Category:

PIC investigating police handling of MDP protest

The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) is investigating police handling of a ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) protest on October 20 outside the Supreme Court that spread to the residence of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Speaking at a press conference today, PIC Chair Shahinda Ismail revealed that four people lodged complaints with the commission after the disturbances outside Gayoom’s residence Endherimaage.

“While protests around the area of the Supreme Court are definitely prohibited, I believe that police failed to carry out their responsibilities by allowing people to gather there,” she said.

In a press statement last week, the PIC questioned whether police had done enough to control the protest and prevent damages to private property. The commission said it would investigate the events of the day and recommend legal action.

After a wooden plank allegedly thrown from Gayoom’s residence critically injured a 17-year-old, MDP activists threw rocks at the building, clashed with Gayoom supporters blocking the entrance and tried to knock down the door of adjoining residence Maafanu Endherigas.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam explained last week that demonstrations in certain areas, including courts and army gates, are prohibited by the Regulation on Assembly, put in place by executive decree under the previous government.

“Members of the Maldivian Democratic Party and Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP) have both gathered in these areas though, even though we have requested them not to. Some of them have gone to the army gates and the President’s gate as well, so occasionally we have to address the issue,” he said.

Police meanwhile issued a press statement last night defending its actions on the day of the MDP protest, claiming that “some people are trying to blame police and relentlessly spreading misinformation to mislead the public.”

Prior to the protest, which was announced to begin at 3.30pm, the statement noted that police put up security lines and road blocks at 2.45pm around the Supreme Court and cordoned off the area.

“The area was closed off to prevent people from gathering there and to ensure there was no hindrance to the hearing to be conducted at the Supreme Court,” the police statement said.

However, while police made way for MP Mohamed Musthafa to enter the Supreme Court, “others entered into the cordoned area saying they had registered for the hearing.”

“As police had not been provided with information about those authorised to observe the hearing, while they entered the area others who had not been registered also came in,” police said.

As the Supreme Court had requested security and police believed that attempts to arrest protesters and disperse the crowd could have led to disturbances and affected the hearing, “police tried to control the protest and prevent more people from coming into [the cordoned area] until the hearing was concluded.”

The statement noted that in similar circumstances police used its discretion to restrain from using force to ensure that “the work of state institutions are not disrupted.”

When the crowd marched to Endherimaage after Musthafa emerged from court, police officers remained outside the Supreme Court.

Police officers were dispatched to the area around Endherimaage shortly after clashes erupted, the statement noted, and the officers were able to control the disturbances and disperse the crowd.

Minivan News journalists at the scene noted that police arrived after several MDP activists attempted to knock down the door of Endherigas and Endherimaage. Some protesters had briefly entered Endherigas but were kept out by a young man wielding a metal cone.

Police officers however blocked the entrance of both houses after they arrived at the scene, some 10 or 15 minutes after the violence erupted.

The police statement meanwhile criticised the PIC for putting out its statement last week allegedly without clarifying the matter with police.

“As the Police Integrity Commission is a commission formed to investigate with fairness complaints against police, this service deeply regrets [the commission] releasing such statements based on false information being spread in the media by political parties for political reasons without completing its investigation and unlike how it acts in similar cases,” it reads.

The statement alleged that individual police officers were facing intimidation from politicians, which was “unacceptable.”

At today’s PIC conference, Shahinda however denied that the commission acted any differently in the wake of the controversial MDP protest.

The purpose of the statement was to assure the public that it was investigating the incidents, she continued, noting that the four complainants were not all political parties with a political motivation.

“We have released statements regarding other serious cases as well where we wanted to appeal to the police,” she said.

Asked if police were subject to undue political influence, Shahinda said she could not comment on the present case before the inquiry was over, “but generally I don’t believe there is political influence over police.”

Shahinda also said that the police explanation for not dispersing the crowd was not a valid reason.

“After people had already gathered, not dispersing the crowd saying the hearing could be affected is not an acceptable excuse,” she said. “I don’t believe people should have been allowed to gather there in the first place.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

India issues first installment of US$100 million loan to Maldives

The Indian government today handed a US$30 million (Rf462.6 million) loan to the Maldives Finance Minister Ahmed Inaz to settle Treasury Bills (T-Bill) sold to various parties.

The loan was presented by Indian High Commissioner to the Maldives DM Muley, in the form of a State Bank of India (SBI) cheque.

At the ceremony, Inaz noted that the loan was part of a US$100 million (Rf1.5 billion) loan that is being provided by the Indian government. The remaining US$70 million (Rf1 billion) will be provided in the near future, he said.

Altogether, the loan is expected to settle the T-Bills. Earlier this year, Parliament authorized the state to seek a maximum of Rf1.3 billion (US$8 million) from T-Bill sales.

To date, the government has allegedly acquired over Rf700 million from T-Bill sales this year. The government sold Rf750 million (US$45 million) in T-Bills today alone.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

CHOGM criticised for weak stance on human rights

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2011, which ended Sunday, was hailed by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard as a “major contribution” towards building “a more purposeful, relevant and valuable Commonwealth.”

However, critics argue that steps taken failed to herald bold progress.

Speaking after the closing ceremony in Perth, Gillard told media, “I believe we have made a major contribution to ensuring the Commonwealth is an institution that is well positioned for the future. We have set the direction for a more purposeful, relevant and valuable Commonwealth.”

An official conference communique shows resolutions to develop climate change policies and support related innovative technologies.

In 2010, Gillard was heavily criticised by her own electorate for a proposed carbon tax. President Mohamed Nasheed expressed his support for her “brave steps”, and recommended that other countries follow her example.

Leaders also agreed to promote universal health care, equality in gender and education, and to address security issues including piracy, human trafficking, arms trade and cyber crime.

British Prime Minister David Cameron also announced a proposal to reform the rules of succession to the monarchy, allowing the first child of the royal family to assume the throne regardless of gender.

However, CHOGM has been criticised for avoiding significant human rights reforms.

A proposal submitted by the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) panel, which was appointed at the last CHOGM to propose modernisation measures, criticised the association for losing relevancy with modern global trends.

The proposal criticised the Commonwealth’s inability to censure member countries that violate human rights or democratic norms. This oversight has been widely criticised as CHOGM members did not reconsider the earlier decision to hold CHOGM 2013 in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is currently facing war crimes allegations for acts committed by its military during the 2009 civil war with the Tamil Tigers. Sri Lanka’s own internal investigation has been rejected by numerous international human rights groups including Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the grounds that it does not meet international standards.

Previously, a Commonwealth member would be expelled or suspended for such violations after the event.

Sri Lankan representatives were reported as being “incensed” when the matter was raised by Canadian and Australian officials.

In 106 “urgent” recommendations, the EPG advocated for the adoption of a Charter of the Commonwealth; the creation of a new commissioner on the rule of law, democracy and human rights to track persistent human rights abuses and allegations of political repression by Commonwealth member states; recommendations for the repeal of laws against homosexuality, currently existing in 41 Commonwealth states, and a ban on forced marriage.

EPG proposals were neither endorsed nor published by the Commonwealth member states. Pressure to publish the proposals from the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada was resisted by India, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Namibia.

CHOGM’s failure to act on the EPG proposal was considered a “disgrace” by former British Foreign Secretary Sir Malcom Rifkind.

“The Commonwealth faces a very significant problem,” he said. “It’s not a problem of hostility or antagonism, it’s more of a problem of indifference. Its purpose is being questioned, its relevance is being questioned and part of that is because its commitment to enforce the values for which it stands is becoming ambiguous in the eyes of many member states.”

EPG Chair and former Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi allegedly told delegates at the start of the summit that the meeting would be considered a “failure” if the reforms were not adopted.

Two-thirds of the 106 recommendations have been sent to “study groups” for review.

The Commonwealth includes 54 nations, the largest block being formed by Africa with 19 regional states.

Before concluding this year’s meeting, CHOGM welcomed Malaysia’s offer to host the 2019 session.

Officials at the Presidents Office and the Human Rights Commission were unavailable at time of press.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

New bug kills young to stop dengue

An experiment by British biotechnology company Oxitec Limited has yielded mosquitoes genetically engineered to prevent the spread of dengue fever by killing their own offspring.

The mosquitoes, formally termed aedes aegypti RIDL strain, transmit a lethal gene to their offspring which kills them before they reach maturity. Only male mosquitoes carry the gene.

The engineered mosquitoes were first released in the Cayman Islands in 2009 in a 25-acre area. A report published yesterday (October 30) revealed signs of success.

According to the traps, genetically engineered male mosquitoes accounted for 16 percent of the total male population in the test area, while 10 percent of the larvae contained the lethal gene. Scientists concluded that although genetically engineered males were half as successful at mating as normal mosquitoes, their activities would still suppress the population in dengue-endemic areas.

A larger trial on Grand Cayman island in 2010 reduced the targeted mosquito population by 80 percent for three months, Oxitec has reported.

“The results, and other work elsewhere, could herald an age in which genetically modified insects will be used to help control agricultural pests and insect-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria,” the US’ New York Times reported today.

The insects have also been released in Brazil and nearby Malaysia.

Dengue is reported in between 50 and 100 million cases each year, and accounts for an estimated 25,000 deaths. According to Oxitec, dengue threatens 50 percent of the world’s population and costs the global economy US$4 billion annually.

The new bug could prove useful to the Maldives. Though it ranks number one on South-East Asia’s list of malaria-free zones, the Maldives continues to combat dengue fever annually.

This year, hospitals documented the highest number of fatalities when Ahmed Shinah of Vaadhoo in Gaaf Dhaal Atoll succumbed to the disease in July. An Oxitec report shows a steady increase in cases weekly since 2009.

Director General of Health Services Dr. Ibrahim Yasir said health officials are aware of Oxitec’s experiment but are awaiting confirmation that the mosquitoes are a valid solution.

“We have heard about it, but we are not discussing the experiment at a policy level right now,” Yasir said. “We are waiting to see how it works in other countries first.”

Yasir was unable to say if the Maldives would be able to genetically modify its own mosquitoes, but noted that the environmental parallels between Malaysia and the Maldives gave officials confidence in Malaysia’s results.

“We will not pilot the experiment here, but I think the way they are exploring it in Malaysia will help us decide if it safe for the Maldives. It could certainly be a cutting edge solution to dengue,” Yasir said.

The Maldives is particularly vulnerable to the impact of dengue. Using Maldives as an example, Oxitec reported that dengue cases had occurred more frequently this year than in the two years previous in tourism-dependent countries. Travel warnings were issued by various government and international health organisations for these areas.

The economic impact of even a warning can be significant for tourism-dependent countries such as the Maldives, Oxitec claims. A paper by Mavalankar et al. found that French Réunion lost 40 percent of its tourism traffic in the year following the 2005-2006 chikungunya oubreak. The paper estimated that a country such as Thailand could lose US$363 million annually for every four percent drop in tourism traffic.

Deputy Director General of Tourism Hassan Zameel said dengue had never been reported on resorts in the Maldives, and was not expected to become a concern.

“Of course dengue is a problem if it becomes widespread and cannot be controlled, but the government has given this lots of thought and emergency mechanisms are in place,” he said, adding that emergency procedures were carried out effectively for the outbreak in July and August.

“Cases are mostly reported on local islands. Resorts have their own methods involving sprays and smoke to counter the spread of mosquitoes. They’re doing very well at controlling it. But I don’t think it will be an issue moving forward,” Zameel added.

Oxitec lately opened a new facility to serve further experiments in Brazil and Malaysia. However, the program is also being criticised for possible health and environmental risks.

Unlike an antibiotic, mosquitoes cannot be recalled once they have been released. Some scientists interviewed by the Times said the insects could develop a resilience to the gene and survive. Todd Shelly of Hawaii’s Agricultural Department said 3.5 percent of the insects in a lab test survived the gene and matured into adulthood.

The mosquitoes are also sorted by hand according to gender, leaving room for error which could be signficant when thousands are released over an area.

One possible solution is modifying female mosquitoes, which do not carry the lethal gene, to stay grounded.

Chief Scientist at Oxitec Dr. Luke Alphey deemed the new approach safe because it releases only males, while only females bite people and spread the disease. He said it should have little environmental impact, reports the Times.

Meanwhile, authorities in Florida, United States hope to conduct an experimental release of the bugs in December.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

MDP PG Deputy Leader accuses Speaker of cancelling sittings without reason

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Parliamentary Group Deputy Leader Ahmed Sameer has said that Parliament Speaker Abdulla Shahid has been cancelling parliament sessions without reasonable cause.

“There is no reason the parliament sitting should be cancelled and there is no issue within the MPs that should be solved diplomatically,” Sameer told MDP’s official website.

Sameer said that the opposition was cancelling the parliament sittings because the Foreign Minister had earlier said that former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom will not be invited to the upcoming SAARC summit.

“And, the opposition MPs want to obstruct the speech by Indian Prime Minister,” he said, adding that the opposition’s main objective is to delay economic reform bills currently before parliament.

Sameer called on the Speaker to conduct parliament sittings according to law.

Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MPs have recently said that the parliament sittings will be unlawful if they proceed with Independent MP Abdul Hameed after the Criminal Court found him guilty of corruption and sentenced him to 18 months’ banishment.

However, Hameed appealed the case in the High Court where it is currently being tried.

PPM has said it will not allow parliament to proceed in his presence.

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Parliamentary Group Deputy Leader Dr Abdulla Mausoom said he believes the parliament deadlock could be solved if the issue were sent to the Supreme Court for review.

“DRP MPs in the Independent Commission’s Committee support sending the issue to the Supreme Court for advice on whether the MP Abdul Hameed can sit in the parliament,’’ Mausoom said. “In DRP there are people who say that he can attend the parliament until he is done with the appeal process and others who do not see it that way.”

Mausoom called the stalemate a legal issue which is beyond the parliament’s jurisdiction.

“The complications in the appeal procedure should be clarified, no one made it an issue when Hameed stayed at home,” he said. “Parliament went smoothly when he stayed at home.”

Mausoom added that MDP MPs in the committee do not want to send the issue to the Supreme Court for advice.

Tomorrow’s sitting is scheduled to proceed as normal, according to parliament’s official website.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

High Court rejects Gassan’s case

The High Court has rejected the appeal submitted by Attorney General (AG) to re-arrest Gassan Maumoon, son of Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and to rule that his arrest was lawful, after the Criminal Court last week found that his detention was unlawful and ordered his release.

According to local newspapers the High Court rejected the case because the case was presented 48 hours after the ruling was made, and secondly because the case was presented by the AG.

The High Court said the AG cannot present criminal cases to the court on behalf of the state and that only the Prosecutor General (PG) has that authority.

Gassan Maumoon was arrested after a 17-year-old boy was severely injured in a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) protest against the judiciary that started near the Supreme Court and later moved towards the residence of former President.

The 17-year-old was struck in the head by a wooden plank that was allegedly thrown down from the former president’s residence. Gassan was subsequently accused of the violent act.

After the Criminal Court ruling, the police said they were confused whether the arrests made in the past will be lawful and said they were considering the release of many dangerous criminals who were arrested according the same procedures used with Gassan.

Following the ruling the police met with PG Ahmed Muiz for advice. The PG allegedly told the police officers to leave his office immediately.

The government concluded that it cannot work with the current PG and decided to forward a no-confidence motion against Muiz, which would lead to dismissal if passed.

However, the no-confidence motion has not been forwarded.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Umar Naseer, MP Abdul Raheem elected PPM deputies

The Progressive Party of Maldives’ (PPM) interim council elected two deputy presidents through a secret ballot at the council’s first official meeting last night.

Former Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Deputy Leader Umar Naseer and former People’s Alliance MP Abdul Raheem Abdulla won with 21 votes and 9 votes respectively.

The other two candidates, MPs Ahmed Nihan and Hamdhoon Hameed, each received 7 votes.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Reported increase in practice of female circumcision raises alarm

Claims that female circumcision is rising in practice in the Maldives have triggered alarm across the government and NGO sector.

“We are beginning to hear reports of this occurring, and I have heard on radio and television people justifying the practice. It is quite disheartening,” said Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan, speaking at a UN event last week.

Then-Attorney General Husnu Suood raised concern in December 2009 that female circumcision in the name of Islam had been revived in Addu Atoll, claiming that religious scholars “are going around to midwives giving fatwas that girls have to be circumcised. They’re giving fatwas saying it is religiously compulsory. According to my information, the circumcising of girls has started and is going on with a new spirit.”

Minivan News subsequently traveled to Addu to investigate the matter and meet with sources, but was unable to determine if the practice was indeed occurring.

Speaking last week, Dr Waheed did not pinpoint a specific area where female circumcision was taking place, but attributed the “general trend” to “rising conservatism and traditional values imported from other parts of the world.”

“Mostly this is a failure of education – there are not enough opportunities for higher education and many students receive free offers to go to madrassas in places like Pakistan, where they learn very traditional values,” Dr Waheed said.

A source from the Health Ministry’s Department of Gender and Family Protection told Minivan News that while female circumcision was widely known to have occurred in the Maldives, it stopped in the 80s and 90s but “now we are hearing media reports that it is happening again.”

The Ministry was not aware where the practice was occurring, but said it intended to investigate.

“There is no formal reporting happening in the islands,” she said. “We have been trying to get reports but health facilities are not aware of the situation.”

Deputy Health Minister Fathimath Afiya meanwhile confirmed that the Ministry was sufficiently concerned to launch a study seeking to identify where female circumcision was occuring.

“There are no reports but NGOs have been talking about it,” she said, stating the Ministry had held a series of meetings on the subject after it received a letter voicing concern from NGO ‘Hope for Women’.

Interim President of that NGO, former Gender Minister Aneesa Ahmed, confirmed to Minivan News today that “some Islamic organisations are advocating this and people are having girls circumcised. I don’t know where and when, but I have heard people say on various programs including Raajje radio.

“I heard two Islamic scholars speaking, and this woman called the radio station and asked two Islamic scholars on the program what Islam said about [female circumcision], and the scholar said yes, that the Prophet Mohamed advocated that girls be circumcised. My concern is that scholars are advocating this has to be done according to Islam, people will not question it and start circumcising girls.”

Aneesa said a representative from the NGO had met with State Minister for Islamic Affairs, Sheikh Hussein Rasheed, who said there was “no question about it: that girls had to be circumcised.”

When Minivan News spoke to Sheikh Rasheed today, he said he did not wish to comment on the matter as he had a meeting scheduled with the Health Ministry regarding the issue.

”If I say anything people might assume it was said on behalf of the Islamic Ministry, or that it was the ruling of the Ministry, so I will not say anything for the time being,” he said.

According to Aneesa, the concern was not whether female circumcision was indeed Islamic.
“I am not a scholar, I am not arguing whether it is right under Islam. If that is the case, we should not stop talking about it. We must undo conventions to which the Maldives is party.
“I don’t want girls to go through the negative complications such as infections and bleeding. I am not questioning whether it is Islamic, but if it is, then people need to be properly trained to do it. Some people are asking if boys are circumcised, why not girls? I am not questioning Islam, my concern is the negative [health] impact.”

According to information from the World Health Organisation (WHO), female genital mutilation is divided into four types: “clitoridectomy, the partial or total removal of the clitoris; excision, partial or total removal of the clitoris and the labia minora; infibulation, the narrowing of the vaginal opening through the creation of a covering seal by cutting and repositioning the inner or outer labia, with or without removal of the clitoris; and all other harmful procedures to the female genitalia for non-medical purposes.”

Dr Akjemal Magtymova of the WHO’s Maldives country office told Minivan News that from her limited research into the practice in the Maldives, “it looks like this is not a very intrusive form practiced here. It is more just a following of tradition, a show to a higher power that something has been done about it and the responsibility has been fulfilled.”

Unlike male circumcision there was, she said, “no health benefit to female circumcision.”

“There are risks including infection, infertility, and complications during pregnancy and birth when the wounds are not healed or where there is scar tissue,” she explained.

According to the WHO, girls undergoing the procedure also risk cysts and recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections, as well as more immediate complications including severe pain, shock, haemorrhage, tetanus or sepsis, urine retention, open sores in the genital region and injury to nearby genital tissue.
It was, observed Dr Akjemal, an ethical dilemma around whether to train doctors to perform the operation safely.

“I am not sure about it – if you train doctors to perform the operation, you open it up to business and supply-induced demand. Rather than a practice isolated to traditional healers, it becomes a lucrative business,” she suggested.

Female genital mutilation is widely practiced in Africa with an estimated three million girls undergoing the proceedure each year, the WHO reports. Across Asia only Indonesia reports the practice although it is also believed to be performed in Malaysia.

In 1997, the World Health Organisation (WHO) issued a joint statement with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) against the practice, and in February 2008 received wider UN support to increase advocacy against it.

“Female genital mutilation is recognised internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women,” the WHO advises. “It reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. It is nearly always carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children. The practice also violates a person’s rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death.”

Former State Islamic Minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, now the Dean of Villa College’s Faculty of Islamic Sharia, said he had studied the issue and determined that there was no valid hadith demanding females be circumcised.

”All scholars who say it is something that Muslim females should do are citing invalid hadiths,” Sheikh Shaheem said, calling for the practice to be stopped.

”Currently it is uncommon in the Maldives. When I was young I used to hear that it was something done, but now it is very uncommon and I think it was carried to this generation more as a cultural thing,” he said.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Sri Lanka will host CHOGM 2013 in spite of war crime allegations

Commonwealth Heads of Government have decided not to reassess Sri Lanka’s suitability to host the 2013 meeting (CHOGM), in spite of current international allegations of human rights violations during its civil war.

“This decision runs contrary to the association’s fundamental values of human rights and democracy, and has pushed the Commonwealth to the lowest point in its history,” read a press release.

In 2009, the Commonwealth deferred Sri Lanka’s request to host CHOGM for two years starting in 2011.

As meeting host, Sri Lanka will automatically become chair of the association.

A press release from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative said the decision indicated “that [the Commonwealth] is no longer capable of landmark human rights stances, as demonstrated by its historic activism against Apartheid.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)