Rape and Torture in Maldives and the role of Isthafa Ibrahim Manik
by Michael O'Shea
first published in Dhivehi Observer 13 October 2004
Other sections below:
The sadistic intimacy of Isthafa Ibrahim Manik
and Maumoon Gayyoom.
Isthafa Ibrahim Manik's role in the death of
Evaan Naseem and shootings at Maafushi prison.
The culture of torture in the Maldives NSS: Victims tell their stories.
Leading members of the Maldives
reform movement in exile claim
their family members and other
female and male detainees are
being raped by the National Security
Service (NSS) in Maldives prisons
under the direct orders of President
Gayyoom. These rapes are videoed
and delivered to senior NSS officers
who view them with Gayyoom, their
commander-in-chief.
The videoing of torture and mass NSS attacks on prisoners
has been normal practice in Maldive jails for years. Sources
close to Gayyoom say the president enjoys watching the
tapes. 'To put it bluntly, he is a psychopathic pervert,' said
one well-informed source.
The reform leaders in exile are reluctant to comment on these
rapes because of feelings of shame and the belief that the
raping will be even worse if they publicly complain. This writer
invites readers to contact the Maldivian Democratic Party for
verification of these claims.
Public reform meetings held before the bogus 'emergency',
and the two Special Majlis meetings, have also been videoed.
None of the recordings appear in the Maldives media. The
videos are used by Gayyoom and his associates in the NSS
and ministries to identify the dictatorship's critics.
Earlier articles (first published by Sandhaanu, and in
translation by the Maldives Culture website) about the use of
video by the NSS and Gayyoom's key role in this activity are
reproduced below:
The sadistic intimacy of Isthafa Ibrahim Manik
and Maumoon Gayyoom
By Mohamed Ibrahim
Sandhaanu 17 April 2004
Isthafa Ibrahim Manik and Maumoon Gayyoom 2004
|
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Part 1 of an article that appeared in Sandhaanu under the headline:
After murdering people secretly, Isthafa resigns respectfully
translated 1 May 2004
Isthafa Ibrahim Manik from Oakum house in Henveiru ward on Male'
island was not a high ranking NSS officer. His official position was
Executive Director General of the Defence Ministry. He also holds
other positions - member of the Majlis, executive director of the
Public Servants' Club, secret military judge of the Defence Ministry,
and lawyer for the ex-Prison's Division.
Although Isthafa Ibrahim Manik held a lower official position than
the state minister for the Defence Ministry Anbaree Abdul Sattar
Adam (Anbaree), Isthafa actually wielded such power that he was
second only to Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom, the commander of the
National Security Service (NSS). Isthafa had no official uniform like
Gayyoom, Anbaree and the head of the police Major-general Adam
Zahir, and except on rare occasions Isthafa had no bodyguard.
There was no flag on his car, but without Isthafa's presence
Gayyoom would not hold a serious meeting with the NSS. At official
public occasions such as NSS annual meetings, Anbaree and other
high ranking officers were required to wear their uniforms but
Isthafa would be dressed in a suit like Maumoon Gayyoom.
The relationship between Maumoon and Isthafa was much closer
than Gayyoom's relationship with any of his cabinet ministers.
Adam Zahir has critically commented to his officers about the
intimate relationship between Isthafa and the president.
Normally, cabinet ministers receive instructions from Gayyoom
through executive secretary Shahid or state minister Mohamed
Hussein, but Gayyoom contacted Isthafa directly and because the
president might phone him anytime, Isthafa always kept his mobile
phone switched on. Sandhaanu has been told by a close associate
of Isthafa that if Maumoon rings, Isthafa would answer the phone
even if it meant interrupting his prayers. Sometimes Isthafa would
answer the phone during his prayers, thinking it was Maumoon, but
it turned out to be someone else.
People rarely experienced the real Isthafa. He put on a polite
persona in public, very similar to the Gayyoom's own public manner.
Anyone seeing him returning from his early morning exercise would
think he was just an ordinary man, but anyone who knew what
Isthafa was really like would not dare to look him in the eyes.
People knew from bitter consequence that upsetting Isthafa meant
spending a period in Gaamaadhoo or Dhoonidhoo prisons. In order
to spread propaganda and hear the public's views on the street,
Isthafa travelled on foot or rode his bicycle to the Public Servants'
Club. He drove his car only very rarely.
Isthafa memorised every article of the constitution and the penal
code, and knew these documents better than any lawyer. Until
October 2002, he held all power related to the prisons in Maldives.
Arresting people, releasing people, imprisoning and releasing people
from prison, holding people under house arrest and releasing them,
banishing or pardoning, charging people or releasing people without
charge; all of these matters were carried out at his discretion.
To do this, no official position was necessary. He had people
arrested and released as he relaxed at home or enjoyed himself at
the Public Servants' Club. There were about fifteen staff with
varying levels of legal knowledge at the Defence Department, all
acting under his orders. Their responsibility was to brief him about
those people under investigation. Briefings about investigations
were given at a time of his choosing. Even when Isthafa was
outside the country, these staff members were required to brief
him on these matters by phone.
When he received a file on anyone, Isthafa would issue alarmingly
quick instructions regarding what was to happen to that person.
When the investigations were completed, Isthafa would issue
instructions about the particular law the person was to be
prosecuted under, or banish the person for a particular period, or
order their immediate release. The attorney-general was also
required to obey the orders coming from Isthafa's desk. If the
attorney-general refused to prosecute a person as ordered by
Isthafa, and sent the case back, a letter from the president's
office would come to the attorney-general to issue an indictment
as originally instructed by Isthafa.
Only Isthafa was allowed to read all letters addressed to the
defence minister or Maumoon Gayyoom. They were received at
Isthafa's desk. Letters of complaint from people who had been
tortured in prison or from their families addressed to the Minister
for Defence arrived only at Isthafa's desk. Those letters were
placed in a special file and Isthafa personally would take them to
Maumoon Gayyoom. The measures taken regarding such letters
were kept from Isthafa's closest female assistants, in case they
might discover the truth. Even a letter addressed to defence
minister Anbaree would only reach Anbaree after being censored at
Isthafa's desk.
Isthafa received daily records of every torture carried out in prison
and a list of names of prisoners undergoing torture. He would send
that list to president Gayyoom the next day. When Gayyoom
requested them, Isthafa would send videos or photographs of
people being tortured. Gayyoom knew every detail of the torture
carried out in prison, and did nothing to stop it. Like Gayyoom,
Isthafa deserves the title of torturer. It was Isthafa's job to create
fear in the hearts of people by torturing people to maintain
Gayyoom's rule. Isthafa obtained his promotions by showing the
power of torture.
Isthafa played a major part in preventing the public from learning
that torture in prison disabled fit people and caused deaths. If the
torture of an inmate became impossible to hide, those officers who
actually carried out the torture would be dismissed and sent to
court. This was to fool the public. In August 1998, there was a
confrontation between the prisoners and the NSS. The prisoners
were able to win on that occasion and made the NSS run for
cover. Afterwards, the prisoners experienced a new round of
revenge torture.
Isthafa Ibrahim Manik's role in the death of
Evaan Naseem and shootings at Maafushi prison
By Mohamed Ibrahim
Sandhaanu 17 April 2004
Isthafa Ibrahim Manik
|
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Part 2 of an article that appeared in Sandhaanu under the headline:
After murdering people secretly, Isthafa resigns respectfully
translated 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.
The culture of torture in the Maldives NSS:
Victims tell their stories
by Abdulla Alexander, Ahmed Fairish, Hassan Rasheed and Shammi
Introduction by Michael O'Shea
11 Mar 2004
Introduction
Arbitrary arrest and torture are the foundation of President
Gayyoom's rule in Maldives. As the Commander-in-Chief of the NSS,
Gayyoom orders torture to interrogate arrested prisoners and to
punish inmates for minor offences and for offences committed by
others.
Fear of arrest and torture silences most of Gayyoom's critics in
Maldives, which allows the torture to continue without local public
comment. Many Maldivians refuse to believe what happens in their
prisons. They find it difficult to accept the depravity of their
president and his NSS.
Despite the findings of the Commission of Inquiry into the death of
Eevaan Naseem and the Male' riot in September 2003, President
Gayyoom continues to insist that torture is an aberration in
Maldives prisons and police stations. In fact, it is a daily
occurrence, ordered in each case by Gayyoom and his fellow NSS
commanders.
Abdulla Alexander
In 1992, I was not yet 15 when the NSS took me in for riding a
motorcycle without a licence and kept me with a bunch of drug
abusers for 3 months. Then again in 1993 I was accused of
robbery, which I denied. From midnight till dawn they beat me up
until blood came out of my mouth and anus. When I did not
confess, they kept me handcuffed at Dhoonidhoo for 3 months. I
was then taken to Gaamaadhoo jail. Following the death of a girl
inmate Sudhaa, they released many prisoners. I was amongst
those who were released after being told that due to a lack of
evidence, my case was being dismissed.
After a week, I was summoned to the police station and told that
there had been a mistake. I still had a few months to serve for
some petty crimes I had committed while in prison. It ranged from
breaking a plate to disobedience to breaking handcuffs. First I was
exiled to Raa Atoll, Kandholhudhoo island and again later to Laamu
atoll, Dhanbidhoo island.
In 1997, I got a job with Galaxy Enterprises. The salary was pretty
good. One day my sister phoned me at work and said there was a
notice on our front door warning the public that I was a person on
the run and wanted by the police. I was livid and went home,
phoned the police station and told them off. They took the notice
off the door.
One night, I was talking to a friend and checking out the girls
coming in and out of JS where there was a jaafaiy being attended
by President Gayyoom. Suddenly a lot of police crowded in.
Apparently the President's car window had been smashed. They
saw me standing around and immediately took me and a few others
to the station. The female officer Azuma collected urine from me.
Then we were sent home.
Five nights later, I was summoned to the station and the police
told me it was due to the car smashing incident and because my
urine had tested positive for opiates. I denied it but they packed
me off to jail. While there, I was brought to court for the
apparently unfinished business of theft of 1993. Nothing was
proved, so they sentenced me for 16 years and 4 months saying
that another prisoner had given evidence against me. I asked the
judge whether the laws had been changed because as far as I
knew the evidence of a prisoner would not be acceptable against a
free person. The judge told me that this was how he had been
instructed to act.
In 1998, the Gaamaadhoo prison was set on fire. Nine men and
eight women prisoners set out to sea on a raft. We were soon
picked up by the NSS coast guard. We told them we had set off
because the jail was on fire and to protect the female prisoners.
Soon we were taken, in groups of ten arms handcuffed behind our
backs and laying face down on the deck of the boat, from
Gaamaadhoo to Dhoonidhoo. Throughout the journey we were
beaten over the head and on the legs by the NSS with their
combat boots.
When we got to Dhoonidhoo there was a 'welcome party' of police
officers with batons in their hands and cigarettes in their mouths.
We were dragged off the boat and the handcuffs were replaced
with an Indian type of cuff holding our arms in front.
We were forced to sit on a chair for 9 days and nights, and did not
dare eat since it might trigger going to the toilet, which was
agony. When we asked to go to the toilet they would force us to
move with a front roll or side roll so that by the time we got to the
lavatory we would have shat or pissed ourselves.
They constantly beat us in front of Officer Suleiman who was in
charge. We were told that the beatings had been prescribed by
higher authorities - to keep us occupied without killing us. If we
tried to block a beating they would make us bend over and chain
us up. Mercury light was focused towards us throughout the night.
On the ninth night, a written statement was brought to me and I
signed it. I could not read it. I could not even keep my eyes open.
It would not have made much of a difference anyway. There was
no other way. I didn't want to come out handicapped or deranged.
In Maafushi prison:
Shamaal was the warden and he was very kind. He treated us to
the best on offer in Maafushi island, medically and otherwise. But
he was soon transferred away from the jail and then Officer
Fusfaru took over. Shamaal warned us against him and told us to
be careful.
On the day Fusfaru took charge, two of us were taken outside
handcuffed in front. We had to run while they beat us from behind.
Police officers Vikash and Jaufar blindfolded us with a rag soaked in
kerosene. With a trimmer they shaved off our heads and beard so
that the teeth of the trimmer perforated our skin. Then we were
made to run blindfolded with our hands cuffed behind us in the
coconut grove. They kept it up until 2am. When they released us,
we fell down unconscious.
When I gained consciousness, I had been handcuffed by the front
around a coconut tree. Sewer water was poured over us. They
pissed on us, poured honey, milk tea, sugar over us. A girl named
Nilma too were going through similar torture.
The next afternoon, two women officers were let loose on us while
the men watched and enjoyed themselves. They made us do situps
and dips. We had to run with them on our backs. Had to lick their
boots. When we vomited, it came out black. They talked to us in
filthy language and would kick us or beat us if we gave them an
answer that was not suitable, which was always. We had to shout
that we had sex with our mothers and fathers. It was as though
blood oozed out of every pore. Police officers Farish, Gaabe and
Fusfaru were there. We couldn't eat, but if we vomited we had to
eat it mixed with sand. When we were taken back to our cell we
could not bend, and needed assistance to go to the toilet. We
were still handcuffed.
Later, I was transferred to a cell measuring 40 ft. by 80 ft. with a
104 people and only one toilet. If one inmate did something slightly
provocative, all 104 of us would be punished. They would make us
fight each other, masturbate with sand, do side rolls and front rolls
naked.
Police officer Faiz then came and it became worse. He told us that
he wanted a disc from our backbone. On the night he arrived, 500
prisoners were taken outside, and shackled together in groups of
ten. Handcuffed real tight. We had to do hard PT. If someone fell
we had to drag him after us. It continued until 6 in the morning.
Police officers such as Adam Hameed would rape young boys in
prison. We would have to stand on a barrel with our hand up, in
the middle of the afternoon. We would have to lay with our heads
inside a sand dune. They would make us kneel and place their legs
on either of our shoulders.
For eight months I tried to be really good. Became really religious
but even that was not allowed. They shaved off my beard. Once
Faiz came and put a pillowcase over my head and beat me up.
In 1999, we were accused of planning to escape and speaking
against the government. 18 prisoners were taken outside and
tortured on the beach and in the sea. Then they took us into a 4
ft. by 11 ft. cell and kept 18 of us there for 19 days. The floor was
sand. We were handcuffed together in a sort of circle. They would
throw salt water at us. We would piss ourselves. We dare eat
properly for fear of having to use the toilet. Every night we were
taken outside and beaten. They would make us lay face down and
then throw another person down on top of us. They would beat us
and then kick us into the sea.
Policemen Sergeant Faiz, Maabadeyrigey Sergeant Mustag,
Corporal Adnan, Ali Moonis, Hassan Rasheed (Thithi), Zipo, Medic
Shifaz, Shahid, Ismail Amir, Rado, Shukoor, Haroun, Shahid Ali
Maniku (Appa), was there. As they tortured, they would shout to
each other to torture without killing.
Once two young boys not yet 18 years old were brought in. They
said they were dragged after the vessel in the sea along the way
from Male' to Maafushi.
The officers would stub out their cigarettes on prisoners' penises.
Some prisoners would be rolled around in a barrel. We would be
hung and beaten. We would be submerged inside a barrel filled with
water. The NSS would take away all our clothing and toiletries sent
from home and replace them with cheap stuff.
There was no one we could tell about our experiences. No one
believed us. Our parents refused to believe us, even when we
showed them the torture marks on our bodies. I personally showed
people's injuries to government officials but they would not do
anything.
A young boy's ears bleeding with blood and pus from torture
committed not 24 hours before, was shown to government officials
but they said this was something they didn't want to know about.
Home Ministry officials all know, but do nothing.
Ahmed Fairish
I was 15 years and going to Majeedhiyaa School. One evening I
was smoking out on the street when a group of people saw me and
took me to school. I was kept there for a long time. They told me I
needed to give a statement about smoking in public.
Later the police came. They took me to the police station and
accused me of abusing drugs which I denied. They collected my
urine and then Corporal Haneefa told me to confess everything
properly and I would be set free. I told her that I smoked
cigarettes. She said that if that was the case I would not be in
police custody. She did not beat me but at consistent intervals
male officers would come in and beat me over the head. I would
start crying and then they would take me outside.
Again it would repeat itself and then I thought I would confess to
anything. They asked me questions regarding my apparent drug
use and I lied and told them I had taken brown sugar, that it was a
powder and I could not remember the colour, and that I had sniffed
it at the Henveiru seawall.
Corporal Haneefa informed me that my urine test had come out
positive. She also said that since I was a drug user I would also
have sold some. So I agreed and admitted to that too. She also
asked me to whom I sold it and I said it was to the same group of
people who had taken me to school that day. I had to say
someone's name and they were the first group I could think of.
I had been interrogated for more than 24 hours before I confessed.
I was tired and when the written confession was given to me I did
not feel like reading it. I just signed. I had no idea they had
brought changes to the statement, for example how brown sugar is
actually used. This was different to what I had said and a
complete hoax, since I had no idea how it even looked like. I just
said anything that came to mind from what information I had heard
regarding drugs.
I was than told that I could not be released since I was a drug
addict and I had to leave for Gaamaadhoo Island jail.
I was taken there and kept at the police barracks until the
Gaamaadhoo jail was set on fire. I was then transferred home. At
the Children's Court I said that I had not done anything, but had
confessed due to police pressure under interrogation. The judge
closed the case, saying that if there was no problem from me for
five years the case would be dismissed. I had already been in jail
for 4 months and 10 days so I was expelled from school and I had
to join another school.
Before I had attended a month of school I was summoned to the
High Court. I was informed that it was regarding a pending case
the State wanted to prosecute against me and that I had to sign
in with the authorities every working day and that I was under ban
and my movements was being restricted to Male'. I reported to the
authorities without fail. One day I was taken to be questioned by
the judge.
I told them everything. They even recorded the statement. On
another day they made me read it and then I signed it. In spite of
all that, they sentenced me to 25 years imprisonment. They waited
till I was 16 years old and then they took me to jail.
I became depressed. One day I threw my plate of food out of the
cell. The man on duty told me to clean it up but I refused. He
summoned a police officer, Ali Moonis. I still refused. Then I was
taken out and put inside a tiny cell. Under solitary confinement I
became more depressed. Again I started throwing out the food.
So I was taken out to the beach in the middle of the night. Around
14 police officers were waiting for me. I was tortured on the
beach. Then I was thrown into the sea where 2 police officers, Ali
Moonis and Nasheed pushed me under water and held me until I
was taking in salt water in my panic. Again I was dragged ashore
and beaten and the cycle continued until I lost consciousness. I
woke up in solitary confinement.
The next night when they came I told them that I would not go.
But they tied a bed sheet around my neck and dragged me out to
the beach, beating me all the time. Again they tortured me and
brought me back in a barrow and kept me handcuffed.
The next night again I was taken out and tortured in a barrow then
taken out to the beach and kicked about with their combat boots.
One day in broad daylight, I was taken outside and beaten with a
tree branch. Even after they had taken me to the doctor, on the
way back they kept beating me up. Sometimes they would tie me
up to a coconut tree stark naked in broad daylight and at times
hose me down with a high pressure water hose. They would keep
me in solitary confinement stark naked.
Another prisoner told me that I had been continuously tortured
while in solitary confinement for 27 days. My statement was also
taken by people from the Department of Corrections, but I never
heard anything from them.
Police officers Ali Moonis, Shifaz, Shahid, Moosa Haroun and
Saudhullah were some of the NSS people who tortured me. Blood
came out of my anus. I was constantly depressed. One day I was
reading the Holy Quran when two people came and ordered me
outside. I refused. They kicked me in the back and beat me up
with a bucket over my head. These men tortured inmates
constantly and consistently only because they are given the
authority to do so.
Hassan Rasheed
In 1998, I was transferred to Maafushi jail after Gaamaadhoo jail
was set on fire. After that the torture began officially. Apparently
the police at Maafushi had been instructed to put down any
rebellion by whatever method they needed to use. When Shamaal
was in charge things were better but he left quite soon.
Then came Fusfaru. He revelled in torture and had his men conduct
it systematically. We could see people handcuffed to coconut
trees and sewer water or sugar being poured over them.
Sometimes, every ten yards apart, all the palm trees were
occupied by inmates undergoing various forms of torture.
I saw a semi-nude girl with leaves stuck onto her body tied to a
post in the middle of the cage where they keep goats. The goats
were feeding off her.
They would sometimes keep a person handcuffed to a coconut tree
for lengths of time, come rain or shine. For every little incident
people would be harassed and tortured at Maafushi.
One night some of my friends and I got chatting casually going
over a fantasy escape plan. It was nothing serious just our
imagination working over-time due to our restricted condition. The
police officer on duty heard us speaking and immediately contacted
the others over his walkie-talkie. A large force of around 40 police
officers in combat fatigues arrived carrying iron rods and pipes.
My friend and I were handcuffed to the front around a coconut
tree for 24 hours. Then our arms were twisted back and we were
again handcuffed around the tree for 3 days. For meals we were
released for 10 minutes. This went on for a week.
There was one officer, Cambo, who tried to intervene on our
behalf. There were a lot of confrontations between Fusfaru and
Cambo. Fusfaru soon had him fired after complaining to the
Defence Ministry about him.
Then came Faiz. He was a psycho case. I was taken to the beach
one moonlit night. Faiz was sitting on a chair. I had to kneel before
him and he placed both feet on either of my shoulders, jiggling his
legs from side to side. He told me to confess that I had made
escape plans and told me to sign a written confession. I refused to
do it. Then the beatings came.
Police officers Ashraf, Big Hussain, and Sato were among the 12 or
so men there. I could not breathe, and when I fell down they
would jump and land with excruciating force upon my back. Faiz
would ask whether I wanted my back bone, or to live in peace
without trouble.
Then I was forced to swim to the deep sea, and wade in one spot.
Afterwards I was kept in the cold wind. Then beaten over and over
again. I pleaded with them but they would not stop. Then Faiz
warned that I could go missing. They could dig a hole and dump me
in it and say I had been trying to escape and had now gone
missing. I got really scared. I could no longer bare it and agreed to
sign the statement they gave me.
Once a bathroom door had been broken and everyone in that block
were taken outside, handcuffed to one another and forced to run.
If one person fell down they would beat everyone with their batons.
At one time, 16 people handcuffed together were put in a cell
measuring around 4 ft. by 12 ft. for four days. There was nothing
to be done. Just to embrace misery as our closest friend. Embrace
it. Survive and try to get out while one is still alive.
Shammi
I was arrested and accused of abusing drugs with a number of
people. I denied it. So they kept me at Dhoonidhoo Island, a police
detention and investigation centre, for 29 days. They brought me
to Male' because pus was coming from my penis.
They took
me upstairs at the Police Headquarters. Police officers, Ibrahim
Latheef and Ismail Abdul Hameed told me that I could be released, but
on the condition that I provide the details regarding the drug habits
of some of my friends. I agreed and they released me.
A few days
later, police officer Ismail Abdul Hameed met and asked me about
operating as an informer. I told him that I was a civilian (non-NSS). I
grew up and lived in this neighbourhood and if I betrayed these people
I would be considered a very bad person. But if the NSS conducted the
raid and arrested them it would just be doing their duty. I did not
have a uniform, it was not my duty and I could not do it.
The
NSS started stalking me. One night the police came after me while a
friend and I were out on a motorbike ride. During the search and
arrest, my shin got badly cut. They did not find anything incriminating
on me but they still took me into police custody. They said that I had
tricked them once, but this time I had to tell them everything - why I
had gone to India, what drugs I had obtained and sold.
I told
them I had gone to India for a haemorrhoids operation and I had the
documents to prove it. Police officer Ibrahim Latheef threw a file at
me and told me that this time I would have to admit to everything.
Two
vans, 12 policemen in one and 6 in the other, took me home around 2am.
They woke everyone up and searched the whole house, but did not find
anything. They took my brother to the station accusing him of giving
someone some hash oil mix.
I was handcuffed and put inside
another van. They took me for a ride. They constantly hit me over the
head and pulled my hair. They then took me back to the police station
and told me to give a urine sample. I couldn't. Sarangu Shameema's
police officer son told me that they would make me urinate even if they
had to beat my genitals to do so. Then they put me on a launch and took
me to Dhoonidhoo. They told the warden Jaleel not to feed me or give me
water until I gave urine.
I
was put in a cell measuring around 7 ft. by 6 ft. It was constructed of
tin sheets. They would constantly beat upon the tin walls to prevent me
from sleeping. For four days they refused to feed me.
On the
afternoon of the fourth day they fed me. That night, nine police
officers came in civilian clothes and said they would make me confess.
If I did, they promised to treat me well. I denied their accusations.
Then the beating began. They took turns beating me until dawn broke.
Vaththeeni hit me on my genitals.
I couldn't pass urine after
they had beaten me. I told the warden I needed to see a doctor but he
said the orders were to keep me until I admitted everything. After a
week I was shown to a doctor and given some tests to do but was told
that after I admitted everything, only then would the tests be
conducted.
The
next night the investigation force came. They said that every 15
minutes, my punishment would increase, and that they would make me
confess. I was handcuffed. One officer at a time beat me. Then I was
cuffed one arm to one leg. One officer pulled me along the coral beach
while another beat me from behind. I told them I would confess, and to
give me some water. They gave me cool water and I told them that I had
previously told them the truth.
They shouted for me to be
brought out and killed. Then I lost consciousness. I woke up on the
floor of the investigation room. They told me there were more
punishments to make me confess.
They brought a heavy wood beam
around 5 ft. long. Two men held the beam to the back of my knees. The
man at the back would push on my shoulders and bring his knee down on
my lower back making my knees buckle and fall upon the beam. The man in
front would stand on my feet and the man at the back would then jump
upon my back. The third time around I lost consciousness.
At
daybreak I was again cuffed one leg to one arm and put in a cell.
Police officers Jaleel, Ismail Abdul Hameed and Latheef would come
every night. I couldn't bend or sit properly. My whole body was bruised
from being dragged on the coral beach. One side of my body felt
completely numb. One eye would not close. My arm felt paralysed.
I
told the warden and suddenly everything changed. I was taken to the
doctor, given physiotherapy and medicine. After 16 days they again came
with a written confession and told me Brigadier Adam Zahir wanted me to
sign it. I refused.
I was once again taken to Dhoonidhoo Island and tortured with the angle,
fuh kafa engalah negee. That was when I signed the confession. I was transferred home.
At
the hearing my lawyer was not present. When I protested, the judge told
me that the Ministry of Defence had informed him to proceed and I was
sentenced without trial for 13 years and 3 months imprisonment.
In
jail a girl who was in the cell next to mine was killed through
incompetence. There was something wrong with her but they ignored it.
Her name was Sudhaa. At night I still feel a creeping numbness. I
cannot get up by myself after waking up from sleep. Blood would be
coming from my penis. Pus would come from my anus.
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