Maldives – Christians losing the few rights they have
Barnabas Fund 09/21/2017 17:00
The government of the Maldives is increasingly controlling the courts and simply ignoring the law, leaving Christians in an even more vulnerable state.
56 lawyers who tried to petition the Supreme Court for the rule of law to be respected have been suspended from practising by the government.
Despite being a popular tourist destination, the Maldives is one of the most difficult places in the world to be a Christian. The 2008 Maldivian constitution bans Muslims from becoming Christians.
In 1998, the government arrested 50 Maldivians suspected of having become Christians, and is thought to have tortured them. Any Maldivian even found to have a Bible in their house faces a prison sentence.
The Maldivian government appears to be pursuing a slow process of Islamisation, last year passing in effect an Islamic blasphemy law.