Ali Shaahir was also beaten to death by Maldives Police :: Maldives News :: Dhivehi Observer

Special Report

Ali Shaahir was also beaten to death by Maldives Police

By Dhivehi Observer Editorial Team, 5 December 2006

Several Maldivians, young and old, have lost their lives at the hands of the Maldives Police over the last 28 years, under the brutal regime of the Maldives Dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom. Systematic torture in prisons and whilst in detention is one of the hallmarks of this murderous regime. However, it was the murder of Evan Naseem and his mates in Maafushi jail in 2003, which sparked national outrage and made many Maldivians to stand up and do something about it.

Amongst several cold blooded murder cases committed by Maldives Police is the case of a young 18 year old boy, Ali Shaahir, who died on 6th January 2003, in highly suspicious circumstances.

Ali Shaahir, is in fact a relative of Gayyoom. His grandfather is a cousin of Gayyoom's father. Yet, Gayyoom did everything in his power to hide the truth about the crime that led to the death of his relative.

The following pictures of Ali Shaahir, were taken immediately after he died of the injuries he received. According to our sources, he was hit on the head with a paperweight when he refused to sign a statement regarding his case. According to available reports, brain haemorrhage was the cause of death but his family members stress that he had no history of any illness and was a healthy young man refuting what was published by the dictator in his brief report. Translation of this summary of the report by the investigating committee setup by the dictator to hide the truth, as well as other reports on the case are given below.

Based on this new evidence, it is important for the regime to do a full public inquiry into this case and make the detailed report available to this team but that's asking too much from a brutal dictator. Please note that we have obtained permission from the family to publish these horrific images of their loved one, late Ali Shaahir, may Almighty Allah grant him eternal bliss in heaven. Amen!

Ali Shahir was only 18 when he was murdered by Maldives Police...his whole life was ahead of him

Clear signs of torture

The blood patch where his head rested indicates head injury

He bled from his mouth and nose - torture marks on the neck and chest

A former political prisoner believes that these marks of the cuff indicates that he could have
been hung upside down for torture, a common practice

As usual, this case was not reported in the local media, which is totally under the control of the dictator and his cronies. However, the only dissident voice at the time, Maldives Culture website (which to this day remains banned by the dictatorship) published a report which outlines the case in detail. Later, in the July 2003 report titled "Republic of Maldives: Repression of peaceful political opposition" published by Amnesty International, the case was highlighted. It is important to note that people who openly distributed this report back then were also questioned and detained by Gayyoom.

Following is the excerpt from the report. "Following the publication of a report in Maldivesculture (an Internet magazine abroad publishing a wide range of reports on aspects of the Maldivian culture, society, economy and politics), Amnesty International wrote to President Gayoom on 21 January 2003 about the death of a 19-year-old man allegedly as a result of torture while in the custody of the National Security Service at Maafushi Prison. See 'NSS police beat 19 year old Malé man to death' Maldives Culture Special Report, January 2003, (http://www.maldivesculture.com/maldives_nss_murder01.html) The report named the man as Ali Shaahir. The exact date of his arrest was not specified but he was believed to have been kept in detention in Maafushi Prison for over three weeks in early 2003 during which time he was allegedly tortured and went into a coma. He was then transferred to the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Malé but he reportedly succumbed to his injuries before reaching the hospital. It is alleged that people who prepared the body for burial saw blood in the dead man's nostrils and ears. The report in the Maldivesculture indicated that President Gayoom had taken a personal interest in this case and had ordered an investigation. Amnesty International sought the government's account of this incident and information on the steps the government was taking to ensure the rights of the victims' family to remedy, truth and justice if torture had been the cause of the incident. The government did not reply." Source: Amnesty International

Maldives Culture Special Report, January 2003
NSS police beat 19 year old Male' man to death

A young Maldivian man has died in a coma at Male's Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, after being bashed while in NSS custody at Maafushi island prison. Ali Shaahir, 19, from Maimagumatheege house in Male''s Maafannu ward, was arrested on a minor charge after an altercation with other young men. He was held in custody for 25 days, and when the family reported him as a missing person they were told Ali was in a coma in Maafushi prison. The boy is believed to have been bashed by NSS staff after he refused to sign a statement.

Ali was still comatose when he was sent from Maafushi prison to hospital in Male' in a dhoani vessel. The trip to Male' from Maafushi takes approximately 2 hours and there were no medical facilities on the boat. At the hospital a senior Maldivian doctor, Ahmed Razi, is believed to have signed the death certificate. People who prepared the body for burial are believed to have seen bleeding from Ali's nostrils and ears. There were allegations that the X rays of the body were deliberately distorted to hide evidence of Ali's injuries, which led the boy's parents to complain directly to President Maumoon Gayyoom, who is ex-officio Chief Commander of the NSS, with the official rank of General. Ali Shaahir was a relative of Maumoon Gayyoom - the boy's father is Abdul Gafoor, the son of Fiyaathoshi Ahmed Manik who was a first cousin of Gayyoom's father.

President Gayyoom visited the house of the dead boy where he was ordered to leave by the women of the family who accused him of being personally responsible for Ali Shaahir's death because he was in charge of the police. The women said they were not interested in the president's condolences. Maumoon Gayyoom is said to have left quietly, while saying that he was not aware of the full facts.

Soon after, the president, accompanied by a private secretary, Adam Naeem, and one other person, made a surprise visit to Maafushi prison island and spent four hours there. Following this inspection, several prisoners have been transferred to their homes in Male'.

At a meeting in the president's office, Brig. Adam Zahir, Isthafaa Ibrahim Maniku and a senior staff member of the Dept. of Corrections were questioned at length in connection with the death of Shaahir. Internal investigations are still in progress, but Cpl. Mohamed Shahdhee is believed to be in police custody over the matter. Several leading doctors were also interviewed by the president.

Another prisoner from Maafushi is in a coma in the hospital after surgery to his chest. It is alleged that he had been hung upside down and beaten.

These events are not being reported in the local Maldivian media, and the NSS is threatening people who talk about the subject.

___________________________

Following, are the translation of the letter send to the victims father by the dictator along with a summary report of the findings of his investigating committee. [original documents in Dhivehi]

Letter from the Dictator

From: Office of the President
Male'
Maldives

To: Abdul Gafoor Ahmed
Ma. Dhullisaage,
Male'.

Number: 41/2003/MIS/F-1

Dear Mr Abdul Gafoor Ahmed,

Greetings and felicitations.
On the instruction of the President, attached here is the summary of the report prepared by the Presidential Committee established by the President to investigate the sudden sickness and death of your son, Ali Shaahir of Dhullisaage, Machangoalhi ward, Male', while he was in custody and undergoing investigation.

Please accept my respect.

6 Muharram 1424
9 March 2003

Yours truly,
[signature]
Abdulla Shahid
Executive Secretary

Investigation of the matter of Ali Shaahir, of Dhullisaage house, Machangoalhi ward, Male'

Introduction

This matter was investigated by the committee established by the President on 5 January 2003 to investigate why Ali Shaahir fell sick in police custody, and whether there was any negligence in treating him and transporting him to the hospital.

The committee consisted of three people:
Abdulla Adam, Deputy Director General of Operations, Anti-Corruption Board;
Ali Niyaz, Legal Officer, Ministry of Tourism; and
Mohamed Shafiu, Senior Registrar in Surgery, Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital.

While we were investigating the matter, Ali Shahir died on 6 January 2003, and as a result we also investigated the cause of his death.

Method of investigation

We visited Maafushi Prison twice and met the prisoners in block C-3 and questioned them. We also questioned people who said that they knew about the incidents on the night that Ali Shaahir fell sick. We questioned and collected information from people who went to Ali Shaahir when he cried in pain that night, the people who were sleeping in beds near where Ali Shaahir was sleeping at the time, the people closest to Ali Shaahir, and the four people who were arrested along with Ali Shaahir after a fight - altogether 12 people.

We also questioned and gathered information from people who were involved in getting medication when Ali Shaahir asked for medicine, people who took Ali Shaahir to the prison clinic, the doctor who treated Ali Shaahir in the prison clinic, the people who took Ali Shaahir to Male', the people who were in the dhoani that took Ali Shaahir to Male' from the Department of Corrections, NSS, and the Ministry of Defence and National Security. We questioned the doctors who were responsible for Ali Shaahir's treatment at the IGM Hospital and other staff members. We also spoke to Ali Shaahir's father and an uncle among his family members - altogether another 47 people.

We checked the photos recorded in cameras at the prison the night Ali Shaahir fell sick, the hospital records (file records of admitted patients), notes made by the doctors and nurses who made in-patient records on Ali Shaahir, records of the medical treatment given to Ali Shaahir, results of blood and urine tests, the CT head scan report, X-Rays taken after his death, and photos of Ali Shaahir's body taken by his family. We provided medical records and photos of Ali Shaahir's body taken by his family to two specialist doctors and obtained opinions.

The incident

Ali Shaahir was arrested in connection with a gang violence incident on 15 December 2002. Three boys and four adults were arrested along with Ali Shaahir. The three boys under 18 years of age were detained in the social centre at Gaamaadhoo prison island. The other five adults were imprisoned in Maafushi. They had all had been arrested for being involved in gang violence, and the investigation had not been completed.

While in prison, Ali Shaahir complained about a headache and then fainted. He was taken to the prison clinic around about 1.25 am on the night of 4 January 2003. Ahi Shaahir's condition was so serious that the doctor on duty advised that he be taken to Male' immediately.

Ali Shaahir was brought to Male' around 5.30 am that morning and was treated in the intensive care unit of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital. When he was admitted to the IGMH, he was in a coma and placed under intensive care.

Ali Shaahir died at 5.18 pm on 6 January 2003.

Findings

1. Ali Shaahir did not fall sick in prison due to injury. He fell sick and died suddenly because of defect in a nerve of his brain. The nerve ruptured, causing internal bleeding in the brain resulting in 'spontaneous intra-venticular bleed' that caused 'brain stem' failure. According to the three specialist doctors who examined Ali Shaahir, a person in this condition will not survive even if the person receives immediate medical attention. The doctors said that Ali Shaahir sickness was not caused by an injury, and the doctors understand that from the tests and examinations that there were no injuries inflicted on Ali Shaahir. The doctors said that if there were any injuries inflicted, the CT scan, x-ray, and clinical examinations will show it, and none of procedures showed any sign of injury.

2. In our investigation we also questioned the prisoners who shared the block with Ali Shaahir about what they saw and knew. From their statements, we know that during the time Ali Shaahir was in prison he was not taken away from the prison on his own. The one time he was taken away, was with the other four who were arrested with him in connection with the same matter. We also note that these four people said that during the interrogation, none of them were physically harmed and there was no incident that included any sort of force.

3. In our investigation, we also tried to find the truth about the claim that Ali Shaahir had told his fellow prisoners that he was beaten during interrogation. We questioned the 12 prisoners who shared the block and seven of them said Ali Shaahir did not tell them that he was beaten. The other five prisoners said that Ali Shaahir told them he was beaten. These five prisoners said that Ali Shaahir told them individually, and no other person would know about it. There are serious inconsistencies between the stories of each one of them, therefore we do not believe these claims are true.

4. During the time Ali Shaahir was in prison, there is no one from inside prison or outside the prison, who has said that they know Ali Shaahir has been harmed or injured. There is no evidence to prove that the officers who interrogated Ali Shaahir were involved in an assault upon him. There is no way of proving that anyone harmed Ali Shaahir during interrogation or in prison.

Conclusion

Ali Shaahir fell sick not because of any injury inflicted on him, but he died due to a birth defect of a brain nerve that ruptured and caused internal bleeding in the brain. This was the cause of death according to the three specialist doctors, and there is no one who is aware that Ali Shaahir was harmed during the time he was in prison. There is no evidence to show that the officers who investigated him inflicted any harm to him.

It is our belief that Ali Shaahir fell sick and his death was not caused by him being harmed, or of any negligence on the part of anyone.

[signature] [signature]
Ali Niyaz
Legal Officer
Operations Ministry of Tourism

Abdulla Adam
Deputy Director General
Anti-Corruption Board

[seal of the President's Office]

[Signature]
Mohamed Shafiu
Senior Registrar in Surgery
Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital

_______
25 February 2003

This is a summary based on the investigation report.