Deported for ‘practising journalism’
Elwira Szczecian, the Polish photo journalist deported from the Maldives in late July for taking pictures at an opposition rally, recounts her ordeal
05 Aug 2016, 9:00 AM
Elwira Szczecian doesn’t remember a single summer in the last ten years that hasn’t included a trip to the Maldives. Her visits often last for up to 40 days and involve a usual mix of diving, sunbathing and photography.
This year, the Polish photographer and her businessman husband returned to their home in Rome after spending only a week in the tropics. There won’t be another trip for the next ten years – that’s the duration for which the Maldives immigration department has handed the couple a travel ban last week.
“It happened very quickly,” she says on July 31, a day after she landed in Italy. “I was in the capital city of Malé. We were standing next to the crowd [of anti-government protestors] and taking photos. That’s when the police came and arrested us.”
The news of her arrest spread quickly on Twitter, helped by the presence of local media and bystanders who filmed the police escorting her away from the venue. The police later accused Elwira, who has occasionally worked as a photojournalist, of “practising journalism” after entering the Maldives on a tourist visa.
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