First Published on Minivan News on September 19, 2006

A new non-violent democracy group, calling itself Gaumataka, marked Evan Naseem Day on Tuesday by delivering flowers to the police and representatives of the government.

The human rights activists delivered white lilies and roses to the police headquarters in Male’, the Maldivian High Commission in London and to the head office of President Gayoom’s public relations company, Hill & Knowlton.

Gaumataka said the flowers were “delivered as a symbol to urge the police to stop all brutality and to join hands with the people to bring about a just and democratic Maldives.”

Messages were also attached to the bouquets of flowers, urging the police to cease attacking reformist members of the public and support efforts to bring democracy to the Maldives.

Gaumataka activists also distributed white flags around Male’ which displayed the number ‘919’ – representing September 19 2003, the day Evan Naseem was murdered.

Evan Naseem was a regular prisoner in Maafushi Jail but the brutal manner of his death transformed Maldivian politics. On 19 September 2003, he was taken out of his cell by prison guards, who beat him to death with iron rods and wooden clubs.

Evan’s murder sparked a jail riot, in which nineteen other prisoners were shot by guards, three of whom subsequently died.

The Maafushi Jail shootings led to an anti-government riot in Male’ on 20 September 2003, in which angry youths torched government buildings and attacked other symbols of President Gayoom’s autocratic regime.

The protests represented the first public uprising against Gayoom. They prompted Mohamed Nasheed (Anni), Mohamed Latheef, Ahmed Moosa, Ahmed Naseer and Ahmed Mausoom to leave Maldives for Sri Lanka, where they established the Maldivian Democratic Party in exile.

In Male’ on Tuesday, eyewitnesses said that the police were unsure how to respond to piles of flowers that built up outside the police headquarters in Republic Square. When a small crowd gathered to watch the spectacle, the police quickly moved them on and put up roadblocks in the adjacent streets.

Meanwhile in London, torture victim Abdulla ‘Backbone’ Mahir, along with Sara Mahir of the NGO Friends of Maldives, delivered flowers on behalf of Gaumataka to the Maldivian High Commission in London.

The High Commissioner, Hassan Sobir, refused to meet the two democracy activists but Second Secretary Ali Shujau accepted the flowers on behalf of the embassy.

Sobir told Minivan News shortly afterwards that Evan Naseem’s murder had been “an unacceptable and very regrettable incident.” The High Commissioner pointed out that those responsible for the killing have been tried and sentenced in a court of law in the Maldives.

Tim Fallon of Hill & Knowlton, President Gayoom’s London-based spin-doctor, was less enthusiastic to discuss torture and human rights abuses, however.

“We went into the Hill & Knowlton office and asked if we could see Tim Fallon to present him with the flowers. The flowers are in memory of those people that Fallon’s client has murdered, tortured and abused over the past 28 years. However, Fallon would not meet us. First we were told that he was not in the building, then we were told he is “too busy” to see us,” said Sara Mahir.

But Abdulla Mahir, whose spine was broken by the National Security Service during an interrogation session in 1995, remained philosophical: “It is good that at least we remember the victims of torture today. This day is the day that changed Maldivian history,” he said.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) also held a low-key commemoration in Male’ on Tuesday, with a theatre performance based on the theme of torture and human rights.

MDP Chairperson Mohamed Nasheed (Anni) has also called for the findings of the investigation into the 20 September 2003 jail shootings to be made public:

“Gayoom suppressed the findings of that investigation. He heavily edited the report before he passed it on to the People’s Majlis, saying it was necessary to protect national security. But the MDP doesn’t buy that. Gayoom censored that report to cover up what happened and protect those who were responsible, which probably includes himself.”

Gaumataka is a newly established pro-democracy group. It says it takes its inspiration from the non-violent doctrines of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the practices used by movements in countries such as Serbia, Ukraine and Georgia.

Further reading for this article:
http://www.dhivehiobserver.com/Gaumataka/190906_photos/index.htm
http://www.dhivehiobserver.com/pressreleases/Gaumataka/919-press_english.pdf
http://www.dhivehiobserver.com/pressreleases/Gaumataka/919-press_divehi.pdf
http://www.dhivehiobserver.com/pressreleases/Gaumataka/leaflet-919.pdf