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Shahindha Ismail
Founder of MDN
In office
June 2005 – February 2023
President of Maldives Police Integrity Commission
In office
July 2009 – October 2012
Member of Prison Audit Commission
In office
75 days

Shahindha Ismail is a Maldivian human rights activist who is the founder and executive director of the Maldivian Democracy Network, the first and longest running human rights NGO in the Maldives.[1] She has served as the President of the Police Integrity Commission[2] and as a member of the Prison Audit Commission.[3] She is one of a few advocates against religious fundamentalism in the Maldives.[4]

Work in the Maldives

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Shahindha began her activism in 2004 during the mass arrest of over 300 people on the 12th and 13th of August 2004, events that subsequently became known as Black Friday. She launched MDN as the Maldivian Detainee Network.[5]

Following the subsequent turn to democracy in the Maldives, she had a leading role in a nationwide 'Go Vote' campaign for the first multi-party presidential election in 2008, the successful campaign to disqualify unfair amendments to the Civil Service Act in 2008, and worked on nationwide awareness programs on detainee rights and the Chapter of Rights of the Constitution.[4]

The new President Mohamed Nasheed appointed her as President of the Police Integrity Commission.[2] In October 2012, she resigned in protest of the policing crisis following the 2012 Maldives political crisis.[6]

She has consistently opposed implementation of the death penalty,[7][8] most notably in the case of Hussain Humaam, who was convicted for the 2012 murder of Afrasheem Ali MP for Ungoofaaru.[9] MDN appealed the lower court decision at the High Court which issued a stay order. The Supreme Court reversed this decision in a controversial ruling.[10] No executions have taken place so far.

In 2017, she was investigated by the Maldives Police Service for a tweet she posted in response to a speech by then President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, in which she defended Maldivian's right to freedom of religion, following a series of articles written in the online tabloid Vaguthu.[1][11][12] The Asian Forum for Human Rights (FORUM-ASIA), the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (an FIDH-OMCT partnership), Front Line Defenders and Amnesty International called on the Maldivian government "to immediately end the targeted harassment and intimidation" against her.[13][14][15] She received death threats over the incident.[16][17][18]

Within the context of the 2018 Maldives political crisis the European Parliament passed a resolution regarding the situation in the Maldives, noting that Shahindha faced intimidation from religious extremists and harassment from government authorities.[19]

She authored the book "Gelluvaalee Mausoom Dhivehi Dharieh", loosely translating to '[They] Disappeared an Innocent Maldivian' a biography of the abducted and murdered journalist Ahmed Rilwan released by his family.[20]

In 2018, she was appointed to the Prison Audit Commission, a seven-member commission created by the Ministry of Home Affairs to conduct an audit of all prisons in the Maldives[3][21] which found that inmates had been kept against international frameworks, and local laws and regulations.[22]

Exile

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She has been living in exile in Germany since 2019.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Shahindha Ismail". www.peace-post.com. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  2. ^ a b "The President appoints members to the Police Integrity Commission". The President's Office. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  3. ^ a b "Maldives establishes commission to audit prisons". The Edition. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  4. ^ a b "Shahinda Ismail". Front Line Defenders. 2015-11-05. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  5. ^ "Our Work – Maldivian Democracy Network". Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  6. ^ Carrell, Severin; correspondent, Scotland (2012-12-17). "Maldives police accused of civil rights abuses being trained by Scottish police". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-06-29. {{cite news}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  7. ^ "Are we all going to kill Humam?". 2016-03-27. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  8. ^ "An eye for an eye, or save the lives of mankind?". 2016-07-16. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  9. ^ "Maldives: commute Humam's death sentence and repeal capital punishment". International Commission of Jurists. 2016-07-18. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  10. ^ "Maldives: Supreme Court Decision Allows Executions to Proceed". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  11. ^ Rasheed, Zaheena. "Maldives activist 'fears for life' amid blasphemy probe". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  12. ^ "NGO boss questioned over 'anti-Islamic' tweet". 2018-04-02. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  13. ^ "Maldives urged to drop charges against NGO chief". 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  14. ^ "Maldives: End the targeted harassment and intimidation of human rights defender Shahindha Ismail". International Federation for Human Rights. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  15. ^ "Take Action for Shahinda Ismail". Front Line Defenders. 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  16. ^ "Maldives: Death threats and harassment against Ms. Shahindha Ismail". International Federation for Human Rights. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  17. ^ "Activist Shahindha Ismail gets death threats and govt. investigation for blasphemous tweets". persecution.exmuslims.org. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  18. ^ "Death threats and harassment against Ms. Shahindha Ismail". OMCT. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  19. ^ "Texts adopted - Situation in the Maldives - Thursday, 15 March 2018". www.europarl.europa.eu. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  20. ^ "Rilwan's family releases book to mark 6 years since journalist's enforced disappearance". The Edition. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  21. ^ raajje.mv. "Maldives Home Minister asks prison audits to be carried out swiftly". raajje.mv. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  22. ^ "Inmates kept against international framework, laws and regulations". PSMnews.mv. 2019-01-03. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
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Ismail, Shahindha. Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla: Gelluvaalee Mausoom Dhivehi Dharieh, 2020

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