Rights NGO condemns police obstruction of memorial walk for missing journalist
“Riot police manhandled family members and friends of Rilwan, used pepper spray at disproportionately close range, directly into the eyes of demonstrators and also arrested a member of Rilwan’s family who was later released,” the Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN) said.
09 Aug 2015, 9:00 AM
Local human rights NGO Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN) has condemned the Maldives Police Service “in the strongest terms” for obstructing a memorial march held yesterday to mark one year after Minivan News journalist, Ahmed Rilwan, went missing.
Rilwan was last seen on CCTV footage entering the ferry terminal in Malé around 12:45am on August 8, 2014 and is believed to have been abducted at knifepoint outside his apartment building in Hulhumalé.
MDN noted in a press statement today that the march was “a silent demonstration, with placards that only had an image of a question mark on it, depicting unanswered questions in the search for Rilwan and what happened to him and that it is a fundamental and Constitutional right in the Maldives.”
Police officers obstructed the rally by “trying to forcefully confiscate the banner that the family held, penetrate the peaceful march three times, which could have easily provoked the demonstrators,” the MDN said.
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