Westminster officials concerned for safety of former Fulton student

Shauna Aminath, left, a 2008 graduate of Westminster College in Fulton, and another unidentified woman were arrested Friday during an anti-government demonstration by a Maldive policewoman.
Shauna Aminath, left, a 2008 graduate of Westminster College in Fulton, and another unidentified woman were arrested Friday during an anti-government demonstration by a Maldive policewoman.

The Westminster College community is concerned about the recent arrest of Shauna Aminath, a 2008 Westminster graduate who was demonstrating recently against the Maldives government, Westminster President Barney Forsythe said Tuesday.

"The political situation in the Maldives," Forsythe said, "continues to be highly volatile. As a political leader, Shauna is embroiled in the midst of it. Her involvement in peaceful demonstrations has once again placed her in harm's way and we pray for her safe release."

John Langton, a Westminster political science professor, said he "calls on President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to strongly condemn the illegal arrest of Shauna Aminath for exercising her human and political rights and to demand her immediate release from prison. The government of the United States should warn the Maldives government in the strongest possible terms not to harm Shauna for exercising her human right to peacefully assemble and protest."

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