As a blogger, I write words and publish them online. Sometimes it is a mildly humorous piece, sometimes it is an angry rant. Sometimes I churn out 1500 word essays where I explore some boring subject in annoying detail. When I write, my objective is sometimes to persuade the reader. Other times it is to […]
I remember ruffling some feathers a few years ago, when I publicly defended the Maldivian government’s decision to resume diplomatic relations with the state of Israel. My reasoning back then was basically this: Israel had done no harm to the Maldives or Dhivehin Maldives, as a sovereign, independent state, needed to maintain an independent foreign […]
This week, blogger Hani Amir asks why Maldivians feel threatened by Jews, and takes a look at how this blanket prejudice came to be in our country. …once it was decided that the national identity of Maldivians would be firmly linked with “Islam”; what would then be the threat? The Jew, ofcourse. Not the Israeli […]
This Week in Maldives: January 8
Because you guys liked, RT’d and shared the hell out of the last edition, this week I focus on aqeeda-endangering textbooks, Dunya’s return to the dark side, and Muizzu engaged in a series of unfortunate Muizzed up things. These are short takes on the headlines of the week gone by. Dunya rejoins the regime Dunya […]
Dhoonidhoo Diaries: Part 3 – Heat and Captivity
This is the third instalment in the Dhoonidhoo Diaries series where I pen down my experiences in Dhoonidhoo prison where I was incarcerated following an unprecedented regime crackdown on the May Day rally. Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here. Nearly 200 democratic protesters were arrested on 1st May 2015 by the Maldives’ authoritarian […]
Dhoonidhoo Diaries: Part 2 – Prison Cell
1st May 2015 saw the largest anti-government protests in Maldivian history, with nearly 20,000 protesters filling the main thoroughfare in Malé. I was among the nearly 200 democratic protesters arrested that day, in the largest police crackdown in over a decade. I was released after being held for 21 days without trial. But several May […]
Dhoonidhoo Diaries: Part 1 – Arrest and Incarceration
1st May 2015 saw the largest anti-government protests in Maldivian history, with nearly 20,000 protesters filling the main thoroughfare in Malé. It also saw the largest police crackdown in over a decade, with nearly 200 democratic protesters arrested. I was among those arrested, and was held captive for 21 days, including 5 days of house […]
I remember the exact moment when I first saw Ahmed Rilwan. It was late 2009, and I had just arrived in the Maldives. Some bloggers had gotten together to sort of welcome me and get introduced. We were sitting in a sea-side café at night, when he walked in with two other well known bloggers. We hit […]
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