[Public lashings. Religious
extremists seizing power. A gay blogger with his throat slashed. Few of the
million annual visitors to the Maldives will recognise the hellish side of
these heavenly islands]
By Eric Randolph
Hilath Rasheed, the first openly gay and secular blogger in
the Maldives, was about to walk through his front door one afternoon last year
when he felt the box-cutter slice through his neck.
It
took a moment to notice the blood pouring down his shirt. As his attackers
sauntered off, Hilath staggered to the main road, clutching the loose skin over
his throat with one hand. He managed to hitch a lift to hospital from a
horrified motorcyclist. When a doctor in the emergency room asked him to move
his hand away, a policeman and nurse fainted.
Following a miraculous recovery – doctors told him there was
less than a 1 per cent chance of surviving such an attack – Hilath, 35, now
lives in exile in Sri Lanka. He misses home, but a country where it is illegal
to be non-Muslim and violent forms of religious fundamentalism are on the rise
is no place for a homosexual secularist, he says.
"Extremism is the biggest threat my country faces," he
said at a coffee shop in Colombo. "I was the first person to talk openly
about homosexuality and religious freedom. People said I was brave, but often I
think I was stupid."
Recent weeks have put a spotlight on Islamic fundamentalism in
the Maldives after a 15-year-old girl who had been repeatedly raped by her
stepfather was sentenced to 100 lashes for "fornication". A petition
by the global advocacy group Avaaz has been signed by more than two million
people demanding a tourist boycott until the flogging sentence is annulled.
In a rare interview at his home this week, President Mohammed
Waheed told The Independent that he strongly opposes the court ruling.
"This case should not have come to the courts at all. We see this girl as
a victim," he said, adding that he has set up a committee to
"understand what went wrong".
But that sits awkwardly with his recent decision to enter into a
coalition with the religious Adhaalath party with elections to be held in
September.
In a recent statement, Adhaalath backed the flogging, saying:
"The purpose of penalties like these in Islamic shariah is to maintain
order in society and to save it from sinful acts. We must turn a deaf ear to
the international organisations which are calling to abolish these
penalties."
Few of the million visitors to the Maldives each year see this
side of the country. Most are whisked off to uninhabited resort islands before
even setting foot on the crowded, alcohol-free capital of Malé. But the
flogging case was not an isolated incident – Islamic hardliners, many trained
in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, have become a shadowy but powerful presence here.
They are blamed for a raid on the national museum last year in which a
priceless collection of ancient Buddhist artefacts was destroyed. They are also
thought to be behind the killing in October of a member of parliament who had
spoken out against extremism. The police have made little progress in either
case.
Religious conservatives were also the driving force behind
weeks-long protests that toppled the country's first Democratic President,
Mohamed Nasheed, in February last year.
Mr Nasheed's election in 2008 had ended 30 years of
dictatorship, but his liberal, Western style was used by opponents to paint him
as un-Islamic – even a secret Christian. Although Mr Nasheed resigned on live
television, he later claimed it was done "with a gun to my head" and
that he was the victim of a coup.
The new President says the changeover was perfectly legal. But
eyebrows were raised when he gave ministerial posts to the son and daughter of
the former dictator Maumoon Gayoom, and chose three religious leaders from the
Adhaalath party for his cabinet, even though the party holds no seats in
parliament.
Dr Waheed defended his choice this week, saying: "They want
to ensure Islamic values are protected. We are all working with that in
mind."
Out on one of the Maldives' 200 inhabited islands, Mr Nasheed
and members of his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) were back on the campaign
trail last week, hoping they can regain through the ballot box what was lost to
the mob.
On most islands he receives a hero's welcome, still the man who
endured torture and years behind bars to bring democracy to the country. But
this day's campaigning brought him to the island of Huraa: as stunning as the
rest, with its turquoise waters, palm trees and sands, but a stronghold
of conservative forces.
Women greeted Mr Nasheed with a table of whisky bottles to imply
his alleged love of alcohol. As he tried to address a small crowd in the town
hall, they stood outside shrieking maniacally in an attempt to drown him out.
Attempts to approach them for their views almost triggered a riot.
"They are screaming because they are losing and they know
it," Mr Nasheed said at his hotel later that evening. "The coup has
actually been a blessing in disguise. It exposed the mullahs. When they took
jobs in government, it became obvious that they were just using religion for
political ends. Hardly anyone is joining their rallies now."
It is not yet clear whether Mr Nasheed will be allowed to stand
in September's elections. The current government and judiciary are doing their best
to throw him in prison for his attempt to arrest a senior judge during the
final days of his presidency. So far, his trial has been delayed by
technicalities, but there are fears that more extreme measures are about to be
deployed.
"There is no question that they wanted me dead during the
coup," Mr Nasheed said. "They have unfinished business with me."
Such fears have put his supporters on edge. The islands have
been gripped in recent weeks by news that a pair of alleged Armenian gangsters
known as the Artur brothers have been photographed in the company of government
ministers. Rumours quickly spread on social media that they were assassins sent
to kill Mr Nasheed.
The brothers – who use the names Artur Sargsyan and Artur
Margaryan – made international headlines in 2006 after being kicked out of
Kenya amid allegations they had built a drug-trafficking empire with links to
the highest government offices. They were deported only after pulling guns on
customs officials in a Nairobi airport.
The Maldives government says they were in town to set up an
investment company, and has hastily cancelled their permits in the wake of the
media attention, but the episode showed how tense the political situation has
become. "Everyone is worried about [Mr Nasheed's] safety," said Eva
Abdulla, an MDP politician. "Things look calm, but if he is jailed or
killed, there will be huge amounts of violence on the streets."
Despite their grievances, the MDP had its fair share of
controversies during its time in power. The party was accused of bribing
opposition MPs, sidelining critics and failing to clean up a deeply corrupt
judiciary when it had the chance. Mr Nasheed's decision to arrest the judge was
condemned internationally and only fuelled the protests that led to his downfall.
"It's true that we made mistakes," Ms Abdulla said.
"We underestimated how much power the old regime still had and they
managed to build a lot of anger against Nasheed. But the coup has jolted people
out of their apathy. People have realised that their new democratic rights are
quite precarious."
Mr Nasheed hopes that his focus on development will ultimately
drown out the religious rhetoric.
He is particularly fond of his decision to allow locals to open
guest houses on inhabited islands, which were banned. That is starting to break
the monopoly enjoyed by millionaire resort owners, and bring tourist dollars
into the rural economy for the first time.
He is also touting a financial-support scheme for single mothers
– a particular hit because the Maldives happens to have the highest divorce
rate in the world. "All the opposition can do is wave alcohol bottles at
us," one of Mr Nasheed's campaign organisers said, walking away from the
screaming women on Huraa. "We have actual policies, and eventually that
will get through to people."
Unwelcome guests: The 'Artur Brothers'
The "Artur brothers" have caused quite a stir since
they arrived in the Maldives last year.
Having reportedly registered the company "Artur Brothers
World Connections" on the islands in October, it was not long before local
media began to pick up on news reports from Kenya dating back to 2006 which
alleged that the pair – who go by the names of Artur Sargsyan and Artur
Margaryan – were involved in a drug-trafficking ring with links to some of
Kenya's highest officials.
Their activities allegedly culminated in a dramatic exit from
Kenya, in which they pulled guns on customs officials. Media investigations
later said the pair had been so close to senior government officials that they
were granted Kenyan citizenship, and even appointed deputy police
commissioners. They have also been said to hold Armenian, Czech and French
passports. This month, photos of the Arturs appeared online apparently in the
company of the country's Defence Minister, Mohamed Nazim, and the Tourism
Minister, Ahmed Adheeb.
Their presence coincided with a comment issued by the islands'
ousted leader, Mohamed Nasheed, in which he expressed fear for his life.
According to reports, in 2011 the former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga
accused the brothers of involvement in a failed assassination plot against
leading opposition figures in 2005. The brothers are said to have told a press
conference that they were merely businessmen, who had been approached by the
opposition to fund a campaign for regime change in Kenya.
In a statement on his website dated 4 April this year, the
President of the Maldives, Mohammed Waheed, said he had been told that the
brothers were in the country in January but that they "had not broken any
laws". It said the brothers "were being monitored by the police"
and "the administration later decided to ask them to leave once their visa
extension expired".
This week, Mr Adheeb told Minivan News that he had "advised
them to leave peacefully and they agreed", adding that the pair "have
now left". Police have since recommended that an investment licence issued
to the brothers by the islands should be revoked.
