COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — An international human rights group says the Maldives government is intimidating the political opposition and the media and that threatens the prospects for a fair presidential election next month.
New-York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Thursday that the government of the Indian Ocean archipelago state also has interfered with the judiciary and the elections commission.
The group's Asia director, Brad Adams, said: "Immediate steps are needed to restore political freedoms and democratic rule to ensure free and fair elections in September."
Maldives became a multiparty democracy in 2008. The election is September 23.
