New York-The Hague/Male/Stockholm:

Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), the largest network of individual legislators from 136 Parliaments in all regions of the world, expresses heartfelt solidarity with the Speaker of the Republic of the Maldives, Hon. Mohamed Nasheed MP, former President of the Maldives and a member of PGA, members of security forces, and civilians who were victims of a barbaric bombing yesterday in Male, the capital of the Maldives.

Ms. Margareta Cederfelt, MP (Sweden), President of PGA, stated today:

We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the brutal attack that took place yesterday in Male against Speaker Nasheed, who leads the majority party that is restoring democracy and human rights under the Rule of Law to the Maldives.  The former regime of the Maldives suppressed civil liberties during the past Legislature and the ruling party’s reform agenda is addressing the root causes that led to the politically-motivated prosecutorial actions to falsely accuse and politically assassinate Hon. Mohamed Nasheed and other opposition leaders, starting with the leader of PGA in the Maldives from 2011 to 2018 Hon. Ahmed Maalhof.

In 2008, Hon. Nasheed became the first democratically-elected President of the Maldives in the country’s first multi-party elections after 30 years of dictatorship. After not being re-elected President, he became leader of the opposition. But, in 2015, he was falsely-accused of terrorism offences at the end of a politically-fabricated trial. Hon. Nasheed – like Mr. Maalhof and other Maldivian opposition leaders – were recognized as “prisoners of conscience” by Amnesty International and were obliged to seek refugee status abroad. The return to a democratic regime in The Maldives as a result of the September 2018 elections, gave hope to the people of Maldives and created the conditions for a return of former President Nasheed, who was elected Speaker of Parliament. In 2019, Hon. Nasheed joined PGA, at a time in which Hon. Rozaina Adam, MP (Maldives) was elected as the first Maldivian Parliamentarian in the PGA global Board

The attack on President Nasheed is an affront to democracy and the Rule of Law in the Maldives.

At this critical moment, I call upon all parties and institutions to come together and work as a team to ensure the safety of all citizens. Respecting human rights and using the democratic processes to work out differences is the only way forward. Terrorism is never the answer. Hon. Rozaina Adam stated in Male, in her capacity as Convenor of the PGA Campaign for Democratic Renewal and Human Rights

The global PGA network will continue to work with all the Members of Parliament in The Maldives, under the leadership of Speaker Nasheed, in support of the reforms and policies aimed at strengthening democratic principles and eradicating any form of violent extremism that may continue to exist in the Maldives – a country from which there has been significant recruitment into the ranks of Daesh/IS/ISIS – and in other countries from which financial and human resources are provided to feed into purported charities or educational establishments that are used to propagate the ideology of violent extremists.

Background

PGA has worked intensively in support of democracy and human rights in The Maldives since 2010.

In 2018, the global PGA Board awarded to Hon. Ahmed Malhoof the Defender of Democracy Award for his contributions to democracy, peace, human rights and justice.- 23rd PGA Annual Defender of Democracy Awards