S.Amdt. 1827

SA 1827. Mr. REED (for himself and Mr. McCain) submitted an amendment
intended to be proposed to amendment SA 1463 proposed by Mr. McCain to
the bill H.R. 1735, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2016
for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table, as follows:

At the end of subtitle G of title XII, add the following:

SEC. 1283. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE DETERIORATING SITUATION
IN THE MALDIVES.

(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Maldives, despite its small size, is strategically
important given its location in the Indian Ocean.
(2) Increasing human rights violations in the Maldives fuel
instability and therefore pose a threat to regional security
issues.
(3) Since January 2015, President Abdulla Yameen has
cracked down on dissent both within his own party and in the
political opposition.
(4) The arrest of former President Mohamed Nasheed this
year was widely condemned as politically-motivated and his
conviction and sentence of 13 years in prison has been
condemned by Amnesty International as a ``travesty of
justice''.
(5) United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid
Ra'ad described ``flagrant irregularities'' in the trial of
President Nasheed, including conflicts of interests by the
judges and the court's refusal to allow him to present any
defense witnesses.
(6) On May 1, 2015, tens of thousands of protesters took to
the streets in Male, Maldives, and were met with violence,
tear gas, and stun guns by security forces. More than 200
people were arrested.
(7) In his speech in Sri Lanka on May 2, 2015, Secretary of
State John Kerry said ``[W]e've seen even now how regrettably
there are troubling signs that democracy is under threat in
the Maldives where the former president Nasheed has been
imprisoned without due process. And that is an injustice that
must be addressed soon''.
(8) On June 2, 2015, the Government of the Maldives charged
three more leaders of opposition parties with terrorism.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that
the Government of the Maldives should immediately release
former President Nasheed and all political prisoners in the
country, and guarantee human rights for all of the citizens
of the Maldives.
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