Family wants body flown back after autopsy in Colombo.

The family of a young Maldivian brought to Colombo on 20th April for an autopsy has requested the government for the body to be flown back to Maldives after the post mortem. The family has also requested Maldivian authorities for the body to be brought to the home island of the deceased, Hithadhoo in Addu Atoll so that they can pay their final respects before burial, the deceased’s brother Mr. Ibrahim Zareer said.    

The severely bruised body of Mr. Hussain Salah, 27, was found floating in the inner-harbor of Male’ around 0730 Hrs on 15 April. The government through state owned media Television Maldives and Voice of Maldives (radio) initially reported the Police saying there were no visible bruises on Mr. Hussain Salah’s body, a fact that was directly verified as a deliberate prevarication from photographs of the deceased taken by eye-witnesses.

The fact that Mr. Salah’s body was found in the inner harbor opposite the Atholhuvehi  Building (used by Maldives Police to detain people), coupled with the dubious reports broadcast by government media have led to increased public allegations of the Police having beaten him to death.

Hundreds of people are holding sporadic street protests in the capital island of Male’ and the southern Atoll of Addu Atoll in the Maldives the past few days, following increased instances of Police brutality and the alleged murder by the Police of the young Adduan.  

People gathered as Mr. Salah’s body was brought to the cemetery in Male’ on 15 April, shouting protests against Police brutality. Police baton bashed and singled out the leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party Mr. Mohamed Nasheed to be dragged away and arrested. A dozen more protestors were beaten up and arrested, while Police squads assaulted scores of people to disperse the gathering.  

Later Police reports issued after explicit photographs were published on several websites said that Doctors had confirmed there were injuries to Mr. Salah’s head and that his sinus-bones were broken.

The Maldives government had earlier insisted that a pathologist carry out an autopsy in Male’, although the Maldives does not have appropriate facilities for the process. The family of the deceased had insisted on the body being flown to Colombo, and the  process was facilitated through the Maldives Foreign Ministry, the Sri Lankan High Commission in Male’, family members and friends of the deceased.

A Sri Lankan magistrate appointed a pathologist to perform the post-mortem in Colombo after the body was flown in from Male’ on 20 April.

Mr. Salah’s family members said that he was in Police custody from 9th April after Police arrested him from his home in Hithadhoo Island in Addu Atoll. “No one had seen him since the Police arrested him until his beaten up body was found this morning”, Mr. Ibrahim Zareer, Mr. Salah’s brother said. Family members refute Police statements that he was released on the night of 13 April, saying that Mr. Salah had not contacted any family member or friends.

Eyewitnesses say that the body could not have been in the water long, as blood was still coming out of his nose when he was taken to the cemetery. 

Scores of people stood vigil at the morgue in Male’ on 15 April while there were sporadic gatherings and protests in various parts of the capital until Mr. Mohamed Nasheed and other opposition leaders were released late that night. Incidents of arson were reported at midnight from three different locations in the capital.

Public tensions are increasing in Male’ and other populous areas of the archipelago, as Mr. Salah’s body was flown to Colombo on 20 April.

The family of the deceased expressed their gratitude through this office to international community for prevailing upon the Maldives government to facilitate a process of post mortem in Sri Lanka to the satisfaction of the deceased’s family and by a medical team that the family consents to.

The head of the Judicial Medical Office in Colombo, Dr. De Alwis who performed the autopsy on Mr. Hussain Salah at his office in Colombo on 21 April has now issued a sealed report with instructions to Maldivian High Commissioner Dr.Mohamed Asim to open it only in the presence of Maldives Police personnel and members of the deceased’s family.    

The latest protests in the capital and Police brutality against the leaders of the opposition underline the lack of progress of the democratic reforms that the government says it was introducing in Maldives since 2003 – following public riots in Male’ protesting the beating to death by Police in September of an inmate and the later shootings in jail at unarmed prisoners killing four Maldivians.