News Desk
Three former presidents of the Maldives sat together in public for the first time on Friday night, signed a joint statement calling for the release of two jailed journalists, and promptly found themselves answering for the very same abuses they were there to condemn.
Mohamed Nasheed, Abdulla Yameen and Ibrahim Mohamed Solih met for around 30 minutes and signed an agreement to work together, triggered by the jailing of Adhadhu journalists Mohamed Shahzan and Leevan Ali Naseer for violating a Criminal Court gag order.
The statement they signed accused President Dr Mohamed Muizzu’s government of violating constitutional rights, influencing the judiciary, undermining parliament and independent institutions, obstructing press freedom and worsening living conditions.
But before any of that landed, the journalists in the room had questions of their own.
They did not ask about President Muizzu. They asked about what happened to journalists under each of the three men sitting at the table.
Under Nasheed’s government, a journalist was arrested, beaten and taken to court. Reporters reminded him of what state media was told to do on his watch. Under Yameen, television stations were fined heavily and forced to pay. Several were shut down. The right to assembly and expression was restricted in ways that drew international condemnation. Under Solih, a law was passed requiring journalists to disclose their sources. Reporters who protested outside parliament were forcibly removed.
All three admitted their governments were not clean. None apologised.
The press conference did not go the way the three presidents had planned. They had arrived hoping journalists would ask questions that would let them go after Muizzu. Instead they spent much of the evening on the defensive.
Solih was cornered on the MMPRC case. Former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb and former MMPRC Managing Director Abdulla Ziyath had their sentences commuted just four days into Solih’s government. Adeeb had been sentenced to 20 years for the MMPRC scam, one of the largest corruption cases in Maldivian history. Prosecutors filed seven charges against him when more than 150 could have been brought. Lawyers noted at the time that under the Money Laundering Act, Adeeb could have been fined up to MVR 5 billion. He paid MVR 2 million.
Solih defended the decision. “The relief given to Adeeb was also given within the legal framework,” he said. He said medical reports were considered and that only the criminal portion of the sentence was commuted, leaving civil recovery proceedings open. “The cases will be investigated and tried. I wonder why the cases are not going on now. They should continue now,” he added.
Then, in a moment that drew attention, he said: “If I have done something wrong in that, I should apologise. But I don’t think it’s enough to apologise. If you think it’s wrong, I accept it.”
The evening produced one other notable moment. A journalist asked about the upcoming MDP chairperson election, in which Nasheed is a candidate. Solih had been careful not to publicly declare his support for any candidate. He was not careful on Friday night. Sitting next to Nasheed, he publicly endorsed the rival candidate. Nasheed’s reaction was visible. He moved to end the press conference. Some journalists had not yet asked their questions. He did not succeed.
The joint statement the three signed calls for the immediate release of Shahzan and Naseer, the dropping of charges against Adhadhu’s CEO and editor, and an end to what they described as systematic erosion of democratic norms. Whether three former presidents with overlapping grievances, competing ambitions and unresolved histories can hold together long enough to pose a real challenge to the current government is a question Friday night did not answer.
