Shahindha Ismail

Shahindha Ismail
Founder of the MDN
In office
June 2005 – February 2023
President of the 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

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

She has been living in exile in Germany since 2019.[23]

References

  1. ^ a b "Shahindha Ismail". Peace Post. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  2. ^ a b "The President appoints members to the Police Integrity Commission". The President's Office. 26 July 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Maldives establishes commission to audit prisons". The Edition. 19 December 2018. Archived from the original on 4 July 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Shahinda Ismail". Front Line Defenders. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  5. ^ "Our Work". Maldivian Democracy Network. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  6. ^ Carrell, Severin (17 December 2012). "Maldives police accused of civil rights abuses being trained by Scottish police". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  7. ^ Ismail, Shahindha (27 March 2016). "Are we all going to kill Humam?". Maldives Independent. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  8. ^ Ismail, Shahindha (16 July 2016). "An eye for an eye, or save the lives of mankind?". Maldives Independent. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  9. ^ "Maldives: commute Humam's death sentence and repeal capital punishment". International Commission of Jurists. 18 July 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  10. ^ "Maldives: Supreme Court Decision Allows Executions to Proceed". Library of Congress. 28 July 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  11. ^ Rasheed, Zaheena (31 December 2017). "Shahindha Ismail investigated for 'anti-Islamic' tweet". Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  12. ^ "NGO boss questioned over 'anti-Islamic' tweet". Maldives Independent. 2 April 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  13. ^ "Maldives urged to drop charges against NGO chief". Maldives Independent. 4 January 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  14. ^ "Maldives: End the targeted harassment and intimidation of human rights defender Shahindha Ismail". International Federation for Human Rights. 5 April 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  15. ^ "Take Action for Shahinda Ismail". Front Line Defenders. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
  16. ^ "Maldives: Death threats and harassment against Ms. Shahindha Ismail". International Federation for Human Rights. 5 January 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  17. ^ "Activist Shahindha Ismail gets death threats and govt. investigation for blasphemous tweets". persecution.exmuslims.org. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  18. ^ "Death threats and harassment against Ms. Shahindha Ismail". OMCT. 5 January 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  19. ^ "Texts adopted - Situation in the Maldives - Thursday, 15 March 2018". European Parliament. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  20. ^ Mohamed, Shahudha (8 August 2020). "Rilwan's family releases book to mark 6 years since journalist's enforced disappearance". The Edition. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  21. ^ Anees, Shan (20 December 2018). "Home Minister asks prison audits to be carried out swiftly". Raajje TV. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  22. ^ "Inmates kept against international framework, laws and regulations". PSM News. 3 January 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  23. ^ "Insights into the life in exile". Körber Foundation. Retrieved 14 September 2025.

Ismail, Shahindha. Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla: Gelluvaalee Mausoom Dhivehi Dharieh, 2020

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