An air traffic controller, Ismail was found hanged in his control room after requesting asylum and "foolishly admitting" his atheism in the Maldives, where citizens are required to be Sunni Muslims.
Ismail Mohamed Didi was a 25-year-old atheist in the Maldives, a nation where atheism—along with the practice of any religion other than Sunni Islam—is prohibited. Ismail had apostatized from Islam, but by July 2010, word of his non-belief had gotten out. As a result, his life became much more difficult.
"A lot of my close friends and girlfriend have been prohibited from seeing me by their parents. I have even received a couple of anonymous phone calls threatening violence if I do not repent and start practising Islam ... I am learning the hard way that there is no place for non-Muslim Maldivians in this society." - Ismail Mohamed Didi
Ismail’s friends, after hearing of his apostasy, severed ties with him, so he no longer had a social life. His employers at the international airport in Maldives’ capital city of Malé had placed him under an investigation, intruding into his private affairs of conscience. Ismail no longer felt safe in the Maldives and had no one to help him through his situation. He sought asylum in the United Kingdom, but to no avail.
The pressures of political persecution and social isolation were evidently too much to bear. In July 2010, Ismail hanged himself in a tower of the airport.
Atheist kills himself to escape “100 percent Muslim” nation - Humanists International
In the Maldives, there is no freedom of religion, as all citizens must be Muslim. Blasphemers and apostates can be tried in courts of religious law and sentenced to death. Rising religious extremism has become an issue, and extrajudicial attacks and murders on secular activists—or activists accused of secular sympathies—are common. There is no separation of religion and state, as the country is explicitly Islamic in character and design.