It has been a fairly rocky road for the Maldives in recent years. In 2008, the nation moved towards multi-party democracy after being ruled by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom for 30 years, a period marred by serious human rights violations.

The Maldives enjoyed partial success in addressing some of these violations under the new constitution of 2008, which allowed political parties to function and get a democratically elected leader, the island-nation’s first. Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) became the new President. But the change was shortlived. Forces loyal to the Gayoom regime joined hands to unseat Nasheed in February 2012.

Amnesty International documented violations by the police against MDP supporters at the time of Nasheed’s ouster. Even senior party officials and parliamentarians were not spared. Those targeted included MP Evan Abdulla, who recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking help to restore the rule of law in the Maldives.

Since Nasheed’s departure, human rights have come under continued attack under the governments that followed. The list of offences ranged from sexual harassment of female detainees to use of excessive force against demonstrators, such as frequent beatings, use of tear gas in enclosed buildings, and pepper spraying in the eyes and the mouth.

Past and present governments have ignored repeated calls from Maldivian and international human rights bodies to investigate these violations and bring perpetrators to justice.

The situation continues to deteriorate, with eroding judicial impartiality, a sustained assault on civil and political rights, and increasing impunity. Maldivian authorities have sent human rights into a free fall by misusing the institutions of the state, including the judiciary and the Parliament, to justify the violations. The Maldivian move towards democracy and human rights protection is most likely to be derailed. A country like India must not be a silent bystander.

A recent Amnesty International fact-finding mission to the Maldives found that space for civil society and political opposition is dramatically shrinking, as safeguards for human rights are weakened.

The Maldivian authorities are silencing critical voices by any means.

Independent investigations and extensive discussions with various civil society actors, journalists, lawyers and political activists revealed that the rule of law, fair trial guarantees and the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are all under attack.

One big concern relates to the respect of fair trial guarantees and the role the judiciary is playing in the steady weakening of the fundamental principle of impartiality. This has been clearly illustrated by the politically motivated charges and unfair trials of three prominent opponents of the government — Nasheed, former defence minister Mohamed Nazim and former MP Ahmed Nazim. These are documented in Amnesty International’s latest briefing on the Maldives.

Nasheed was sentenced to 13 years in prison on terrorism charges following a manifestly unfair trial. The principle of impartiality was compromised and the outcome appeared to be predetermined even before the trial began.

Two of the three judges who tried and convicted Nasheed had acted as witnesses against him in 2012, in relation to the very incident for which he was tried last February.

Despite this most obvious conflict of interest, the judges refused to recuse themselves after a request by the defence and proceeded with the trial.

Other fair trial guarantees were not respected throughout the trial, including the right to adequate time to prepare a defence and the right to be effectively advised by a counsel of his choice at all stages of the trial. At one point, the court even refused the right of the accused to present witnesses, arguing that defence witnesses would not be able to refute the evidence already submitted by the prosecution.

Authorities have come down heavily on peaceful demonstrations in Nasheed’s support. The police have curtailed the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly by unlawfully restricting demonstrations or banning protests from determined areas or times, impeding peaceful protesters from gathering and expressing their views in a visible, public location. Hundreds who were arrested from such gatherings were released on conditions impeding them from taking part in demonstrations.

Journalists and other mediapersons have been threatened and intimidated. Those covering demonstrations are particularly vulnerable to attacks. Several have received death threats by Twitter or SMS, and the police have failed to probe any of these. It’s been nine months since well-known journalist of Minivan News and blogger Ahmed Rilwan disappeared, but the case is yet to be fully investigated.

It is imperative that the international community — especially influential neighbours such as India — engages the Maldivian authorities to work towards protecting and promoting human rights. The upcoming UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a peer review of a nation’s human rights record by other countries, is a good opportunity to push Maldivian authorities to act swiftly.

Political tensions are already at boiling point, and further harassment and attacks on those criticising the authorities will only make the situation spiral out of control.

R aghu Menon is Amnesty International India’s Advocacy Coordinator and was part of a fact-finding mission to the Maldives

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