PPM MP threatens to jail all opposition MPs with bill on sanctions
“All these people here belonging to MDP should be arrested. This is what we’re trying to do. God willing, that will happen now,” said ruling party MP Riyaz Rasheed.
13 Oct 2015, 9:00 AM
A bill criminalising calls for tourism boycotts and sanctions against the Maldives is aimed at jailing all opposition MPs, Riyaz Rasheed, an MP of the ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) said at the People’s Majlis today.
Presenting the legislation at today’s sitting, Riyaz, who is also the deputy leader of the PPM parliamentary group, said MPs of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) should be “ashamed” to call for a tourism boycott as their salaries were paid from government revenue earned through tourism.
“People who try to block income the Maldives earns should be arrested. All these people here, who belong to MDP should be arrested. This is what we’re trying to do. God willing, that will happen now,” he said.
The MDP has supported targeted sanctions if former President Mohamed Nasheed is not released from jail. The opposition leader’s international lawyers, in the wake of a UN human rights panel declaring his imprisonment illegal, have launched a campaign targeting officials allegedly responsible for human rights violations in the Maldives.
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