Amnesty International on Tuesday declared that Sri Lankan native Lahiru Madushanka, who was arrested in 2015 under allegations of attempting to assassinate incumbent President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, was subjected to police brutality and remanded without a fair trial in the three years since his arrest.
According to ‘Prisoner in Paradise’,a case report by Amnesty International on the incarceration of Madushanka, the Sri Lanka driver was arrested on October 23, 2015, having been accused of being a highly trained sniper in a plot to assassinate the incumbent.
His family and lawyer allege that he has been denied legal representation and was subject to ill-treatment which includes prolonged solitary confinement and beatings that resulted in Madushanka temporarily losing his hearing in one ear. Furthermore, the report revealed that Madushanka had told his lawyer that drawing pins were pushed into his face.
“Amnesty calls on the government of Maldives and the Human Rights Commission of Maldives to investigate these allegations. We further call on the Maldives Correctional Services and Maldives Police Service to provide humane conditions of detentions; and the Prosecutor General, the Criminal Court and the Judicial Service Commission of the Maldives to guarantee the right to fair trial or Lahiru Madushanka,” stated the report.
The report highlighted a poor quality of food that resulted in him falling ill and vomiting for three days, and that he was denied medical attention during said period. Additionally, the report noted overcrowded and unhygienic cell conditions, and that he did not have access to his family.
“Lahiru Madhushanka has endured the most harrowing ordeal. From the moment he was arrested, to his interrogation, to his imprisonment and his trial, his family and lawyer say he has been subject to a catalogue of serious human rights violations, including torture, that need to be independently investigated,” said Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International’s South Asia Research Director.
The treatment of Madhushanka, as reported by Amnesty International, is in violation of The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules) which were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 17, 2015.
Article 54 of the Maldivian Constitution states that “No person shall be subject to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or to torture”. Maldives is also a state party to the UN Convention against Torture.
Maldives Police Service have yet to make a statement regarding Amnesty’s report.
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