MALDIVES: MINIMAL PROGRESS ON REFORMS, BUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 COLOMBO 000992 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/12/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM MV SUBJECT: MALDIVES: MINIMAL PROGRESS ON REFORMS, BUT POTENTIAL FOR CROSS-PARTY DIALOGUE REF: A. COLOMBO 662 ¶B. 05 COLOMBO 1824 Classified By: DCM JAMES F. ENTWISTLE FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) Summary: Following the Government of the Republic of Maldives (GORM) publication of a Reform Roadmap, the President's office issued a decree on freedom of assembly May 15 to complement the Roadmap and expand civil liberties. Nonetheless, police arrested over 120 demonstrators taking part in peaceful protests the third week of May in Male'. Most detainees, arrested for demonstrating after proscribed hours, were later released without charge. Both the European Union and a group of the United Nations bodies in Maldives released strongly worded public statements expressing concern about summary justice and the Maldivan government's need to live up to the spirit of the Roadmap. GORM officials cited reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on assembly as the basis for the arrests and reiterated the Roadmap goals. In the meantime, opposition journalists still face legal action under out-dated draconian press regulations and opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed's trial for terrorism and sedition continues. Interlocutors on both sides indicated the possibility of cross-party dialog, perhaps offering some hope of moving the reform agenda forward. End summary. -------------- -------------- PRESIDENTIAL DECREE FAILS TO EXPAND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On May 15, President Gayoom announced a decree on freedom of assembly designed to expand civil liberties and complement the Reform Roadmap, published by the Government of the Republic of Maldives (GORM) March 27. The decree sets guidelines for protests including permissible hours and locations, and it requires organizers to provide police two weeks' notice prior to a demonstration. The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) organized several demonstrations the week of May 15-21 to protest various government policies, and over 120 demonstrators were arrested. Opposition contacts said the arrests highlight the GORM's failure to implement genuine change. GORM interlocutors countered that the protests, carried out late at night in residential neighborhoods in the densely populated capital, Male', were disruptive and not protected under freedom of assembly regulations. GORM officials emphasized that the majority of detainees were released without charge, most within 24 hours. ¶3. (C) On May 30 the EU released a strongly worded statement calling the crack-down on demonstrators antithetical to the Reform Roadmap's spirit. The UN agencies in Maldives followed suit May 31 with a statement expressing concern at restrictions on freedoms of assembly and expression and calling on the GORM to treat detainees in accordance with international norms. The opposition press reported that 4 demonstrators were tried summarily and sentenced to four months' imprisonment each, lacking access to lawyers or even the right to speak in their own defense. Nazim Sattar, sub-editor of the pro-opposition Minivan Daily newspaper, told poloff in a June 6 phone call that 3 of the 4 families of the summarily sentenced detainees are filing a complaint against the presiding judge with the Judicial Services Commission (JSC),formed in November 2005 to oversee the hiring, discipline, and dismissal of judges. ¶4. (C) In a June 9 phone call to poloff, Foreign Minister Ahmed Shaheed said he was unaware of the specifics of any case, but was confident due process was being followed. He agreed with poloff's assessment that a petition to the JSC about a specific judge would be a good test of the Commission's independence and efficacy. Shaheed also noted that approximately 20 demonstrators still face prosecution for protesting May 15-21 because they disturbed the peace with loud public gatherings after the proscribed time for assemblies. -------------- PRESS FREEDOM CONCERNS, OPPOSITION FIGURES ON TRIAL -------------- COLOMBO 00000992 002 OF 003 ¶5. (U) In addition to international concerns over freedom of assembly, press freedom worries have also surfaced. For example, the international media advocacy NGO "Article 19" analyzed the GORM's proposed freedom of the press bill and assessed that it would not adequately protect journalists or maximize media freedom. Minivan's Sattar is currently on trial for an allegedly incendiary article he published in August 2004 (Ref A),with his next hearing scheduled for June ¶13. Sattar faces up to six months in jail if found guilty. ¶6. (C) Mohamed Nasheed, MDP chairman (and Sattar's brother), remains on trial on charges of terrorism and sedition. His defense team asserts that they have not had access to all the evidence against Nasheed. At the last hearing, held May 28, the defense team challenged video evidence they claimed was both edited for content and ultimately irrelevant to the charges. Yet defense counsel has been unable to obtain a copy of the video shown in court. According to an American lawyer consulting for Nasheed's defense team, the International Committee of Jurists (ICJ) trial observer said, "There isn't enough evidence to convict a cat!" In this lawyer's view, the defense is treating the international community as the court of public opinion, since it will be impossible to obtain a fair trial or convince the executive-appointed judge that the charges against Nasheed are politically motivated. Nasheed's next court date is June ¶18. ¶7. (C) Jennifer Latheef, a human rights activist and daughter of opposition stalwart Mohamed Latheef, begins her appeals trial June 18 as well. Latheef was sentenced to ten years in prison on a terrorism charge for her participation in an August 2003 demonstration in Male' that turned violent (Ref B). She is currently serving out her sentence under house arrest in order to have access to necessary medical care. The opposition posits that Nasheed's and Latheef's hearings were set for the same day so the ICJ observer could not attend both sets of proceedings. So far, the GORM has not responded to that assertion. -------------- POSSIBLE CROSS-PARTY DIALOGUE? -------------- ¶8. (C) In a May 27 phone call to poloff, Mohamed Nasheed was dismissive of the charges against him and was typically critical of the GORM. However, in an about-face for the opposition MDP, Nasheed said he was talking to the party executive committee to push for dialogue with GORM officials. Nasheed said discussions, if approved by the committee, would cover the need for expedient constitutional reform and a potential date for a multi-party election. Nasheed said that while the MDP would not formally set forth conditions for the talks, it would be "easier to sell it" to the MDP's constituency if Nasheed were released from house arrest to address the public throughout the atolls. FM Shaheed also referred to dialog with the MDP during his June 9 phone conversation with poloff, noting that moderate elements on both sides had common goals and could benefit from discussions on how to move the reform process forward more quickly. Shaheed indicated that he was willing to talk to Nasheed but did not address the possibility of Nasheed's release. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶9. (C) Comment: The reform process in Maldives is bogged down, with the government having put a roadmap on the table but now seeming to undercut that document with apparently harsh responses on freedoms of assembly and press affairs. For its part, the MDP continues to find fault with the roadmap and with government behavior, but offers no constructive proposal of its own. Against that backdrop, the apparent willingness of actors on both sides to talk directly is encouraging. We will participate in the June 25-26 Maldives Partnership Forum organized by the government and COLOMBO 00000992 003 OF 003 the UNDP which, in addition to economic and tsunami-related discussions, is slated to have a session, co-chaired by the GORM and the Commonwealth, on the political reform process. This should be an opportunity for donors to give unvarnished opinions on what the government needs to do to move forward on democratization peacefully and substantively-- the same kind of discussion we routinely have with the MDP and others in the opposition regarding their responsibilities in this process. End comment. LUNSTEAD