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Ayyube murder suspect denies charges

Fauzan Mohamed, a suspect arrested in connection to the murder of 76 year-old Ali Hassan ‘Ayyube’ has denied the charges levied against him in the Criminal Court and has said he did not want the state to appoint him a lawyer.

According to online newspaper ‘Haveeru’, a hearing in to the case was yesterday held at the Criminal Court where the Judge repeatedly asked Fauzan if he wanted the state to appoint him a lawyer. But, he replied that he will continue the trial without a lawyer and said he will not need a lawyer at any point of the trial.

During yesterday’s hearing, the state presented four witnesses, a DNA report, Ayyube’s death certificate and a crime scene report.

Fauzan also presented two witnesses for his defense but he did not have the full name and permanent address of the two witnesses. The judge asked him to provide a written document including the full names and the permanent address of the witnesses.

Ayyube’s body was discovered with multiple stab wounds in an abandoned house on Kudahuvadhoo on January 8, 2013. Police arrested six individuals in connection to the case.

The victim had previously been accused of using sorcery on Fauzan’s 37 year-old mother. She was reported missing at 2:00am on December 4, 2011 and her body was found floating in Kudahuvadhoo lagoon later that morning.

Island Council President of Kudahuvadhoo Ibrahim Fikry at the time told Minivan News that the islanders were all frightened after Ayyube’s death.

“After the death of the woman the islanders were scared, and then this incident occurred and now the islanders are worse,” he said adding that no one walked the streets after the sun went down.

“The injuries sustained were horrific,” Fikry told Minivan News at the time. He said that the victim’s forehead was slashed and that his neck was slit. “There were deep stab wounds to the chest and back, revealing the bones. The intestines were visible from a slash to the stomach,” he recalled.

In March, 2013, two minors charged with Ayyube’s murder pleaded guilty to aiding the murder in court. The two minors were charged with spying on Ayyube before the murder, and assisting the assailants to hide the weapons they used to murder him.

The step-grandson of Hassan was also summoned to the Criminal Court for his involvement in the case.

He told the court that he believed Fauzan murdered Ayyube because he was rumored to have killed Fauzan’s mother.

If found guilty, Fauzan will be sentenced to death. The death penalty will be implemented if the Supreme Court upholds the sentence and if all of Ayyube’s heirs desire the death sentence.

Before the trial ends, the court will take statements from all heirs of the victim to determine if they had any objection to passing death sentence on Fauzan.

On April 27, 2014, Home Minister Umar Naseer has said that death penalty will be implemented in the Maldives from that day onwards with the publication of procedural regulations concerning death penalty and its implementation in the government gazette.

Maldives has been maintaining an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty since 1953. After 1953, the heads of state have always commuted death sentences to life imprisonment through powers vested in him in the Clemency Act.

The last person to be judicially executed in the Maldives was Hakim Didi, who was executed by firing squad in 1953 after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder using black magic.

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GMR is only owed reimbursement, not compensation, says AG

Indian infrastructure giant GMR is only owed reimbursement for expenses, not compensation for the abrupt termination of the concession agreement to develop Malé International Airport (INIA), Attorney General Mohamed Anil has said.

Clarifying President Abdulla Yameen’s previous statement that GMR is owed a payment, Anil said the government believes the company is only owed reimbursement for a US$ 78 million upfront concession fee and any other expenses.

“When the agreement was first signed, US$78 million was given to the Maldivian government. In addition to that, we can see that they have spent some amount. So in the worst case scenario, if we are to revert to the state before the agreement was signed, everyone believes that they are owed [what they spent]. That is not as compensation for losses caused by the cancellation of the agreement,” he said.

GMR has said it will stick to a US$ 1.4 billion compensation claim – an amount that exceeds the annual state budget.

“The forceful takeover of the airport by Maldives government amounts to repudiation of a valid contract and therefore damages, including loss of future profit has to paid,” the company said in a statement on April 26.

Anil said GMR’s claim is unclear, as the company had not submitted documents detailing the assertion.

In response, GMR’s legal team member Uz. Fayyaz Ismail told Minivan News details of how GMR arrived at the figure will only be revealed in the second part of the arbitration process.

The arbitration tribunal in August 2013 had acceded to GMR’s request to split the proceedings in two – firstly determining liability, before quantifying the amount of compensation to be paid separately.

“GMR is claiming it to be a wrongful termination, and if the tribunal awards a verdict for that during the first part of this bifurcation arbitration [two part arbitration process] only then would the [compensation] amount be decided through second part of the arbitration. We are very confident the rightful compensation would be received,” Ismail said, adding that the figure may be subject to minor variations.

Yameen in early April said the Maldives government will not be able to pay GMR’s claim, but conceded “some sort of financial compensation must be paid.” He estimates the figure to be a “manageable” US$ 300 million.

The GMR in consortium with Malaysia Airports (MAHB) narrowly won the International Finance Corporation (IFC)-managed bid for the airport in 2010, and signed the agreement with MACL under the former government of Mohamed Nasheed. The opposition at the time, including Yameen’s Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), then began a vitriolic nationalist campaign to evict GMR.

Following Nasheed’s ouster in 2012, President Mohamed Waheed’s administration terminated the agreement claiming it was ‘void ab initio’- invalid from the outset.

When the Singaporean High Court’s injunction blocking the Maldivian government from voiding the agreement was overturned by the Supreme Court in Singapore in June 2013, GMR initiated an arbitration process.

The first part of the arbitration took place in Singapore from April 10 – 16. Minivan News understands the arbitration tribunal considered GMR’s claim of wrongful termination, parallel claim for loss of profits over the lifespan of the agreement, and the Maldive’s counter-claim for restitution.

A verdict is expected soon, at the latest by mid- June. Depending on the verdict, the second process of arbitration will begin on a mutually agreed upon date.

Although Anil said the second half could take months to begin or even year for a ruling, Ismail has refuted the claim.

Despite the pending arbitration decision, expansion and development of INIA was among the five mega-projects for which the government was seeking investors at the Maldives Investment Forum held in Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands in late April.

Meanwhile, Nasheed has warned of a sovereign debt crisis if the Maldives is forced to pay the full US$ 1.4 billion and reiterated his Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) call to reverse the decision to cancel the contract.

In a press release last week, Nasheed insisted that international best practices were followed in the bidding process – which was overseen by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) – while the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has since ruled out corruption in the airport deal.

“The Maldives is now known around the world as a country that doesn’t keep its promises or honour the contracts. The airport fiasco will hit each and every Maldivian because banks won’t lend money and companies won’t invest in our country without demanding much higher rates of interest,” Nasheed said.

“By now, Maldivians should have been looking forward to a world-class, new airport, to rival Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Hong Kong. Instead we have nothing but an abandoned building site. The actions of President [Abdulla] Yameen and [Dr Mohamed] Waheed have caused this crisis and Maldivians will be paying for their recklessness for decades to come” he added.

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MP elect Muhamma’s motorbike torched

A motorcycle belonging to MP elect for Inhavandhoo constituency, Mohamed ‘Muhamma’ Abdulla, was set of fire last night, CNM has reported.

While Abdulla’s bike was reported to be badly damaged, two other bikes near it also sustained damages. The incident took place on Chaandhanee Magu last night around 1:30 am. Police and locals put the fire out within twenty five minues, CNM reported.

Initial police investigations has revealed it was a pre-planned arson attack. No one has been arrested in connection to the incident.

Abdulla, who is also a popular comedian and film producer, won the Ihavandhoo seat on a Jumhooree Party (JP) ticket in the parliamentary elections held in March.

He has recently expressed dissatisfaction with a meeting between JP Leader Gasim Ibrahim and opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed and spoke out against any alliance between the two parties.

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Police seize illegal liquor from safari boat

Police have seized 185 bottles of illegal liquor from a safari boat and arrested four people – two locals and two foreigners.

The safari boat ‘Fatima’ was moored at Hulhumalé lagoon when the police boarded it with a search warrant

Consumption, possession and sale of alcohol is prohibited in the Maldives, except at  tourist resorts and safari boats with a special permit. While selling alcohol to locals is unlawful, local media have reported alcohol was being sold to Maldivians from ‘Fatima’.

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Health Ministry seeks to protect mothers and infants from HIV “time bomb”

New guidelines on preventing the transfer of HIV from mother to child will come into effect from Wednesday (May 7 2014), Ministry of Health and Gender has said.

The national guideline on prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV is underpinned by a need to equip the Maldives for what the Health Protection Agency has termed an HIV “time bomb.”

Programme Coordinator for the Reproductive Health Unit Naseera Nazeed has urged all pregnant women to get tested in their first semester.

“There is very high chance of saving the baby – 90% – if they are checked,” she said.

The guidelines aim to protect women of childbearing age from HIV, advise women with HIV against pregnancy, protect HIV positive mothers from infecting their children and providing support to HIV positive mothers and their families.

The Maldives identified the first infant with HIV in 2012. In February this year, the Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) transfused a pregnant women with HIV positive blood due to a technical error. Meanwhile, local media have alleged a 19-year-old HIV patient had given birth at IGMH in early April.

Programme Manager for the National HIV AIDS programme Abdul Hameed said the spate of HIV incidents this year had raised awareness on HIV and provided a boost to healthcare efforts.

“We are sending out the public a clear message, always to be sure of their status. HIV is everywhere, you don’t have to give your name, you just have to go and get tested. The result will be in 10 minutes,” he urged.

Not prepared

Lack of prevention programmes and specialized care for population groups at risk facilitate an HIV outbreak in the Maldives, Hameed said. Sex workers, gay men and intravenous drug users are particularly at risk, he said.

“We are sitting on a time bomb. We know those key populations exist [in Maldives],” stated Hameed. “At any time it can explode.”

The Maldives does not offer prevention services for gay men or sex workers, he said.

HIV patients prefer treatment abroad due to high levels of stigma and discrimination, he said, adding: “Even in the healthcare system itself there is ingrained discriminations.”

The healthcare system is ready for an outbreak, Hameed claimed, but said there are deficiencies that could hinder response to a crisis.

“The health system is ready, but we don’t have the civil society or organization networks. We may not be prepared,” he said.

A prevention workshop—the second of its kind—is underway from Tuesday to Wednesday (May 4 to May 6) to train health professionals on the new guidelines. A total of 31 participants from regional hospitals, populous atolls, Malé, Villimalé and Hulhumalé are taking part.

The Ministry also plans to hold a series of phone conferences to all atolls to further disseminate the information.

Former Minister of Health Dr Ahmed Jamsheed Mohamed said it was only through “incredible luck” the HIV virus had not spread throughout the country.

“All the habits that may lead to the spread of HIV is excessively in practice,” he claimed referring to sexual promiscuity and intravenous drug use in the Maldives.

Since the first case of HIV was detected in the country in 1991, 19 cases of HIV have been reported among Maldivians. However, the Health Ministry estimates numbers of HIV positive persons could be between 70 and 100.

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Deputy PG resigns, slams Criminal Court’s “obstruction” of criminal justice

Deputy Prosecutor General Hussein Shameem has resigned today, slamming the Criminal Court’s obstruction of criminal justice.

In a resignation statement, Shameem highlighted the Criminal Court’s failure to prosecute foreigners involved in drug trafficking, delays in issuing rulings on drug related offenses and “unreasonable obstacles” in filing cases at the court.

“These issues obstruct the proper functioning of the criminal justice system. I am deeply saddened to note the extreme delay on the part of those who have the power to address these issues,” he said.

Former Prosecutor General (PG) Ahmed Muizz appointed Shameem to the position shortly before he resigned ahead of a no confidence motion in November 2013. Shameem had previously held the position from 2009 – 2012.

The deputy PG’s resignation effectively brings the criminal justice system to a halt. The vacancy in the PG Office leadership means the state can no longer raise criminal charges.

Shameem has called on President Abdulla Yameen and the People’s Majlis to appoint a new PG immediately. The 17th People’s Majlis is in recess until the newly elected 18th People’s Majlis take the oath of office in June. But extraordinary sessions can still be held.

Yameen had nominated his nephew Maumoon Hameed for the position in December, but the Majlis narrowly voted to reject Hameed in March.

At loggerheads

The Prosecutor General Act states a new PG must be appointed within 30 days of vacancy. However, Shameem noted five months have passed since Muizz’s resignation and noted “severe difficulties” in carrying out the PG office’s duties.

The Criminal Court and PG office have been at loggerheads since January, with the court announcing it would not proceed with any criminal charges until the Majlis appointed a new PG.

Shameem sought Supreme Court assistance in late January, claiming the lower court’s failure to accept cases lead to a backlog and violated the rights of those held in pre-trial detention.

On the Supreme Court’s orders, the Criminal Court in early February announced it would resume hearings in ongoing cases, but would not accept new cases.

Shameem successfully sought a second order from the Supreme Court, and said the Criminal Court’s actions had lead to a backlog of over 500 cases. With the new order in late February, the court formulated new procedures the PG office must follow in filing cases.

In April, Shameem said the Criminal Court had rejected over 30 percent of cases filed, including serious offenses related to drugs, corruption and sexual abuse of children.

Recently, the Criminal Court requested the PG office to resend case documents related to corruption allegations against Supreme Court Justice Ali Hameed. The court claimed documents had been damaged in a coffee spill.

Shameem said he had notified President Abdulla Yameen, the People’s Majlis and the Supreme Court of the difficulties the PG office faces, but said, “to this day, no office has addressed any of the issues I have raised.”

The Criminal Court’s delays brings the effectiveness of a joint effort by the Maldives Police Service and PG office to expedite cases involving serious criminal offenses into question, Shameem said.

Judge Abdulla Mohamed, whose controversial detention in January 2012 triggered President Mohamed Nasheed’s ouster, heads the Criminal Court.

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Stalled Ali Hameed cases “exposes state of Maldivian judiciary,” says MDP

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has expressed “surprise and concern” with the revelation yesterday (May 4) that documents of a corruption case against Supreme Court Justice Ali Hameed were destroyed in a coffee spill at the Criminal Court.

An official from the Prosecutor General’s (PG) office told Minivan News that the Criminal Court requested resubmission of the case files three weeks ago, but has so far refused to present the allegedly damaged documents.

Justice Hameed is facing charges over the illegal transfer of credit from his state-funded mobile phone in 2010.

In a press release yesterday, the main opposition party stated that the lack of progress in cases involving Justice Hameed as well as “these incidents that occur when a case reaches court exposes quite well the state of the Maldivian judiciary.”

“As the documents of the corruption case raised by the state against Ali Hameed were destroyed after coffee was spilled on them, the party hopes that the Criminal Court will not decide that the charges cannot be proven for that reason,” the MDP’s press release stated in conclusion.

The Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC) regulations stipulate that action must be taken within 48 hours of a criminal case being filed against a judge. However, the judicial oversight body told local media last month that a decision would be made once the court decides to hear the case.

The Criminal Court’s media official told Minivan News on April 13 that the court had not decided whether or not to accept the case.

Cases filed by the PG office are scrutinised in the order of submission “to make sure all the paperwork is complete and that there are no missing documents,” he said. The process normally takes “two to three days,” he added.

The case against Justice Hameed – accused of abuse of authority to benefit a third party – was sent to the PG office in July 2013 by the Anti-Corruption Commission after investigating allegations in the 2010 audit report of the Department of Judicial Administration.

Auditors found that a Supreme Court Justice transferred MVR2,223 (US$144) from his state-funded mobile phone on different occasions during 2010.

Sex tapes

Justice Hameed is also the subject of investigations by both the police and the JSC over his alleged appearance in a series of sex tapes that emerged in May 2013.

A further video showed Hameed and a local businessman, Mohamed Saeed, discussing political influence in the judiciary.

After the secretly taped videos of Hameed engaging in sexual relations with three prostitutes in a Sri Lankan hotel room surfaced online, the JSC set up committees to investigate the case twice – in May and December 2013.

Both subcommittees unanimously recommended the JSC suspend Hameed pending an investigation.

However, in July 2013, the JSC disregarded the recommendation citing lack of evidence, while a JSC decision on the December subcommittee’s recommendation is still pending.

The MDP meanwhile stated that disgraced judges accused of corruption or blackmail should be suspended pending the outcome of a trial, noting that the practice was “regrettably” alien to the Maldivian judiciary.

Justice Hameed’s continued presence on the Supreme Court bench violated international best practices and judicial norms, the party contended.

Other cases

Meanwhile, the 2010 audit also discovered that MVR13,200 (US$856) was spent out of the apex court’s budget to repair a state-owned car used by an unnamed Supreme Court Justice, later revealed in the media to be Justice Hameed.

According to the police report cited by auditors, the driver of the justice’s car was responsible for the accident, which occurred on January 23, 2011.

However, the official driver insisted the car was undamaged when he parked and left it the previous night.

Despite the findings of the audit report, in March 2011 the Supreme Court dismissed allegations of corruption reported in local media regarding phone allowances and use of court funds to repair Justice Hameed’s car.

Moreover, in September 2011, the ACC began investigating allegations that over MVR50,000 (US$3,200) of state funds was spent on plane tickets for Justice Hameed’s official visit to China in December 2010.

The complainant alleged that Hameed also visited Sri Lanka and Malaysia both before and after his trip to China to attend a conference by the International Council of Jurists.

A return ticket on a direct flight from Malé to Beijing at time cost MVR16,686 (US$1,080).

Furthermore, in May 2012, the ACC revealed that Justice Hameed was among three sitting judges illegally occupying state-owned apartments.

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Maldives a target of regional terrorists, says Sri Lanka analyst

A Sri Lankan national arrested in Chennai on April 29 on terrorism charges was also targeting locations in the Maldives, terrorism expert Dr Rohan Gunaratna has told the New Indian Express (NIE).

The Tamil Nadu Police arrested Zakir Hussein, 37 years, in Chennai on suspicion of acting as an operative for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and planning attacks on diplomatic missions including the US consulate in Chennai. The police are now investigating if Hussein was involved in bomb blasts at the Chennai Central Railway Station on May 2. The twin blasts killed one woman and injured 14 people.

Gunaratna, who heads the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, said Zakir Hussein was planning to launch attacks on locations in the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India.

Further, terror cells similar to Hussein’s are active in all three countries and pose a “severe threat” to the South Asia region, Rohan said. He declined to reveal further details, but told the NIE terror groups in the region are harder to track now as they are “becoming autonomous and developing a life of their own.”

According to NIE, Gunaratna predicts terrorists and extremists organisations will expand rapidly and become more active across South Asia due to the reduced US military presence in Afghanistan.

“It is, therefore, of critical importance for India, Lanka, and the Maldives to have a joint approach towards terrorism,” Gunaratna was quoted as saying. Considering the connections, Hussain’s arrest is “very significant” for the region, he added.

Home-made weapons

Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General’s Office has confirmed receiving a case involving a Maldivian man who produced home-made weapons.

According to Haveeru, the weapons were discovered in a police raid in September 2013 in connection to reports of a person preparing to join the Syrian civil war.

Hand guns, sniper rifles and mines were discovered during the raid, but the man accused of producing these weapons has no connections to religious extremists, Haveeru said. The PG  office declined to comment on the matter.

Social media groups have cropped up to recruit Maldivians for the civil war in Syria, while pamphlets against Alawites and Shiah Muslims have been found at local mosques. Local NGOs  led a humanitarian fund-raising campaign dubbed ‘Help Syria Through Winter’ in January and raised US$39,294 in three weeks.

Links to global terrorism

In 2007, Maldives witnessed its first terror attack when a home-made IED was detonated remotely at the Sultan Park, a popular tourist attraction in Malé. Twelve tourists were injured in the attack.

Prior to the attack, the Indian State police in 2005 arrested a Maldivian named Ibrahim Asif who tried to procure arms from Kerala to use it in the Maldives. He was suspected to be member of a UK-based Islamist group with a “dormant unit” in the Maldives.

In May 2009, Ali Jaleel, who is suspected of links with Sultan Park attack suspects, died in a suicide attack at the ISI headquarters in Lahore, Pakistan. Pakistani government suspect the Taliban to be behind the attack which left 30 people dead and 300 injured. It was later revealed that Jaleel also had connections with the Al Qaida.

Just a month before Jaleel’s attack, nine Maldivians were arrested by Pakistani security forces in the Wazaristan region for suspected involvement with militants. One of the nine was a suspect in the Sultan Park case. All nine of them were later repatriated and released by the Maldivian government.

The same year, former President Mohamed Nasheed told the CNN IBN in an interview that local religious extremists were being recruited by foreign groups particularly in Pakistan, where Ali Jaleel was also recruited.

Nasheed’s VP Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan also expressed similar concerns, but on assuming power in February 2012, Waheed’s administration denied existence of religious extremism in the country.

In late 2010, a leaked diplomatic cable revealed US diplomats were concerned of activities of “al-Qaida associates” in the Maldives in 2008 and alleged that Maldivians participate in online recruitment forums to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.

US State Department’s 2013 “Country Report on Terrorism” stated that Maldivian authorities believed that funds are being raised locally to support terrorism abroad.

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17 year-old girl gang raped in Male’

Local media has reported that a 17 year-old girl was gang raped today afternoon on the staircase of a house in Henveiru.

Online newspaper ‘CNM’ reported that the case was reported to police at about 2: 48 pm today afternoon.

According to the paper, the incident occurred inside a house named ‘Light Rose’ in Henveiru Ward.

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