Addu City, Maldives — Several complaints have been filed against Maldives Police Officers of Gan Police Station, Addu City for torturing a local who was brought under their custody on November 9, 2020.
The case surfaced after the sister of the individual publicised a letter on Twitter which she had sent on behalf of her brother to the Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed requesting for the Human Rights and Gender committee to look in to the matter.
According to the details on the letter, the individual was taken in to custody on November 9 around 11pm and was released on November 10 around 11pm. After he had been released, he was taken to Feydhoo Health Center as he had marks of being physically assaulted by the police officers.
The letter also stated that he was threatened to be beaten up and tutored further and the police officers had threatened him not to tell about the torture to anyone and that if he did, they would make him regret it. According to the victim, one of the police officers had said that they were beating him up because the normal policing “wasted they energy”.
After the matter had surfaced, Maldives Police Service had told that they had initiated their internal procedures to investigate this case and that they would fully comply with any investigations carried out by relevant independent commissions.
Human Rights Commission of the Maldives also posted a tweet stating that their Addu branch was looking in to the matter. The tweet stated that the case was being investigated under Anti-Torture Act 2013.
