Our beloved son, YameenRasheed, was brutally murdered on Sunday morning. Our feeling of loss is unbearable.
Yameen was a gentle and courageous soul, who spoke out against injustice, violence and oppression, often with a great wit that was testament to his intelligence.
We condemn in the strongest possible terms his brutal and senseless murder.
While, naturally, we welcome President Abdulla Yameen’s promise to deploy “all state resources” to bring the perpetrators to justice, we strongly believe that the police investigation will only be deemed credible if it includes investigators from reputable international organisations.
We therefore appeal to the President, the Government and the Maldives Police Service to urgently include international investigators in the police inquiry.
Almost 48 hours have passed since Yameen’s death but the police have not made any arrests. It is crucial that the authorities move fast to apprehend our son’s killers.
The police failed to protect our son when he was alive. Yameen alerted the police every time a threat was made against him, online and offline, over the past few years. He even filed a formal complaint with the police on December 22, 2016. Yet, the police failed to investigate the case. This is despite the fact that some of the threats made against our son were done so openly.
Having failed our son in life, we appeal to the police not to fail him in death.
We are deeply concerned that people who call for, and commit, violence in the Maldives do so with impunity.
The people who abducted Yameen’s friend, Ahmed Rilwan, and those who were involved in the murder of parliamentarian Dr Afrasheem Ali, continue to walk free. This impunity leads to more killing.
We understand that nothing we do will bring our beloved son back to us. But we can and we will fight for justice, for as long as it takes. It is what our son would have wanted. It is what he did for his friend Rilwan. It is what he would have done for us all.