An Indian computer teacher working at Baa Atoll School on the island of Eydhafushi has been found dead in a suspected suicide.
The Eydhafushi Times, an online newspaper based on the island, identified the teacher as 27 year-old Shathis Raj.
Eydhafushi Island Councilor Mohamed Riza told Minivan News that he was called by the council and informed of the incident at 9:30 am this morning.
‘’I went [to the victim’s house] 10 minutes later and the body had already been taken to the hospital. But I waited and took a look at the scene,’’ Riza said.
Riza said he went to the hospital where he received news that the teacher had been dead for eight hours.
‘’We do not know why he had committed suicide, there are lots of rumors spreading around but I do not wish to say those things because they might not be true,’’ he said.
‘’He was a very friendly teacher and hangs out with islanders,’’ he said. ‘’He has been working on this island for three years and five months.’’
According to Riza, the teacher was admitted to the hospital last week after he attempted suicide by eating some pills.
The Head of Eydhafushi Hospital Ahmed Waheed said the body was brought to the hospital this morning around 10:00am, where doctors pronounced him dead. The body was sent to Dharavandhoo island [in Baa Atoll] to be sent to Male’.’’
Waheed said there were rumors going around saying that the teacher’s suicide was related to his relationship with a woman.
The government has declared it intends to transfer the operation of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) from the Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) to a new state-owned company, Male International Airport Limited (MIAL).
Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad told local media that MIAL would take over the airport’s operations by July 1.
“The company has been registered. Now remains the work by MACL to hand over operations. It will begin soon, without delay,” the Finance Minister said, according to Sun Online.
“The new company will run the airport. The ownership of the airport will remain with MACL until arbitration is completed. But the work on transferring the employees and such will continue, when they take over operations. An official handover of the assets will also be conducted,” Jihad was reported as saying.
His comments follow the leaking of a letter recently sent to the Finance Ministry by Axis Bank, one of backers of the GMR-Malaysia Airports (GMR-MAHB) consortium which the government evicted from the Maldives in December 2012, after declaring the concession agreement signed under the former administration “void from the start”.
A copy of the direct agreement attached to the leaked letter showed the Finance Ministry guaranteed the loans taken by GMR-MAHB, which was signed and stamped in November 2008 by both MACL and then-Finance Minister Ali Hashim.
Axis Bank has called in the guarantee and is currently seeking US$160 million from the government and MACL. In the letter copied to both the Finance Ministry and MACL, the bank expressed concern that the government was attempting to turn MACL into a shell company while arbitration was pending, and warned it not to transfer the company’s assets or function to a new entity.
“Given that Axis Bank’s claim under the direct agreement is against MACL, you will understand that Axis Bank views with the greatest concern any attempt to dissipate the assets of MACL in favour of MIAL or any other third party,” wrote Axis Bank’s CEO Bimal Bhattacharyya in the letter, dated April 22.
“If MACL ceases to manage and operate Male’ airport, and MIAL instead performs that role, then MACL will lose almost all of MACL’s revenue stream, and become a shell,” he wrote.
The letter demanded the government “undertake not to allow any assignment, transfer or disposition of any of MACL’s rights to manage and or operate Male airport to MIAL or any third party… or allow MIAL or any third party to perform any function of managing or operating Male’ airport which is presently performed by MACL”.
“Please understand that Axis Bank views any dissipation of MACL’s assets with grave concern, and will take the necessary legal action to prevent such a dissipation”, the bank advised.
MIAL’s appointed CEO Bandhu Saleem at the time told Minivan News that “until the arbitration is complete, I think it will be very difficult to start a new company.”
Meanwhile, uncertainty over the fate of the airport and the outcome of both the arbitration process and the upcoming presidential election led the global body representing the world’s airports, Airports Council International (ACI), to issue an alert to its members advising them to “conduct due diligence while considering any investment in the Maldives, considering the latest developments, uncertainty of outcome of elections, the legal and financial risks of the current arbitration and the nascent legal framework.”
ACI informed its members that the takeover was the subject of arbitration proceedings expected to last 9-12 months, and further noted that as the government had guaranteed the bank loans used by the developer, these were also the subject of separate proceedings.
With elections scheduled for September, ACI advised it was possible that “any leadership changes arising out of the elections [could] have a material impact of the future of the Male’ airport and the decision of expropriation.”
The government-aligned Jumhoree Party (JP) has said no decision has been made on whether to join a coalition backing President Dr Mohamed Waheed in September’s election, as it prepares to officially choose it presidential candidate and leader.
Vice-chair of the JP’s Congress Committee Mohamed Haleem has told Minivan News that the party’s candidate for this year’s presidential election will officially be announced in June during its national conference.
He said that the party’s leader chosen at the conference would then go on to become presidential candidate of the JP. However, Haleem added that he was presently unaware if anyone would be contesting against current party leader and founder MP Gasim Ibrahim.
Despite serving with the DQP, GIP, Adhaalath Party, DRP and Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) in the present government, Haleem added that the JP was committed to unveiling its own presidential candidate, as well as preparing contests to appoint other senior leadership during its three day national conference.
The JP was founded by MP Gasim, a resort tycoon, business magnate and member of watchdog body the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), who is considered presidential candidate for the party having already stood during the country’s first multi-party democratic election in 2008.
However, Haleem told Minivan News that the party’s presidential candidate would only be known when announced next month during the three day congress scheduled to run from June 27 to June 29.
“The main aims of the conference will be to amend certain party regulations as well as host an election for the position of party leader and other appointees like deputy leader,” he said. “We will also look to appoint members to different wings of the party.”
Haleem claimed that no discussions would be held during the conference over the possibility of joining President Waheed’s coalition, adding that any agreement on power sharing was presently considered a separate matter from its internal elections.
Coalition consideration
MP Gasim was reported in local media last month as claiming he would be prepared to form a coalition with other parties ahead of September’s election, but would not stand as a running mate of another candidate.
Just a day earlier, JP Spokesman Moosa Ramiz said the party had ruled out the idea of forming a coalition with fellow government-aligned parties ahead of this year’s elections, despite its involvement in recent power sharing talks with President Waheed.
“National stability”
As rival candidates begin to position themselves ahead of elections, GIP spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza last week claimed voters would shun the country’s two largest political parties in favour of the “national stability” offered by a coalition representing the current government.
Meanwhile the fellow government-aligned PPM – the country’s second largest party in terms of number of MPs –back in March elected MP Abdulla Yameen to stand as its presidential candidate and has continued to reject calls to join a coalition against the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) ahead of elections.
Former Maldives President and founder of the PPM, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, previously told local media that Dr Waheed’s coalition presented no threat to the election bid of its own candidate MP Abdulla Yameen.
Meanwhile, MDP presidential candidate Mohamed Nasheed contended during an interview with state broadcaster Television Maldives (TVM) on May 16 that President Waheed and the DRP has been forced to form a coalition out of necessity.
Nasheed questioned the coalition’s claims that it presented a “third way” for voters as opposed to the policies of the MDP and PPM and reiterated his belief that power-sharing coalitions were not compatible with a presidential system of government.
“I do not see a citizen who wants ‘another way.’ What is the path to deliver this way [to development]? We do not hear [political parties] talking about that,” he said. “We are presenting one path to that [development]. We believe MDP’s policies will bring prosperity to the people. I do not see this third way you referred to as ‘a way.’ I see it as two men with no other way. That is not a political philosophy,” he said.
The European Union has issued a statement reiterating its strong support to democratic transition in the Maldives and stressing the importance of peaceful, credible, transparent, and inclusive presidential elections.
“It is essential to ensure that the outcome of these elections fully reflects the wishes of the Maldivian people, in order to safeguard the Maldives’ democratic institutions and to enable its next government to confront the serious political, institutional, economic, social and environmental challenges in the country. The EU has extended its full support in helping Maldives to achieve these aims,” the statement read.
The statement follows a visit by the EU Heads of Mission accredited to Maldives to Malé from May 13-15. During the visit, the diplomats met with the Maldivian president, Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Economic Development and Finance and Treasury as well as other government officials, the Elections Commission, political parties and civil society.
Special Operations (SO) police arrested a retired police sergeant in Addu City last night and released him upon learning that he was a former officer.
Jihad Abdulla told newspaper Haveeru today that he was seated on a motorbike having a cigarette in front of his house when a police officer approached and attempted to search him.
“I said why do you want to search me, I have not committed a crime,” he said, adding that he asked the officer to explain a reasonable cause for the frisking.
Jihad was then taken to the Hithadhoo police station in a police jeep. He noted that the officer-in-charge was inside the vehicle but did not inform him of the reason for his arrest.
“So I believe that SO officers do not know how to act during operations. They have to act in accordance with rules and regulations. But that is not how they behave,” he was quoted as saying.
Police officers used foul language after he was taken to the station, Jihad noted. The SO officers told him that they could search or arrest anyone.
Jihad was released after being searched. Some officers at the station knew that Jihad was a former sergeant.
He was honourably discharged from the force in October 2012.
Jihad said he was “saddened and ashamed” of the SO officers as a person who had served as a police officer for 21 years.
Addu City Mayor Abdulla Sodig said in a Facebook post today he had shared with the SO commander “the numerous cases of public complaints about the amateurish and outright rude behavior of the police towards the general public, and in many cases law-abiding citizens.”
“My appeals were dismissed as political statements, when in fact, it had adversely affected and shocked many citizens of Addu, including the honorably retired Sergeant Jihad Abdulla, who was known through out the police service during his 21 years of valuable service. Sgt Jihad Abdulla, like many before him were not intervened within a suspected environment of crime,” he continued.
“When veterans of the Maldives Police Service hang their head in shame having witnessed an open license to exhibit depravity and disregard for liberties and basic human rights guaranteed in our constitution by their fellow officers, it is a wake-up for everyone and especially the Commissioner of Police, CP Abdulla Riyaz, to acknowledge that there are serious problems that need to be addressed within its institution before it can functionally enforce law.”
The Maldives Police Service has announced the formation of a special task force designed to try and combat gang activity across the country.
A police spokesperson confirmed today that the task force, which will aim to tackle activities “criminal or otherwise” carried out by suspected gangs, has been linked to several separate stabbing incidents that have occurred in the capital in recent days.
Working under the Specialist Crime Command, the task force has been devised to monitor gang activity, while also working to hasten prosecutions of guilty parties, according to police.
Combining members of the police Forensics Directorate, Intelligence and Covert Policing Command, Information and Communication Directorate, Central Operations Command, as well as technical staff from the Divisional Operations Command, police have said the task force was now active in areas where gangs were suspected of operating.
Maldivian airlines will begin flights to China beginning June 23, reports local media.
Managing Director of Island Aviation Services Abdul Haarish signed the agreement on behalf of Maldivian with the President of the Chinese travel company Chengdu Universal International Travel Service (CUITS).
Maldivian’s first flight destination in China will be Chongqing City, Haarish told local media.
“Maldivian cannot neglect prominent tourism markets, such as China,” Haarish said.
Marketing studies conducted prior to signing the agreement with CUITS predicted “reasonable financial gain from the venture”, according to Haarish.
Under the agreement, Maldivian will act as the operating carrier, while CUITS will handle all marketing responsibilities.
Maldivian will conduct two flights to China weekly, on aircraft providing 14 business class seats, 18 premier seats, and 120 economy class seats, explained Haarish.
CUITS’s President told local media he believes the new venture with Maldivian has a “bright future” and if “all goes well” CUITS will work toward broadening the business.
Almost a dozen Indian teachers on Kumundhoo in Haa Dhaalu Atoll have either resigned from their posts or requested transfers to another island following the assault of a colleague on school premises last week, diplomatic officials have confirmed.
Diplomatic sources said Indian High Commissioner Rajeev Shahare was meanwhile in the process of arranging talks with Maldivian education authorities to discuss the issue of teacher safety.
The Indian High Commission in the Maldives told Minivan News it received requests from eight Indian nationals currently working as teachers on Kumundhoo to be transferred to another island over concerns about their safety.
According to the commission, two other expatriate teachers on the island have also handed in their resignation after physics teacher Neelakantan Pappukutty Subash Kumar was assaulted in the school on May 14 by an angry mob accusing him of hitting a student in the chest.
One expatriate teacher on the island, who has since handed in their resignation, was also claimed to have received minor injuries trying to prevent the assault, an Indian diplomatic official told Minivan News this week.
Despite the concerns about teacher safety, the high commission said yesterday (May 19) that the response of the education ministry had so far been “positive” in terms of their handling of the attack on the Indian national.
Kumundhoo Island Councilor Ali Anwar claimed on May 15 that islanders had destroyed a a power distribution unit outside the school to cut off its electricity, before then entering and attacking the teacher, despite efforts by staff to try and prevent the assault.
So far eight suspects are being held in police custody over the attack, police confirmed today.
After being initially hospitalised after the assault, Kumar’s condition is not thought to be critical. The high commission has claimed the teacher was now waiting for the Education Ministry to renew his work visa that expired last month, so that he can be returned to India for treatment.
A “mutual time” was also being sought for High Commissioner Shahare to meet with the country’s education officials to discuss the issue of “better security” for expatriate teachers.
Minivan News was awaiting a response from the Ministry of Education at time of press.
Ongoing concerns
Despite the high commission’s praise for the education ministry this week, one Indian diplomatic source said following the attack that the injured teacher’s treatment continued to highlight ongoing concerns over the Maldives’ treatment of foreign workers.
These concerns were said to be based around issues such as the retention of passports and travel documents by private and state employers.
“The fact remains that [Kumar’s] work permit has not been renewed. He was a government employee – they should have renewed his documents before they expired, not afterwards,” the diplomatic source said last week. ”This [issue] has been going on for over one and a half years now.”
A senior Indian doctor in the Maldives has also previously alleged that expatriate professionals regullarly face intimidation and fraud in the country from employers and the public.
Eight young men arrested on the island of Maradhoo in Addu City last week have alleged that they were physically abused by Special Operations (SO) officers while under police custody.
Police arrested the youth on Wednesday (May 15) for allegedly obstructing police duty outside a Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) campaign office, which prompted clashes between SO officers and members of the public.
Eyewitnesses told local media that the SO officers used pepper spray and excessive force to arrest the Maradhoo youth.
Former Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed – dismissed from the post earlier this month following his appointment as the running mate of PPM presidential candidate Abdulla Yameen – told local media that Maradhoo islanders have made a number of allegations concerning police brutality and the behaviour of SO officers during the arrests, including the use of foul language.
Dr Jameel reportedly met PPM members and families of the detainees in Addu City this weekend to gather information. The arrested youth included PPM members as well as Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) members.
Photo from MVYouth.com
Jameel told newspaper Haveeru that the party would provide legal assistance to the PPM members, whose detention was extended to 10 days by the Hithadhoo magistrate court on Thursday (May 16). One of the eight detainees was however released by the court.
The former home minister said he advised the families to file complaints with the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) for investigation.
Asked if he believed police could have been violent towards civilians, Jameel said he “could not say that such actions would not be seen from police.”
Dr Jameel was not responding to calls at the time of press.
Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz meanwhile tweeted on Saturday (May 18) that a Professional Standards Command (PSC) team was “already in Addu to investigate the complaints against police.”
Following the arrests last week, former President Mohamed Nasheed also took to twitter to condemn “the actions of a few policemen who’ve arrested members of pol parties, used excessive force, violated the sanctity of their premises.”
Speaking at a campaign rally in Maradhoo on Friday night, MDP lawyer Ahmed Abdulla Afeef said he met the detainees separately and all of them claimed to have been physically abused in custody.
The detainees said they were driven around in a police vehicle, taken to a bridge and beaten, Afeef said.
“For about half an hour, they were kept there and beaten with police ankle boots, police helmets and with their fists,” he said. “I did not see them being abused, but there are still fresh injuries on their bodies. So this has happened.”
They were then taken to the police station and stripped naked before being subjected to more physical abuse, Afeef continued.
The youth alleged that their hands were cuffed behind the back and police jumped on the handcuffs while the detainees were made to lie on the ground, Afeef said.
Photo from MVYouth.com
The detainees also claimed that the SO officers told them that they “toppled the government” and were untouchable, he added.
Afeef said he would file complaints at the PIC and Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) but doubted that any SO officer would be held accountable.
“The Police Integrity Commission will come here and taken statements. But in the end their report will say, ‘there are allegations of abuse but we cannot identify [the responsible officers], so we cannot take any action.’ That is how it has happened in the past,” Afeef said.
Afeef said the clashes with SO officers occurred after four police officers stopped in front of a young man sitting near the PPM office and demanded that he remove a necklace.
The young man had long hair that was dyed in the back, Afeef noted.
“In any case, when police started asking these questions and harassing him, he asked, ‘what’s the problem? am I not free to wear a necklace?'” Afeef recounted.
Police responded by dropping him to the ground and cuffing his hands, Afeef continued, which prompted his friends to intervene and clash with SO officers.
Afeef observed that individual liberty was guaranteed by article 19 of the Maldivian constitution, which states, “A citizen is free to engage in any conduct or activity that is not expressly prohibited by Islamic Shari’ah or by law. No control or restraint may be exercised against any person unless it is expressly authorised by law.”
Custodial abuse
Meanwhile, PPM-aligned news website MVYouth.com published an account yesterday of one of the young men arrested on Wednesday and released after 24 hours without being taken to court.
Mohamed Zaufnaz ‘Zauf’ Shinaz, an employee of a community news site called Maradhoolive.com, told MVYouth that he went to the area upon learning of a disturbance outside the PPM office.
Photo from Addu Online
Zauf said he saw two young men – currently in police custody – being manhandled by plainclothes police officers and was urged by the people there to take video footage of the incident.
More plainclothes officers soon arrived on a police vehicle, he recounted, and one of the officers grabbed Zauf by the neck and asked him if he had a media pass.
Zauf said he was hauled into the van before he could respond.
The police took off with Zauf and three others, he continued, noting that the police officers used obscene language inside the vehicle.
The officers tried to intimidate the detainees and threatened to smash Zauf’s camera, he added.
The four young men were taken to the Hithadhoo police station and shoved and pushed up the stairs, Zauf said.
They were taken inside a room and made to kneel down facing the wall, he said. Everyone except Zauf was in handuffs.
A police officer asked Zauf to delete the pictures and videos on his camera while the others were beaten for about 20 minutes by the officers in plainclothes, he continued.
A second group of detainees were soon brought in and Zauf learned from them later that they were taken to the Hankede bridge and beaten.
Shortly after their arrival, Zauf said he was taken to a room for interrogation. Two officers then took him inside another room and forced him to undress.
After he took off his boxers, the officers forced Zauf to walk naked around the room twice. He was then kept facing the wall while an officer took videos from a mobile phone.
Zauf said he heard the police officers sniggering behind his back.
“I heard the police mocking and laughing at me while I made the two rounds. But I hung my head down and did not look at them,” Zauf was quoted as saying.
After he was allowed to sit down again, Zauf said the officers made him lift his arms up and down three times. When he emerged after being frisked, a statement was prepared and he was made to sign it without reading its content.
Zauf was kept kneeling down again and heard the second group being beaten.
A plainclothes officer gave Zauf his camera back after deleting his photos and videos. An officer had bitten and damaged the memory card on the camera.
Zauf said he saw police officers jump on handcuffs while the others were kept on their knees. Zauf saw an officer smash Aafaq’s head against the wall.
Another officer told one of the young men to cut his hair and threatened that he would do so by force, Zauf said.
Zauf was then handcuffed and placed in a cell with the others. The detainees were given a meal at around 9:40pm. All eight men were forced to sleep in handcuffs.
The detainees complained of impurities in the drinking water and was promised clean water the next day, Zauf said, adding however that he was not given clean water when he was released in the late afternoon the following day (Thursday, May 16).
MVYouth reported today that Zauf’s family has decided to send him to Male’ for counselling as the young man appears to have been traumatised by the experience.
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