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GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL STATEMENT OF 28 NOV
2006
30|11|2006 |
Chief Government Spokesperson
In response to a statement issued by Amnesty International in
London on 28th November, 2006, Chief Government Spokesman
Mohamed Hussain Shareef today commented:
"We are hugely disappointed by Amnesty International's statement
relating to alleged 'mass arrests and detentions' on and around
November 10th, 2006.
Amnesty International fails to recognise that the planned
assembly was illegal and deemed to pose a real and present
danger with regards to public safety and disorder.
It was also publicly rejected and opposed by the MDP's own
elected representatives, who appealed to militant and factional
groups within the MDP not to revert to violence and to cancel
their plans for the assembly. The other three political parties
in the Maldives also distanced themselves from the planned
illegal assembly.
It also clearly contravened the Westminster House agreement,
facilitated by the British government, with regards to informal
dialogue between the Government and the opposition MDP and the
peaceful progress of the democratic reform programme.
Regrettably it seems that, not for the first time, Amnesty have
sought to issue public and damaging statements without either
seeking to clarify the facts or looking to engage first with the
Government of the Maldives with regards their observations and
allegations.
It is also surprising that an organisation such as Amnesty
International has felt able, once again, to form opinion and
pass judgment based on nothing more than hearsay and conjecture
fed through to them from militant groups intent on causing
maximum disruption to the President's constitutional reform
programme.
The Government of the Maldives has made significant progress in
recent years with regards to the protection of Human Rights in
the Maldives, including the introduction of the Independent
Human Rights Commission on 10 December 2003, as well as signing
up to major international conventions such as the Optional
Protocol to the Convention Against Torture (OPCAT) and the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
The Government of the Maldives will be seeking an immediate and
urgent meeting with the Secretary General of Amnesty
International in London in order to understand the very nature
of some of the allegations they felt worthy of bringing to
public.”
Ends.
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