Mohammed Nasheed, a freelance journalist, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment by a court in Male on 3 April 1996, apparently for comments he made in an article published in a magazine in the Philippines about the 1993 presidential elections and the 1994 general elections. Amnesty International is calling for his immediate and unconditional release as a prisoner of conscience. Other journalists have also been arrested for writing articles critical of the government. Mohammed Saeed Moosa Wajdee was detained for the duration of the 1994 elections. Ibrahim Shareef was reportedly arrested in April 1996 and held in Dhoonidhoo detention centre for several weeks for writing an article in a local daily newspaper.
