British editor targeted for publishing letter on homosexuality

I’ve been meaning to write about this since it kicked off in early October.

An editor of an English news website has been accused of diluting Islam and promoting homosexuality in the Maldives by an Islamic group who have asked for her deportation.

The religious group took offence after Maryam Omidi, who took over from me as editor of Minivan News at the beginning of the year, published a letter written by a reader who said that the 100% Muslim country should recognise gay rights.

The Islamic Ministry, headed by the religious conservative Adhaalaath party, then condemned the publication of the letter and asked for an investigation into both the letter (to establish its author) and the website. The rest of the government, headed by President Mohamed Nasheed – who was jailed for his writing in his 20s – were silent.

The situation worsened after a TV channel decided to take up the cause and lead biased coverage against Maryam; I was in the Maldives at the time. DhiTV editors then organised a meeting with Maryam but didn’t turn up. Instead they filmed her leaving the building and broadcast the footage on the evening news.

Despite calls for investigation and Maryam’s deportation, the Maldivian police force said there was nothing to investigate.

The law is grey on the issue. A new constitution in 2008 ruled that citizens should be able to express themselves freely, but there was a caveat: as long as it was in line with Islamic Sharia. But as there have been no alligning media laws, it is ambiguous territory (this is also the case with defamation).

Most media outlets self-censor, not just for fear of a backlash but also because many believe that press freedom should have these limitations: that you should not publish anything that questions Islam.

For all its new found freedoms as a democracy, rights for gay and lesbian communities is still far from reach in the Maldives. I have met a couple of openly gay men, but it’s not easy for them living in a country where societal attitudes and the law are stacked up against them.

It is also yet another worrying sign in a country where democratic values, such as press freedom, are still very much in their infancy and, at the same time, religious conservatism is growing.