In chains: human rights in the Maldives

The statement, marking Human Rights Day, lamented how “harassment, mockery, defamation and hateful acts have increased and acts that are harmful to a person’s life have also increased.” Such acts were, it said, against the norms of the “historically Islamic tradition of respect practiced in Maldives.”

Their assessment – and their assertion that there needed to be limits to freedom of expression – have alarmed and angered human rights defenders.

“We are all in chains,” says Aishath Rasheed. Her brother, liberal blogger Yameen Rasheed, was brutally murdered in April. His death was followed by threats of more killings. Yameen had been campaigning to find his friend and abducted journalist Ahmed Rilwan, who disappeared more than three years ago. Police have used social media to issue summons for liberal bloggers living abroad for unspecified allegations. Freedom of expression has been curtailed by a defamation law.