Colombo, Sept 25: Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has ordered the arrest of six more of his security men in connection with the killing of prisoners that sparked unprecedented civil unrest, his office said today. The killing of two prisoners at the Maafushi Prison triggered mob violence in the capital island male on Saturday in scenes never before seen in the Indian Ocean archipelago better known as an upmarket tourist paradise.
"The total number of NSS (National Security Service) personnel arrested in this connection is now 11," Gayoom's office said in a statement a week after London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International linked weekend arson attacks in Male to simmering dissent and rights abuses in the tiny archipelago of 250,000 Sunni Muslims governed by Gayoom since 1978. "The scale of civil protest in Male last weekend and the targeting, by the protesters, of government buildings which are closely associated with endemic human rights violations, underlines people's anger caused by the blatant abuse of their human rights," Amnesty said. Bureau Report