Safa Shareef
Safa Sharyf has been a lawyer since 2009 and she is a founding partner at Hisaan, Riffath & Co. In February 2012, a military coup d’etat toppled the first democratically elected government in the Maldives. Following the coup, there was political unrest in the country where peaceful protestors were arbitrarily arrested. Safa represented the people who were unlawfully arrested. She also works on cases of enforced disappearances and killings of bloggers and HRDs. In April 2016, Safa represented the journalists who were arrested at a peaceful demonstration against the government crackdown on press freedom.
The government has intensified its crackdown on the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Free and independent media face harassment in the form of lawsuits and bans. Activists advocating for investigations into past crimes against journalists are harassed and intimidated. Security forces also prevent press conferences or peaceful rallies against impunity.
