Author: Hawwa Lubna

Pakistanis and other released from detention

The police have confirmed some foreigners in Male’ were detained as a “security” measure, prior to the mass religious rally on December 23.

Violent outbreaks and confrontations were speculated to take place during a religious rally organised by NGO’s and opposition parties “to defend Islam” in the Maldives and another led by ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to exhibit support for a “moderate Islam”.

Contrary to speculation, the protests proceeded peacefully.

Sub- Inspector of Police Ahmed Shiyam said the foreigners were arrested before the protest and were released afterwards.

Shiyam did not specify the number of foreigners arrested and their nationality.

“We brought them under police custody as part of security measures taken during the protest. All of them have now been released,” Shiyam said.

Minivan News has learned that the arrested foreigners included Pakistanis and people of two other nationalities who had arrived in the Maldives on tourist visas. They were detained on suspicion of participating in the religious rally, according to a source.

Controller for Immigration and Emigration Abdullah Shahid told Minivan News that “there was a high number of Pakistanis coming into the country at the time” of protest.

Shahid noted it was part of the security procedure to investigate inconsistencies in arrival rates.

Meanwhile, religious groups in Maldives have been accused of using funds from extremist groups in Pakistan to finance their activities locally.

India’s The Hindu reported last week that Maldives believed Pakistani money was helping extremists, according to a top source.

However spokesperson for the religious coalition, Abdullah Mohamed, rejected the accusations and said that they have not taken any money from foreign organisations.

“We are funding our activities through donations by our supporters,” he added.

He also added that he is unaware of any foreigners who came to Maldives to participate in the protest or their arrest.

According to him a few Maldivians living in Sri Lanka and India came to Male’ for the protests.

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American scientist’s car set on fire in Addu

The police are investigating an apparent arson attack on a car used by a team of American scientists conducting research in Addu.

South police division Commander, Superintendent Yoonus Sobah told Minivan News that police were alerted to the incident around 12:51am on Sunday. The fire was put out when the police team reached the scene.

Sobah said it is too soon to say whether the fire was a deliberate attack or a random incident.

“We are continuing the investigation. So far we have not found any evidence to prove the fire was set deliberately,” Sobah said.

The car was rented by the American research team involved in the Dynamics of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) project based on Gan in Addu atoll.

According to DYNAMO project Research Assistant Justin Stachnik, one of 13 American researchers currently in Addu, the car was parked outside the house they are currently residing in Hithadhoo.

He said the details of the incident remains “unclear”, and it was the neighbours who spotted the fire and put it out.

“What I believe happened was that someone put a half litre of petrol between the tire and the outer gate wall, ignited it and ran away. The tire burned and popped, there’s some damage to the metal and the bumper, as well as the electrical system–some of the wires have been fried,” Stachnik said. “But overall, the damage is fairly minimal.”

From looking at the char and soot marks in the car, outer wall and the leaves in an overhanging tree, Stachnik estimates the flame was between three and three-and-a-half metres high.

Although “there is no doubt” that the act was intentional, Stachnik does not believe it was “directed specifically at him by an organised group.”

Stachnik said neighbors have told him that nothing like this has happened before.

According to a senior official at Addu City Council, the office has received reports that the research team is seldom disturbed by some locals who “dislike” foreigners or non Muslims.

The official attributed the fire incident to the recent increase in religious tensions and the December 23 protest, which he claimed has exacerbated religious intolerance in Addu.

“We have received information that some parents with extreme views are telling their children the American scientists are Kafir [non muslims] and they must not speak to them. It is possible the fire was set by the children as a prank,” he said.

However, Stachnik who arrived in the Maldives nine days ago to track tropical rainfall during the final intensive leg of Project DYNAMO said that aside from the car incident, the team has been warmly welcomed to the area.

“People are smiling and saying hello as I go by on my bike, sometimes stopping to offer help if I need anything. The grocer had us over for dinner the other night and some people have been making plans for picnic boat rides to other islands.” He said he hasn’t heard of any discrimination against foreigners.

Project DYNAMO is a component of the first in-depth study of equatorial tropical storms between the Maldives and Papua New Guinea, designed by the US Energy Department’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) climate research facility.

It is scheduled to finish in April.

Meanwhile opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has condemned the attack on the car.

Spokesperson for PPM and MP Ahmed Mahloof alleged that the government is behind the fire incident claiming it is part of a “government conspiracy to provoke conflict between the opposition and foreigners”.

“Foreigners have been coming to this country for a long time and they have always been living in harmony with the local community. However, the attack is suspicious because it happened not long after the December 23 protest. The government is trying to defame the opposition and religious groups by conspiring against us,” Mahloof accused.

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Rf900,000 stolen from Damas Company

Police are investigating the theft of two safes holding over Rf 900,000 (US$58,365) from Damas Company’s head office, located on the fifth floor of the company’s building.

General Manager of Damas Ahmed Shakeeb said on Sunday that the two safes were noticed missing when the office was opened on Saturday.

He claimed the “theft was well planned” as the safes were stolen from the office without any damage to the office or locks.

“Thieves must have used the keys to open the doors. They had only entered the room where the safes were locked in,” Shakeeb said.

However he noted that it is too soon to say whether any employee was involved, adding that the theft has now been reported to the police.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that police are investigating the theft.

No arrests have yet been made.

Meanwhile police are also investigating the theft of Rf 400,000 (US$26,000) from a safe in the office of the Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) earlier this month.

According to police, a group of people entered the MTCC office in the Hulhumale Ferry terminal in Male’ by forcing open the door and cutting a hole through the ceiling to the first floor where the safe was located.

The thieves then forced open the safe and took the money.

Police observed the thieves “most probably” had information as to where the safe was located and that there was a significant sum of money inside.

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Judge and wife convicted for sexual misconduct near Hulhumale rubbish dump

The Criminal Court has convicted former Civil Court Judge Mohamed Hilmy and his wife Aminath Ali for sexual misconduct, two years after the pair were discovered by police near the Hulhumale’ garbage dump in a state of undress.

Police arrested Hilmy and Aimanth, at the time his girl friend, around midnight on November 12 on suspicion of sexual misconduct. The pair refuted the charges, claiming it was a police set up.

However, the criminal court noted that three police constables who witnessed the act had testified stating that “Aiminath’s underwear and pants were down to her knees” and that Hilmy had his “pants down to his knees”.

Photos taken by the constables at the scene were also presented to the court.

Based on pictures and testimonies, the court ruled that Hilmy and Aiminath were guilty of sexual misconduct, and sentenced the pair to six months’ banishment and 15 lashes each.

However, the sentence was deferred for three years under section 292 of court trial regulations.

Hilmy, who has heard high-profile cases including former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s request for an injunction against the Presidential commission and the Herathera Resort dispute, was suspended from the bench soon after his arrest.

The press statement issued by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) at the time stated that Hilmy was asked to stay home until notified by the JSC or until the police investigation was completed.

“Further, the commission has asked the Police Integrity Commission to investigate a complaint from Mohamed Hilmy that police mistreated him, exhibited profane behaviour and gave defamatory information to media,” the JSC said.

Shahinda Ismail, President of the Police Integrity Commission, confirmed to Minivan News at the time that a complaint was filed by the Judges Association (JA) and the JSC, requesting the commission look into the matter.

“In their letter, the JSC said the JA are saying that he has complained to them, that he was walking in Hulhumale’ with his fiancé and police came and handcuffed both of them and basically undressed them by force,” she said.

The police denied the accusations in a public statement.

“The two had to be taken into custody on suspicion of sexual behaviour in a public place as they were at the garbage dump in the south of Hulhumale’ with their pants down,” police said.

Police further denied the allegation that the judge was abused by police and photographed after his pants were forcibly pulled down.

Hilmy told Haveeru following his arrest that he lived in Hulhumale’ and was walking with his fiancé when they were set upon by police.

The judge alleged that police handcuffed him, used obscene language and beat him before photographing him.

Hilmy further alleged that a senior police threatened him at a meeting at civil court and told him they would show him how powerful the police force was.

According to local news reports, Aminath and Hilmy were married soon after the incident and now have child together. The pair are now practicing lawyers at private firms.

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Audit finds CSC members splurged 50 percent over budget on trips

Civil Service Commission (CSC) members paid their mobile phone bills out of the commission’s budget illegally, according to the CSC audit report for 2010.

In the report published on Tuesday, Auditor General Ibrahim Niyaz noted that under the article 20 of Civil Service Commission (CSC) Act, the salary and benefits of the five commission members must be determined by the People’s Majlis (parliament).

However, he revealed that the members phone bills were paid in 2010 without parliament’s approval and in violation of the CSC Act.

Therefore, the amount paid for phone bills must be reimbursed the to the state’s consolidated revenue account, the Auditor General told the commission members. The report does not specify the total amount spent on phone bills.

According to the report, CSC members refuted the AG’s conclusion, claiming that phone, computers and such items were considered as “facilities” rather than benefits.

“Since facilities are not determined by the parliament, the CSC decided these things according to the CSC Act and Public Finance Act,” members said.

They also told the auditors that the phone bill issue was clarified by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) and parliament, adding that “none of the institutions stated it was illegal”.

The Attorney General had previously concluded that mobile phone bills of ACC members was also paid out of the commission’s budget illegally during 2010.

Meanwhile in the CSC audit report it was found that the commissions trips were not recorded properly and filed within three working days of the end of the trip as stipulated by clause 5.13 of the public financial regulations.

In addition, the audit report noted that two CSC members who visited the “Meeting of the Chiefs of Public Service Commissions of SAARC member countries” in November 2010 in India received trip allowance from the commission budget – even though it was a fully sponsored trip by the organisers. Therefore, the AG requested the members to reimburse the trip allowance as well.

Another member who went on a seven-day study tour trip was asked to reimburse US$888 out of the total allowance, as the member returned four days early.

The Auditor General recommended the commission to reacquire unused funds left over from the trips as stipulated in section 1.01 of state financial regulations.

Out of the Rf24.5 million (US$1.6 million) annual budget released to the CSC in 2010, the report noted that Rf549, 816 (US$35,656) was spent on trips – which was almost 50 percent over the budget allocated for such trips.

According to the CSC financial statement, 95 percent of the trip budget was spent on overseas trips.

More than Rf11.9 million (US$773,581) was meanwhile spent on salary and benefits of staff.

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Audit report finds HRCM spent Rf133,639 in violation of public finance regulations

The audit report of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has revealed that the office has spent a total of Rf133,639 (US$ 8666) in violation of the public finance regulation during 2010.

In the report published on Sunday, Auditor General (AG) Ibrahim Niyaz revealed that the commission spent Rf127,939 on the UNDP project “Collaborating with Civil Society” and Rf5700 on “Strengthening the Administrative Functioning of the Commission” in violation of section 4.01 of the public finance regulation.

According to the report, the money was spent on a reimbursement basis; however the AG noted that it was not repaid till 29 September 2011.

HRCM however informed auditors that the money was deposited to the state’s income account. The Commission also assured the auditors that reimbursement mechanism would be improvised.

The report further reads that the auditors identified several outstanding bills for items and services purchased by the commission in 2010 – which the commission members were unaware of prior to the audit.

Therefore the AG concluded that the internal control system established within the commission to monitor the authenticity of financial statements was “not functioning properly”.

Furthermore, the report noted that a total of Rf44,746, which was stolen from the commission’s safe in 2008, still remains unaccounted for.

The money was stolen without any damage to the safe; hence the two members of the staff who knew the secret code to the safe should take responsibility for the theft, Niyaz claims in the report.

He also told the commission to recover the money from the two staff and reimburse it to the budget.

However, the commission noted that the police investigations had initially revealed that a double key to the safe was in the office key holder and four staff knew the combination to the safe – therefore, the commission could take no action until the negligent or responsible party is found by the police, the commission told the auditors.

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Exhibition gives voice to abused, neglected and abandoned children

Among the black and white images on display was a picture of a hoisted national flag, captured by a six year old boy who dreams to become a policeman. This was one picture among the 41 images showed at the photo exhibition “Me through my lens”  – which provides the first glimpse into the life of abused, neglected and abandoned children living at the state orphanage “Kudakudhinge Hiyaa” in Villigili Island.

The two-day photo exhibition open from 10:00am to 10:00pm is organised by two friends; photographer Hussain Sinan and Dr Aishath Saistha Rasheed, a paediatrician at IGMH- who have started a voluntary movement called “Voices” to help the children at the orphanage.

Speaking to Minivan News Dr Shaistha said that the photo exhibition is the “beginning of a series of events to help the children build their skills”.

According to Shaisthaa, all the basic needs of the children like food, shelter and clothing are fulfilled, but the children lacked the opportunity to harness their talents and skills.

“When we were young, our parents worked really hard to build our skills. But the children at the orphanage don’t have this opportunity. So we decided to help by starting to teach them photography,” Dr Shaisthaa said.

Under the initiative, a team of professional photographers taught the children the basics of photography. The children were then gifted disposable cameras and encouraged to take photos, out of which the best were displayed at the photo exhibition launched by President Mohamed Nasheed on Sunday night.

She noted that people often identified the children at Hiyaa as abused or victims. “But we wanted to show that is not what defines them,” she said.

“Even these children have skills. Just like any children at their age, they wish for small things that bring them joy.”

She noted that the money raised through the exhibition will be invested to run more skill-building programs involving sports, creative writing and art.

According to the other organiser Sinan, 35 out of 41 photos exhibited at the gallery had now been sold for Rf 500 each. He also added that for every donation above Rf 199, a calendar with photos of children will also be gifted.

“We didn’t get the details on the past of these children. But these pictures tell their story. They have brought up what they feel through these pictures,” Sinan said.

Dr Shaistha and Sinan urged the public to help the children at the orphanage. “There are just 55 kids at Kudakudhinge Hiyaa. I am sure we can find 55 people who are willing to help these children, to make a difference in their lives”.

The exhibition provides enough incentive for those seeking the motivation to lend a hand to the abused, neglected and abandoned children.

The exhibition will be shown at the National Art Gallery until 10pm, December 20.


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Diabetics panic as Male’s insulin supply dries up

Diabetic patients taking regular ‘Human Mixtard’ insulin injections have been on a panicked hunt around the pharmacies for almost a week, due to the sudden shortage in supply, Minivan News has learned.

Human Mixtard is the most commonly prescribed insulin to diabetic patients, which number approximately 16,000 nation-wide.

Dr Ahmed Razee, an internist with special interest in diabetes and kidney diseases, told Minivan News that many patients are complaining that they have been unable to get the insulin from pharmacies.

“I’m prescribing insulin for roughly 20 patients. I’m just one physician. There are an estimated 16,000 diabetics, and about two percent of them require insulin,” he said.

According to the State Trading Organisation (STO), which is the major drugs importer and supplier, the drug supply is dry because of a “registration problem” with Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA), which approves and monitors the medical drugs supply.

“There is a registration problem with the drug. We are discussing with the authority to resolve the issue,” STO Managing Director Shahid Ali told Minivan News on Sunday.

Shahid explained that all drugs have to be registered and approved by the MFDA before being released on the market. He added that an existing Mixtard stock is being held in reserve, and will be released to the pharmacies as soon as the registration problem is cleared.

MFDA was not responding at the time of press.

Minivan News could not get an official comment from the second largest drug importer, ADK Pharmacy, as well.

Posing as a customer, Minivan News called the main ADK pharmacy and was told that “insulin stock is out in all ADK pharmacies” and that “new stock will arrive next week”.

CEO of the Diabetic Society of Maldives (DSM) NGO, Aishath Shiruhana, said she was unaware of the shortage but that two people had called her requesting insulin.

Shiruhana said news of the Human Mixard shortage was upsetting as it was needed for the survival of diabetic patients.

However, she said DSM has an insulin stock and will continue to provide free injections to children registered at the NGO.

Meanwhile, a proposal to allow doctors to provide medication directly from health centres, bypassing the prescription process, is currently under review.

State Health Minister Ibrahim Waheed announced last week that the proposal is being discussed with health corporations and those prescriptions could be ruled out by next June at the earliest.

He further suggested that a large pharmacy would be established in every atoll hospital, and would supply products to other health centers across the atolls.

Generic drug-based systems which include hospital-centred distribution are common practice in other countries, sources say.

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Salaf rejects President’s invitation to “peacefully resolve” rising religious tension

Religious NGO Jamiyathul Salaf has rejected an invitation extended by the President Mohamed Nasheed, to discuss and peacefully resolve the rising religious tensions in the Maldives.

The President’s Office said that the invitation was sent to the President of Salaf, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed Ibrahim, requesting he attend a meeting scheduled for Sunday.

However, according to the local media, Sheikh Abdullah rejected the offer in a letter he sent to the President Office, claiming the President Nasheed wants to meet and “defend” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay’s call for a moratorium and debate on the practice of flogging for extramarital sex.

Minivan News could not get his comment at the time of press.

Abdullah bin Mohamed Ibrahim was quoted in local news paper Haveeru, saying that he “does not want to debate Islamic penalties” clearly stated in Quran and revealed by Prophet’s Sunnah.

He also reportedly urged the President to end his “calls for religious debate on Islamic penalties.”

Following the explosive reaction against Pillay, President Nasheed argued that “our scholars lost the chance to showcase Sharia’s compatibility with human rights, by reacting in a provocative and ‘Jihadi’ manner.”

Speaking on the same issue in last week’s radio address, President claimed that in the name of protecting Islam, the real call of religious protesters was to initiate the implementation of Islamic penalties such as stoning, hand-cutting and execution in the Maldives.

He noted that in consideration of all its actions to date, it is evident that the state has a tradition of pardoning strict punishments for criminal offences committed against Islamic Law – however, he said that in the exercise of penal flagellation, the government has not exempted any convicts charged with adultery from punishment.

President also reaffirmed that all actions taken by the Government in matters involving Islamic jurisprudence, the Government will base its course of action only on the “consensus and counsel of Islamic scholars”.

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