PPM official deported from India returns: says want compensation
Speaking to Channel 13 after arriving in Male, Samad said that while he had entered the country after indian immigration clearance and other passes.
By
Shahudha Mohamed
President of the PPM’s Hulhumale constituency Abdul Samad who was detained by the Indian immigration authorities on Saturday, arrived in the Maldives on Monday after having been deported. After his arrival, Samad said the Indian government must compensate him for loss.
Abdul Samad, who went to India on Friday, was detained by Indian immigration on Saturday and was detained inside Manipal Hospital in Bengaluru with his family, the opposition said. The party alleged that Samad was arrested because he was a leader of the opposition's 'India Out' movement.
The PPM-PNC coalition on Sunday night urged the government to locate him and ensure his safety and security, saying he had gone missing after he was taken into indian immigration custody.
Samad was deported from India and arrived in Maldives at 1.55 pm on an Air India flight from Bengaluru.
Speaking to Channel 13 after arriving in Male, Samad said that while he had entered the country after indian immigration clearance and other passes, he was detained at Manipal Hospital while he was there to see a doctor.
According to him:
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A group of people who claimed to be immigration officers showed passes and took him away saying there was a problem with his finger prints
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Maldives foreign ministry said there are no problems with his travel documents; so he was taken "fraudulently"
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After 18 hours without asking any questions, Indian officials had said that he was guilty and was prohibited from entering India and being within India; said he needed to go to jail
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Then took away Samad's phone and told him that he would not be able to use it
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He had sent messages to well-wishers and others before his phone was seized
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Their actions affirmed that they were trying to deport him; immigration officials detained him but he was taken away in a police vehicle and was met at the airport by a "large force" in suits
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He was treated harshly; kept in a very cold room for 18 hours without food or blanket; food was given to him by a person who came via the airline and got a blanket when someone else there left
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He suffers from heart disease, high blood pressure and cholesterol; he was without his medication for 4 days through this ordeal
Samad said the government of India should compensate him for the "mental and physical" trauma suffered by him.
"They didnt give me my phone when I told them I needed to peak with my wife and children. [When immigration officials took me away], my little son ran after me crying, but they didnt care and just took me..." Samad broke up.
Pointing out that he had not been told what his crime was when he was kept in the custody of Indian officials for so long, Samad said his only crime was to support the leader of the opposition, former president Abdulla Yameen.
"Even if I am killed, hanged, or beheaded, I will not stop supporting President Yameen. I'll be right beside him," Samad said, emotionally and loud.
In a statement issued on Sunday night, the opposition alliance said, "This coalition considers this to be an inhuman act by the government of India targeting various people who are raising their voice protesting and demanding the expulsion of overseas Indian soldiers from the Maldives."
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