More robust action ‘desperately needed’ against Maldives

More robust action is “desperately needed” against the Maldives and it may be time for celebrities and tourists to boycott the country, a UK parliamentarian said Wednesday.

Sir Hugo Swire, a former Foreign Office minister, said that the “politically controlled” Elections Commission was attempting to freeze out the opposition ahead of September’s presidential  polls.

It was time for the international community to name and shame all those guilty as “previous reaction to date has been limp,” he added.

His remarks follow the electoral body’s threat to dissolve the Maldivian Democratic Party if its upcoming primary is conducted with former president Mohamed Nasheed as a candidate.

The exiled opposition leader is ineligible to contest due to a 13-year prison sentence, EC president Ahmed Shareef told the MDP earlier this week.

Nasheed was found guilty of ordering the “abduction” of a judge after a widely criticised trial in March 2015 and sentenced to 13 years in prison. A UN rights panel ruled later that year that his jailing was illegal and politically motivated.

In April the UN Human Rights Committee said the Maldives must restore his right to contest elections, a finding the government rejected.

Another UK parliamentarian, Mark Field, also expressed concern about the deteriorating political situation in the Maldives. He said the EC threat was another example of President Abdulla Yameen’s “disregard for human rights.”

The minister of state for Asia and the Pacific called on authorities to ensure “free, fair and inclusive elections.”