Maldives Update: July 1, 2007.

Events following Muslih’s death have focused attention on the treatment of drug offenders in jail. His death triggered a hunger strike which lasted over a week involving over four hundred and fifty inmates.
Ajay Makan, Police Backtrack On Muslih Abbas Death, Minivan News, June 25, 2007.

Two crucial factors allowed the hunger strike in Maafushi prison to produce such an outcry; the inmates’ access to and use of the media meant the public heard their grievances; the independence of the hunger strikers from political pressures.
Ajay Makan, Maafushi: Why We Are Still Talking About It, Minivan News, June 24, 2007.

As the National Orientation on Community Radio in the Maldives, concluded recently in Male, the participants called for the appointment by the Ministry of Information and Arts, by September 2007, an independent and representative committee comprising all stakeholders, to formulate the draft of a community radio policy in Maldives, ensuring transparency in the process.
Call for preparation of action plan for community radio in Maldives, Media for Freedom, June 19, 2007.

Minivan Radio has failed to secure a frequency to broadcast in the Maldives, leading the local media, to question the viability of free media.
Ajay Makan, What Next For Minivan Radio? Minivan News, May 27, 2007.

Also See:
China's quest for facilities on the Indian Ocean is now also being pursued vigorously in Sri Lanka, Maldives and the Seychelles.
G. Parthasarathy, Belligerence renewed, The Pioneer, July 1, 2007.