Talks are ‘an exercise in futility,’ MDP tells Commonwealth rep
Government-initiated all-party talks are an “exercise in futility” unless jailed political leaders are freed, the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party told a visiting Commonwealth representative today.
10 Apr 2016, 9:00 AM
Government-initiated all-party talks are an “exercise in futility” unless jailed political leaders are freed, the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party told a visiting Commonwealth representative today.
MP Abdulla Shahid who met with the Commonwealth Deputy Secretary General Dr Josephine Ojiambo, said the MDP had briefed her on the government’s “intensified anti-democratic behavior.”
“The MDP updated the Commonwealth on systematic denial of any space for the opposition and the use of politicized courts to stifle democracy. We highlighted the deliberate restrictions on individual freedoms and media freedom by criminalizing defamation and the complete denial of the right to assembly,” he said.
Ojiambo’s visit to the Maldives comes ahead of a review by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, a body that monitors member state’s observance of democracy and human rights, later this month.
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