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17 year-old claims he was beaten by 22 police officers behind stadium

Police are investigating reports of a person being beaten in police custody, after a 17 year-old boy told Minivan News he was arbitrarily arrested on Boduthakurufaanu Magu on Saturday night before being driven in a police vehicle to a dark spot near Male’s artificial beach where he was violently beaten by officers with batons.

The 17 year-old told Minivan News that he had been on the phone in front of a police officer’s house earlier that day, before the officer came out of the building and confronted him.

“I did not answer him and asked him to wait, as I was on the phone,” he said. “Later that night, while I was on Boduthakurufaanu Magu near the ‘Ekuveni Stadium’ in Galolhu, I saw police officers searching for me with a picture of me in their hands.”

As soon as he neared the stadium, all the police officers jumped on him and locked him inside police vehicle, he claimed.

”They said I had tried to attack a police officer by waiting near his house, and said I was not to threaten the police. They took me near artificial beach,” he said.

”It was around midnight when we reached the beach. All of the officers got out of the police bus and took me to a dark area near ”Andhiri Stage” [literally ‘Dark Stage’- a stage formally used to perform music shows but now unused].

The 17 year-old said the squad, consisting of “around 22″ police officers then started beating him simultaneously with their batons.

”They kept saying that it was what someone would get for trying to attack police,” he explained. ”They kept beating me until they received an urgent call to attend a fight that was occurring near Bandeyrikoshi, so they took me with them to the crime scene in the police bus.”

He said that one of the groups involved in the fighting had fled before the police arrived, but that the other group attacked police while he was kept inside the vehicle.

”They arrested some of the boys and drove to drop them off to police custodial,” he said. ”They were planning to drop them off and take me back to the artificial beach to beat me again.”

However, when the bus reached police custodial, the 17 year-old said he jumped out of the bus and ran inside the building, where he begged for help from a Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) officer who was on duty at the time.

”He told me to stay inside the interview room, then went outside and shouted at the police officers who had attacked me and told them that they couldn’t touch me again,” he said.

The boy said he went to meet President Mohamed Nasheed last night during the launch of a campaign office for an MDP candidate ahead of the local council elections, and told him what had happened to him.

”He was shocked to hear what the police officers told me inside the vehicle – they said they would make the people turn  against ‘Anni’ (the President’s nickname) and would make citizens run after him with swords,” the boy alleged.

The boy said he had attended hospital for treatment and an X-ray of his injuries, where doctors discovered his spine had suffered internal injuries.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that police had received reports of a person who was tortured while in police custody, and were now investigating the incident.

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No truth to claims that Shaheem blocked from preaching, says Islamic Ministry

Spokesperson for the Islamic Ministry Sheikh Ahmadulla Jameel has refuted allegations by the Dhivehi Post website that State Islamic minister and President of the Adhaalath Party, Sheikh Hussein Rasheed, had ordered ministry staff to prevent former State Islamic minister Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed from preaching, delivering the Friday sermon, and appearing on TV programmes.

The website reported that the order to restrict Sheikh Shaheem from preaching originated from the President’s Office, and that Sheikh Hussein Rasheed had then ordered all departments of the ministry to follow it.

The website then called for Sheikh Hussein Rasheed to resign from his post as the president of the Adhaalath Party.

However, Sheikh Ahmadulla denied saying this to the website.

”I have asked all staff at the ministry as to whether any such event took place within the ministry, but nobody knows of it,” he said, adding that Dhivehi Post website had never contacted him.

Sheikh Hussein Rasheed also denied the allegations.

”First of all, the President’s Office will not send me any message directly, they will always pass messages to me through the minister,” said Sheikh Hussein. ”It is not the current government’s culture to order ministries to do things like this.”

Sheikh Rasheed said the allegations were false and that the government “would not use unregistered news websites to circulate information.”

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India to provide IT assistance, medical supplies and sports equipment

Indian High Commissioner to the Maldives Dnyaneshwar Mulay and State Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem have signed a US$5.7 million agreement between the two countries to provide IT assistance to the Maldives.

President Mohamed Nasheed said the agreement would increase the use of technology in the atolls and would be of particular benefit to students.

Furthermore, the Indian government is providing Rf 3.1 million (US$240,000) worth of medical supplies to atoll health centres suffering shortages, and sports equipment worth Rf 2 million (US$155,000).

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Police arrest man for sexually abusing stepdaughter

Police have arrested a man from Dharavandhoo in Baa Atoll for allegedly sexually abusing a minor.

Haveeru reported that the victim was the man’s stepdaughter, and that a 38 year-old man from the island had been arrested in a case relating to sexual abuse.

Last week three men were arrested on Hulhumeedhoo in Addu Atoll for sexual abuse of a minor. One of those arrested was also a minor, Haveeru reported.

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Turkey “stunned” as Israeli probe rules Gaza flotilla raid “in keeping with international law”

Turkey has said is “stunned” following the release of findings of an investigation by an Israeli probe into the Israeli Defence Force (IDF)’s raid on a flotilla of aid ships in May 2010.

Israel promised an investigation into the legality of the military raid after it received widespread international censure for its actions.

However the commission concluded that the raid was “legally pursuant to the rules of international law”, as was the naval blockade of Palestine, and noted that troops encountered “extreme violence” when boarding one of the ferries, including weapon fire.

Activists from a Turkish Islamist organisation on board the ferry denied the allegations, while Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed the commission had no credibility.

“How can a report ordered and prepared in the same country have any value?” he said.

Groups within Israel, including the Physicians for Human Rights, accused the commission of “moral and legal blindness.”

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PA has no hand in Speaker no-confidence motion, say Deputy Leader Nazim

People’s Alliance (PA) Deputy Leader and Deputy Speaker of Parliament MP Ahmed Nazim has said that PA has “no hand” in the rumoured no-confidence motion pending against Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid.

SunFM reported Nazim as saying that MPs had spoke against Shahid due to some of the rulings he had made, but that these things were tempered by the situation at the time.

Recently Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) leader and MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali told the media in an urgent press conference that he had information that some DRP, PA and Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs were planning to forward a no-confidence motion against Shahid.

However, DRP, MDP and PA MPs have so far denied the allegations.

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Police searching for missing boy

Police  report that a boy last seen aboard a boat traveling to Male’ from Kendhoo in Baa Atoll has gone missing.

There were total five persons aboard the boat, police said.

Police said that the boy was 20 years of age and was reported missing on Sunday afternoon.

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and police have begun an operation to search for the body.

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Jamiyyathul Akhawaathu denies campaigning for MDP

Local religious NGO Jamiyyathul Akhawaathu has today issued a press release denying rumors that it has been campaigning for the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

The NGO said that it would never follow or promote a political party ”especially a party that is anti-religion such as the Maldivian Democratic Party.”

”Some of them are circulating false information regarding the NGO, saying that the NGO is campaigning for the ruling MDP,” said Jamiyyathul Akhawaathu in a press statement. ”Jamiyyathul Akhawaathu is not an NGO that is working under a political party.”

The NGO further called on those circulating “these false allegations” to “stop misleading people and fear God.”

”Rather than spending their valuable time on such things, we call upon them to work for the benefit of life and afterlife.”

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Islamic Foundation condemns reports of “pre-emptive” anti-terrorism bill

Comments made by government officials to Indian magazine The Week, concerning the potential for homegrown terrorism in the Maldives, risk portraying the country as a safe haven for terrorists and creating problems for Maldivians overseas, the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives has said.

The cover feature of The Week quoted a “Maldivian intelligence official” as saying that the spread of an extremist belief system in the Maldives “is fueled by hate preachers like Sheikh Fareed and Sheikh Ilyas. Both are [under surveillance],” the magazine reported a “Maldivian intelligence official” as saying, adding that a large section of Maldivian youth were becoming “hooked” to ideas of “transnational jihad”.

“The signs are ominous as seven radicals chose to contest the Maldivian polls in 2008. Though all [of them] lost, we found that Islam is being increasingly used as a political tool in Maldivian affairs,” the magazine quoted the intelligence official as saying.

In response, the Islamic Foundation warned that the government was raising such concerns and allegations “at a time when there is a tremendous rise in religious awareness and people’s attempts to return to mainstream Islam.”

“Apart from the threat of being arrested and interrogated by authorities abroad and being kept under surveillance by foreign governments, the government’s action may create obstacles and insecurity for the Muslim religious scholars and the people of Maldives in travelling abroad,” the Islamic Foundation said in a statement.

“We also call the government to stop stereotyping the people of this country with the hope of getting financial benefits from the enemies of Islam. We also urge the individuals involved in such acts to get repent and return to the Path of Allah.”

In the statement, the Islamic Foundation expressed specific concern about the forthcoming counter-terrorism bill The Week revealed the government was drafting, reportedly in consultation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Interpol.

“If the proposed bill has been passed, the law enforcement authorities would get a free hand to crackdown on religious activities with the pretext to preserve national security. The law is likely to provide an ample opportunity for the authorities to arrest Muslim religious scholars and extradite them or send them abroad for investigation, and also ban preaching Islam in public or conduct sermons and lectures to a wider audience,” the Foundation warned.

In the article, Deputy Commissioner of Maldives Police Service Ahmed Muneer is quoted as claiming that the bill would “provide sufficient powers to act pre-emptively on national security matters.”

“Our radical preachers are enjoying street credibility and radicalisation is visible at the street level. It’s a problem for us, but things would aggravate if the radicals get integrated into Maldivian politics,” Muneer told the magazine.

Speaking to newspaper Haveeru yesterday, Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad confirmed work on bill and said it was an attempt by the government “to bring in a legislative framework due to our concerns.”

“We are not sure whether the laws and regulations currently in effect provide a complete solution to the issues that we face at present. Other nations of the world also deal with such issues through special legislations. So our security forces will also be able to deal with such issues through the necessary legislation,” Dr Sawad told Haveeru.

In response to reports of the bill, the Islamic Foundation said it “will not be intimidated by any threats from the Maldives government, the Zionist Israel and United States (the self proclaimed super-power) to abandon its work to propagate Islam in this country.”

The Islamic Foundation has also been highly critical of the Maldives’ government’s foreign policy following its decision to allow Israeli eye doctors to perform free surgery in the country during a visit in early December 2010.

The Foundation called on the government to “shun all medical aid from the Zionist regime” prior to the arrival of the seven eye surgeons, claiming that Isreali doctors “have become notorious for illegally harvesting organs from non-Jews around the world.”

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