Claims of citizenship for Guantánamo detainees are “total lies”, says Attorney General

Attorney General Husnu Suood has described a claim by the Opposition Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) that Guantánamo Bay detainees will get Maldivian citizenship as  “a total lie.”

After a meeting with the US Ambassador in Colombo last week, DQP has said the agreement between the US and Maldivian government involves granting citizenship to any detainees resettled in the country.

AG Suood said negotiations were still at a very “early stage” and added that claims of the government giving citizenship to foreign detainees were fabricated.

“We are not obliged to give citizenship to foreigners,” he said, noting the same guidelines would apply to a foreign detainee as to any other foreign national wishing to acquire Maldivian citizenship.

He said “we are still in the preliminary stages of negotiation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the US Embassy and the governments,” and currently there is only “a basic text, a draft proposal” of the regulations and procedures for resettling Gitmo detainees in the country.

The AG’s office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will then make comments on the draft. “Based on that,” Suood said, “the ministry will negotiate.”

One of the conditions proposed by the US states that the Maldivian government shall “conduct surveillance on the prisoners while they are in the country, including monitoring their phone calls, letters and other communications.”

Additionally, they must “prevent them from leaving the country.”

Suood said “that’s what we’re seeking to clarify, how we deal with [the former inmates]”, and added that their comments and concerns would all be sent to the US Embassy before the transfer was formally accepted.

“There is no concrete agreement between the two countries as of yet,” he noted.

Press Secretary for the President’s Office, Mohamed Zuhair, said “the government of Maldives supports President Obama’s plans to close Guantanamo,” adding that “a Palestinian gentleman is due to be transferred from Guantanamo to the Maldives.”

He said “the United States has cleared this Palestinian man of any association with terrorism or any violent activities,” and have also confirmed “he has no criminal charges pending against him.”

He noted the man could not return to the Middle East due to his association with Guantánamo, and it is feared his life will be in danger if he is sent back.

“We should support innocent Palestinians. As a people, they have suffered so much injustice,” Zuhair said. “I hope when he arrives in the Maldives, we will treat him as he should be treated: as a victim who has been jailed for many years even though he has committed no crime.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Ahmed Shaheed, said the identity of the prisoner “has not been confirmed yet,” and added it will only be confirmed once the National Security Committee has concluded its meetings and have cleared the detainee of any charges.

He said “it will take some time” until the committee concludes its inquiries, as they have to “look at files and go through the process they require.” Dr Shaheed said after the legal framework is looked at, they can start assessing individual detainees.

Dr Shaheed did not attend a committee meeting held today.

He said although the Palestinian man Zuhair referred to was “one of the candidates” to be transferred to the Maldives, “it is not confirmed.”

Citizenship for detainees was not something the government was discussing yet, he said.

“I’m not saying we will do it or not,” he said, adding it would only be raised after the legalities of the transfer were cleared.

He added the transfer of detainees to the country was being looked at as “temporary,” like a “half-way stop” for the detainees, and not something permanent.

MPs meet US High Commissioner

A number of MPs met with the US High Commissioner today, said Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Nihan.

Besides Nihan, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Abdul Gafoor, Jumhoory Party MP Gasim ‘Buruma’ Ibrahim, DQP MP Riyaz Rasheed and Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed participated in the meeting.

Nihan said “very important doubts about the Gitmo issue were clarified by the American High Commissioner.”

“We exchanged information between the High Commissioner and MPs,” he said, noting “the High Commissioner gathered us to see our opinion on the issue.”

Nihan said in the meeting he highlighted how poor the communication is between people and the government, adding “the administrative decision was made inside the ‘smoking room’ of the president and not in the Cabinet.”

He said President Mohamed Nasheed never discussed the detainee issue with either Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed or the Cabinet.

“He always presents decisions in the cabinet meetings,” Nihan said, “but he did not discuss it with anyone before deciding.”

National security committee meeting

Parliament’s National Security Committee held their first meeting on the resettlement of Guantánamo Bay prisoners in the Maldives on Sunday, after it was postponed last week by Speaker of Parliament, Abdulla Shahid.

There are still more meetings to be held on the issue, as they need to hear from more government officials and police.

AG Suood said he was meant to attend a meeting tomorrow, but it has now been cancelled. He said he was asking the Majlis to look at Article 5 of their rules of procedure, which says “any summons should be in writing and signed by the Speaker.”

The AG said he and the foreign minister received letters of summons from Parliament, but “they were signed by a legal council” and not the Speaker. “We are seeking clarification,” he said.

The US Embassy in Colombo said they could not confirm or deny whether DQP members met with the ambassador last week, and could not say whether they spoke about the transfer of detainees or the issue of citizenship.

Leader of the DQP, Hassan Saeed, did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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Buruny islanders protesting for new mosque over refurbishment

Islanders of Thaa Atoll Buruny have been protesting since last Thursday demanding the government build a new mosque on the island.

Moosa Abdul Gadir, councilor of Buruny, told Minivan News that the protest began when the Islamic Ministry decided to upgrade an old mosque on the island instead “of building a new one with the Rf4.6 million that the government of Brunei gave the Islamic Ministry.”

”Our people are disheartened because the Islamic Ministry told us last year in October that they would build a new mosque for us with the money from the Brunei government, which would be large enough for 700 people. But later they said would upgrade the existing old mosque,” said Moosa.

Moosa said that 90 percent of the island’s population took part in the protests outside the gate of the island office, wearing white bandanna’s on their head to represent that they were peaceful protesters.

Moosa said that the protest was peaceful, and was proceeding according to the law, but warned that ”humans can only be patient for a certain amount of time.”

He said the Islamic Ministry had not discussed the change in its decision with either the islanders or the island office.

”When the protesters gathered on Thursday they gave a signal that they would build a new mosque,” Moosa said, ”but again now they have disagreed on building it.”

Moosa said there five mosques on the island: one of them which he claimed was large enough for only 10 people and was built near the graveyard, the second was 100 years old, the third “was built for Villifushi people who migrated after the tsunami incident” and the remaining two mosques were “woman mosques”.

”I think the Islamic Ministry is trying to make people hate the government,” he said. ”Why else they would do something like this?”

State Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed meanwhile guaranteed that the Islamic Ministry would not make a decision that would make the islanders unhappy.

”They were having a dispute among themselves over whether to build a new mosque or upgrade the old mosque,” Shaheem said. ”That’s why the Ministry was confused. We will do it according to how the people wish.”

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Adhaalath slams Haveeru for publishing alcohol ad

The Adhaalath Party has attacked daily newspaper Haveeru for publishing an apparent advertisement for alcohol in its May 19 edition, calling on “concerned authorities” to investigate the matter.

The party claimed this act of Haveeru news violated article 27 of the Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of expression “subject to the tenets of Islam.”

” The ad consists of a label of a certain brand of whiskey and had no name or contact number associated with it,” the  Adhaalath Party said on its English-language website.

The party claimed it was “surprised and shocked” that as the Maldives is a 100 percent Muslim nation, such an act should not happen  “since all the ads published in the local newspapers are screened for conformity with the laws and regulations of the country.”

The party said the issue was “very serious” and warned it could “disrupt the peace and harmony of the country.”

Editor of Haveeru Moosa Latheef said the newspaper did not advertise alcohol.

”It was a notice sent to us by a whiskey-producing company,” Latheef said. ”The notice was to inform people that the usage of their brand name fraudulent and unauthorised.”

Latheef said that the newspaper had mistakenly failed to include the written notice and published only the whiskey picture.

”Yesterday we wrote that we missed the notice and it was a mistake,” Latheef said. ”We will not promote alcohol in the country.”

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