the police went outside to their vehicle and asked for an additional reinforcement of police and vehicles to be sent to the house. Ever since they entered our house, they were videoing whatever they wanted. Meanwhile we got out of the house and went towards Kuda Veyomatheege. Before we could go far, the police came after us and grabbed hold of all of us. The police forced my arms back and handcuffed me. Then they roughly pushed me towards the police jeep and shoved me inside, saying that I was becoming a nuisance. They took me to Kalhuthukkalaa Koshi and while taking me inside they pulled my t-shirt over my face. It constricted my breathing. I told them so and asked them to blindfold me if they had to, without covering my whole face. They told me to wait and after about 10 minutes they took the t-shirt off my face but kept the handcuffs on. Even when they brought in my mother and everyone else I was in handcuffs. Mom and brother told the police that I was only 17 and they should remove the handcuffs, but they still took their time before removing them. Then they took the three of us in separate police vans to Shaheed Ali Building and also locked us up in separate cells. |
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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