- 2003 Maldives civil unrest
On Saturday
September 20 ,2003 civil unrest broke out inMalé , the capital city of theMaldives . This unrest was provoked by the death ofHassan Evan Naseem atMaafushi Prison - located on a separate inhabited island - and the subsequent shooting at the same prison, that killed 3 and injured 17 others.Many government buildings,
vehicle s and other public properties were set on fire, some were fully destroyed. The government controlled the unrest by around 2300hrs and declared aState of Emergency inMalé and nearby islands. Late night curfews were enforced from 2200hrs to 0430hrs in Malé for more than a month following the rioting.Evan's death
On Friday
September 19 ,2003 ,Hassan Evan Naseem , who was serving at Maafushi Jail for drugs abuse related offenses, was beaten by the NSS personnel of the security unit in the jail. This led to Naseem's death the following day. The beating came about as punishment for the disturbances from complicated disputes between Naseem's inmates and "neighboring" prisoners. To control the disturbances caused by thesedispute s (and reportedly toinvestigate this incident)security personnel came with a list of "troublemakers". Though it is said that, Naseem was not involved in the above mentioned incident his name appeared on the list. The security guards then had gone in to round-up the listed prisoners. Naseem had resisted and had refused to leave his cell, demanding reasons for his summoning. This resistance ended up injuring asecurity guard which led to numerous members of the security unit storming into the cell. Evan was then moved to solitary confinement (referred to as "the range"). On the same night he was severely beaten up by 12 officers. He died in the early morning ofSeptember 20 ,2003 , largely due to injuries sustained to hislungs from the said beating.hooting incident
Inmates of Evan Naseem learnt of his death at around 1100hrs, of
20 September ,2003 . On receiving thisnews , they demanded to meet with aSecurity officer from Department of Corrections. There was no response to these repeated demands. Some of the prisoners refused to take lunch to reflect their concern about the death of Evan Naseem.Funeral prayers were performed by Evan's inmates and many other prisoners, after mid-day prayers. Shortly afterwards came a loud uproar from Block C where Evan's cell was located. Two inmates, then, jumped out of cell C3 after corrugatediron sheets being pushed open. More prisoners followed them and attacked jail security unit personnel. They tried to calm the prisoners down for a while and then dispersed them when the prisoners refused to cease their attack. By now more inmates came out of the Block C and opened other Blocks, facilitating more prisoners to come out.Captain Adam Mohamed, in charge of security unit, was informed of this uprising. He issued instructions to block the
premises . Upon Adam Mohamed's instruction to block the premises, Jail Security Unit personnel were issued riot gear. Prisoners on the loose confronted with this unit. Since the prisoners were highly out numbered; security personnel in riot gear soon retreated.The
angry mob then turned to Captain Adam Mohamed himself. Mohamed Faseeh, a prisoner from the crowd, questioned him about the death of Evan Naseem, to which he did not respond reasonably. During thisconfrontation ,Captain Adam Mohamed ordered security units to take arms.Sergeant Shahid Ali Manik shot the first shots into the air at 1230hrs. He then aimed and shot at Mohamed Faseeh without further warning. Subsequently Private Hassan Rifaau, Private Ahmed Mujuthaba Hussain and Private Mohamed Jinaah shot the prisoners. Some were shot from behind while retreating, others directly from the front.Twelve
rifle s were issued from the armory and 15 persons had its possession during the rampage.Fatalities and casualties
A total of 20 people, including a security officer, were shot during the shooting incident at Maafushi prison. Fifteen of the 20 were shot above the
knee s and 9 of them were directly shot from behind while retreating. Six were shot from front andbullet entry points were not determinable in 5 persons. Abdualla Ameed died instantly due to being hit directly in the head. Two died in aSri Lanka n hospital while being treated.
Unrest
Evan Naseem was taken to
A large number of people gathered at his
Tear gas drifted through the streets of Malé in late evening and police used force to control the mob when as they reached
Investigation
President
During the investigation, survivors were interviewed and investigation teams were sent to
Members of the Presidential Commission
* Abdul Sattar Moosa Didi - "Chairperson"
* Shaaheen Hameed
* Abdulla Saeed
* Aishath Mohamed Didi
* Dr. Mohamed Solih
External links
* [http://www.dhivehiobserver.com/reports/Investigative_Findings_on_the_incident_of_shooting_at_Maafusi.pdf Investigative Findings on the Incident of Shooting at Maafushi jail]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3128632.stm BBC World report on the incident]
* [http://dhivehiobserver.com/Septermer2003reports/Pictures%20from%20the%20Maafushi%20Jail%20Shooting%20incident%20Maldives.htm Image gallery of the shooting incident] -- Warning: "Graphic Images"
* [http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/1011/ Censorship in the Maldives] - IFEX
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