Attacks, intimidation on rise in Maldives

Protesters are being frequently beaten up while the media faces a growing number of death threats in the Maldives, Amnesty International said yesterday, after a fact-finding mission to the honeymoon islands.
Peaceful demonstrators were often doused with petrol in the capital Male by criminal gangs known to police in an escalating and violent campaign of intimidation against critics of the government, the group said.
"The international community must wake up and realise that behind the facade of a tourist paradise, there is a dark trend in the Maldives where the human rights situation is rapidly deteriorating," Abbas Faiz, Amnesty's Maldives researcher, told reporters in New Delhi.
The UN and Western nations expressed concern last month when former president Mohamed Nasheed was jailed for 13 years on anti-terror charges in what his party said was a politically motivated move to silence him.
Faiz said harassment and attacks as well as denial of justice by the courts were increasingly common against anyone voicing dissent against the government.
Faiz stopped short of urging foreign tourists to boycott the country, instead calling on neighbouring giant India to pressure the Maldives government to halt the campaign.
Some 140 protesters have been arrested since February and later released without charge, while attacks, threats and arrests of journalists were rising, the researchers found.
Vigilante groups linked to Muslim associations were attacking known atheists and breaking up social activities, such as music events, perceived to be anti-religious, Faiz said.
Criminal gangs were violently attacking the small, peaceful political protests taking place almost daily in Male, with police turning a blind eye, he said.