Yemeni detainee receives emergency medical treatment

Maldives Correctional Service said on Tuesday that Yasir Yahya Solih, a Yemeni man held in the Detention Center in suburban Hulhumale', is receiving emergency medical treatment.

Maldives Correctional Service's spokesperson initially stated that Yasir began receiving emergency treatment on Tuesday night, but declined to provide details.

The spokesperson later said that Yasir was taken to the Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) after his condition was deemed to be deteriorating following a hunger strike.

Yasir worked as an Arab language teacher at Ahmadiyya School in Male’ prior to his arrest in 2017.

He is married to a Maldivian woman. The couple shares a child.

While the official reason for Yasir's arrest has been cited as "violation of Immigration Act", Home Minister Sheikh Imran Abdulla said in a press conference in September 2019 that Yasir is believed to be affiliated with terrorist organizations.

Imran said that Maldives Immigration has revoked his visa, and has instructed him to leave Maldives.

The police said at the time that the delay in Yasir’s deportation is due to the ongoing civil war in Yemen, which is hindering the preparation of his travel documents.

The police also said that Yasir is being treated as a threat to national security.

Yasir, who has not been pressed with any criminal charges to date, has staged hunger strikes over his prolonged detainment on a number of occasions, some of which ended with him requiring hospitalization.

His wife has petitioned with the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih asking for his release.