Author: JJ Robinson

Prison conditions “unchanged since Gayoom’s time”: detained blogger

Amnesty International has welcomed the release from prison of Maldivian blogger and journalist Ismail ‘Khilath’ Rasheed last Friday, whom the organisation had designated a ‘prisoner of conscience’, but expressed alarm at the government’s failure to prosecute his attackers.

Rasheed was jailed for 24 days in Male’ Custodial following his participation in a ‘silent protest’ on December 10, 2011, International Human Rights Day, calling for religious tolerance.

During the protest at the Artificial Beach he was attacked by several men armed with stones, and was hospitalised with head injuries. He was subsequently arrested on December 14.

“While the release of Ismail Khilath Rasheed is a welcome development, the fact that his attackers have not been investigated points to a serious failure of the government to end impunity for human rights abuses in the country,” said Abbas Faiz, Amnesty International’s Maldives researcher.

“Instead of defending his right to advocate religious tolerance, the government locked Ismail Khilath Rasheed up and have done nothing to bring his attackers to justice – thereby sending a message to the public that crushing a peaceful demonstration is acceptable,” he said.

Amnesty observed that radical religious groups in the Maldives were advocating that “only Sunni Islam is allowed under the constitution”, noting that opposition politicians had sided with these groups “in a political campaign against the President”.

“It is time for the Maldives government to bring to justice all perpetrators of human rights abuses – past and present – including those who attack religious minorities. The first step in this process should be to carry out an independent, impartial and effective investigation of those who used violence against Ismail Khilath Rasheed and other demonstrators on 10 December,” Amnesty declared.

In November 2011 Rasheed’s blog, www.hilath.com, was blocked by the Communications Authority of the Maldives (CAM) on the order of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, on the grounds that it contained “anti-Islamic” material.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has also issued a statement on Rasheed’s release, but expressed concern about the ongoing blocking of his blog on the order of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs.

“The journalist’s unlawful detention is a reminder that it is impossible to establish a totally free press so long as the government subjects itself to religious extremism, as displayed by the Islamic Affairs Ministry,” RSF said.

“Religion is becoming a taboo subject in the Maldives and media workers are under threat of imprisonment every time it is debated.”

“Just like Gayoom’s time”

Despite the Maldives’ international stand on human rights issues, the prisons “remain unchanged since Gayoom’s time”, Rasheed told Minivan News, following his release.

During the police investigation of his involvement with the protest, the blogger was locked for three weeks in a small, three-sided room with 11 other people. Despite the opening there was no airflow, the room was unventilated and the fan in the room was broken, Rasheed said.

The room was so small and crowded it was impossible for 12 people to fully stretch out and sleep properly, and despite provisions requiring inmates be allowed out for at least an hour’s exercise every day, no one was allowed outside during his detention, Rasheed said.

Inmates had to summon the duty officer to be taken to the toilet, which did not flush. There was no shower, and inmates washed themselves by filling a bucket at the water basin, which was also used to flush the toilet. Inmates in other cells with attached toilets were not allowed out at all.

The prisoners had no bedding apart from a small pillow, and slept on the tiles. Every three days they were given a small amount of detergent to wash the floor of the cell.

Rasheed said that the Prosecutor General (PG)’s office visited once during his detention and observed that prisoners were not being properly treated.

“There were no medical facilities, or means of treating heroin addicts going into withdrawal. One of my cellmates had a [withdrawal] fit and we had to put a slipper in his mouth [to stop him swallowing his tongue],” Rasheed said. “I held his hand.”

Most of the cell’s occupants were awaiting prosecution for drug offences, muggings, theft, and for carrying weapons.

“People had been in there for three months and were very frustrated, and were venting that frustration against the government. The Constitution sets limits to people’s detention, but people are in limbo. One guy accused of murder has been in there for 1.5 years, and still his case has not been sent to the PG’s office for prosecution,” Rasheed said.

The blogger was presented to the court following the expiration of the first 24 hour detention period.

“The investigating officer stated that I was the organiser of the protest and should be detained as I was disrupting the religious unity of the Maldives, and was a threat to society,” Rasheed said.

Police also presented Ali Ahsan to the court, developer of the December 23 protest website which had briefly published slogans calling for the murder of “those against Islam”.

Police argued that Ahsan’s release “could endanger Maldivian religious unity and even threaten life” and requested the court grant a 15-day extension of his detention.

Ahsan’s lawyers however argued that the slogans had been uploaded by hackers, and the website developer was released. Rasheed’s detention was extended by 10 days.

After 10 days in custody, Rasheed was again presented to the court.

“The investigating officer told the judge he had reason to believe I had no religion at all, and that I was promoting gay rights, and therefore my case could be concluded only after the Islamic Ministry provided me with counseling to bring me back to Islam,” said Rasheed, who self-identifies as a Sufi Muslim.

The magistrate extended Rasheed’s detention a further 15 days.

On Friday January 6, two days before he was due to be released, Rasheed was told that his case had been sent to the Prosecutor General’s office and that he was free to go.

“The day I was released a different investigating officer said I had been put in prison for my own protection – the same thing my family had been told. He said they had intelligence suggesting that a gang of brainwashed extremists were out to kill me and anybody identified as associated with the protest.”

Rasheed said he now fears for his safety and is unwilling to walk around Male’.

“The majority of Maldivians are not violent people. But I am concerned about a few psychotic elements who believe they will go to heaven if they kill me – people who don’t care if they go to jail for it. Those people I am afraid of, and I will not provoke the country in the future.”

Rasheed’s blog remains blocked, but he says he is unwilling to risk his own safety by resuming blogging anyway.

“The [silent protesters] made their point, which was in no way anti-Islamic,” he said. “Their point was: the majority of people want to eat apples, but a minority want to eat oranges. We said we have no problem with anyone eating apples, but let us eat oranges.

“We said nothing about trying to get people to leave Islam. Everyone should be able to think and practice and follow what they feel personally, and Islam teaches tolerance. Extremists twist this around, and equate it with apostasy – and call for those who leave Islam to be killed.”

Rasheed said he felt that the majority of Maldivians disagreed with extremism, and were generally “a very laid-back, moderate people who want a peaceful life. They are concerned about disruption to families and society, rather than other religions or beliefs.”

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Muhyiddin School powers up first of 652 kW solar panels across six islands

Muhyiddin School in Villingili has switched on 61 kW of rooftop solar panels, enough to power 30 houses and the first panels of a 652 kW watt solar project to be rolled out across six islands.

The panels were switched on Monday morning by Germany’s Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation & Nuclear Safety, Katherina Reiche, with data on the power generated fed into a web browser application projected onto a screen at the school.

The project was the result of a power-purchasing agreement signed by State Electric Company (STELCO) with Renewable Energy Maldives (REM), while German solar firm Wirsol provided technology and financing.

The project was signed in June 2011. The panels to be rolled out include 294 kW in Villingilli, 64 kW in Guraidhoo, 78 kW in Himmafushi, 120 kW in Maafushi, 48 kW in Kaashidhoo and 48 kW in Thulusdhoo.

Panels will be installed at six sites in Villingili. Including the school’s 61 kW, there will be 74 kW at Eduruvehi, 28 kW on Cinamale’, 40 kW on the Judicial Building, 58 kW on the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) flats and 33 kW on the powerhouse.

REM had initially proposed a system to provide 70 percent percent of daytime load across six islands on the back of the government’s proposed feed-in tariff, but STELCO reduced the installation to 30 percent with the intention of later expanding it.

Head of REM, Dr Ibrahim Nashid, said the success of project was an important step that would instill confidence among others in the power sector to invest in renewable energy.

“When we tested the [Muhyiddin] system we found the panels were generating 10 percent more than we had initially calculated,” he said. “It is a good indication of the potential for solar in the Maldives.”

The photovoltaic panels on the roof of Muhyiddin school will power the school across were the first grid-connected solar system in the Maldives, he said. “We are groundbreaking. I say that not as a boast, but because it is difficult to bring across what we do.”

The panels were “plug and play”, simple to maintain, and modified to withstand a salty environment with a lifespan of 25 years, “probably longer than the roof”, Dr Nashid said.

Power from the solar panels will be sold – and fixed – at 25 cents a kW/hour, compared to the current cost of around 35 cents a kW/hour.

Founder of Wirsol, Stefan Riel, said the six-island 652 kW installation would avoid the equivalent of 800 tons of carbon entering the atmosphere every year.

“In the next 12 months, we want to put 20 mW into the grid across several islands, which would mean 25,000 tons of carbon reductions,” he said.

“We are using German technology and experience to create jobs in the Maldives, and give young people here the opportunity to be involved in their energy production. For that to happen we need the continued support of the Maldives government, and the German Development Bank.”

While the final details of the feed-in tariff are still being discussed, the Wirsol system will operate “under a special arrangement between us an STELCO,” Riel said.

Cabinet has embraced the economics of solar and announced plans to generate up to 80 percent of the country’s electricity using the proven technology, while President Mohamed Nasheed has installed solar panels on the roof of both his residence and office.

Research conducted last year suggested that electricity costs could be reduced to 17 cents or even lower on some islands through the use of solar. Many existing diesel generators on islands are extremely expensive to run as they have a capacity far above the demand of their islands, with electricity costing up to 77 cents a kW/hour in some areas. Solar was, claimed the President’s Energy Advisor Mike Mason, “an opportunity to print money – and there aren’t many of those available to the government.”

But the key challenges remain economic and regulatory, according to REM’s Director Hudha Ahmed.

“We have been making 20-25 year contracts on good will. We need to make sure investments are secure and that regulations are in place,” she said. “Contracts also have to be signed by the councils as well as the utility providers, as the councils have the responsibility for providing electricity.”

However capital investment and the lack of financing options was the greatest obstacle, she said.

“It has been a huge challenge – no bank would finance this project,” she said. “We approached every bank in the Maldives but none would invest.”

Very few people in the Maldives would have US$5000 to invest in a typical rooftop solar system, she explained, even if such a system were to cut the average electricity bill in half and pay for itself in 5-6 years.

While elaborate financing mechanisms exist to fund the capital city’s enormous motorcycle fleet, with costs not dissimilar to a solar PV system, no such small loans system exists for solar.

“The solar technology itself is really the simplest part,” Hudha said.

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Extremist rhetoric will hurt Maldives’ international image: Foreign Minister

An increase in extremist rhetoric in the Maldives may affect the country’s international image and the ability of its citizens to freely travel abroad, Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem warned on Thursday.

The Maldives had “a lot to lose” should such intolerance continue, Naseem said: “A large number of Maldivians travel outside the country and such rhetoric will have implications for the average Maldivian travelling abroad, and on those Maldivians already living abroad.”

The Maldives was a liberal democracy “with a Constitution based upon respect for the human rights of all,” Naseem claimed.

“As a democratic nation, each of us should be willing to listen to the views of others. It is our collective responsibility to promote equality and tolerance and to strengthen our democracy. A reversal of our democratic values could alienate the Maldives and tarnish its world renowned reputation for hospitality,” he said.

Islam was a religion of “dignity, peace and tolerance,” Naseem added. “Anyone who tries to use religion to incite hatred or violence is acting contrary to our national values and our Constitution.

“I call on all Maldivians to choose the path of peace and reconciliation, and to stay to the path of the traditional moderate Islam that has earned Maldives its place as a model Islamic country among the international community,” he said.

Asked about the ongoing detention of controversial blogger Ismail ‘Khilath’ Rasheed, who was today declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International after his participation in a ‘silent protest’ calling for religious freedom, Naseem acknowledged that the matter “was of concern to the international community.”

“We must protect our Constitution, but whatever needs to be investigated can surely be investigated without arresting anybody,” he said.

Police Commissioner Ahmed Faseeh was meanwhile today reported in newspaper Haveeru as expressing concern that the Maldives was heading towards becoming “Afghanistan” – except that unlike Afghanistan, it was not able to produce its own food.

Organisers of both the ‘Defend Islam’ and ‘Moderate Islam’ protests assured parliament’s national security committee that there would be no violence tomorrow. However Faseeh expressed concern over police intelligence suggesting the involvement of gangs.

“They are very versatile and we advise everyone to refrain from encouraging them. Even if they’re used for a good cause, it just encourages them,” Haveeru reported Faseeh as saying.

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Amnesty declares imprisoned blogger a prisoner of conscience

Amnesty International has declared imprisoned blogger Ismail ‘Khilath’ Rasheed a prisoner of conscience, and called for his “immediate and unconditional” release.

The controversial blogger was arrested on December 14 following his participation in a ‘silent protest’ on Human Rights Day, calling for religious tolerance in the Maldives.

A group of men attacked the protesters with stones, and Rasheed was taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) with a fractured skull. He was subsequently arrested for questioning over his involvement in the silent gathering, and the Criminal Court granted police a 10 day extension of detention for the investigation.

“The continued detention of Ismail ‘Khilath’ Rasheed is in breach of international treaties on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Maldives is a state party,” Amnesty said in a statement.

“Amnesty International is dismayed that instead of defending Ismail ‘Khilath’ Rasheed, who has peacefully exercised his right to freedom of the expression, the government of Maldives has detained him. Moreover, the government has taken no action to bring to justice those who attacked the ‘silent’ demonstrators, even though there is credible photographic evidence of the attack.”

The attack on Rasheed and his subsequent detention was a “clear example of the erosion of freedom of expression in the Maldives,” Amnesty stated.

“This basic human right is not just under attack from some religious groups; it is also violated by the government of the Maldives. All people in the Maldives should be able to enjoy their right to freedom of expression without being attacked or detained by the police.”

President Mohamed Nasheed was himself declared an Amnesty prisoner of conscience in 1991, following his repeated and prolonged incarceration by the former government.

A photo of Rasheed's alleged attacker taken by the protesters

Journalist detained

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has also called for Rasheed’s immediate release.

“All he did was start a debate about the issues of religious freedom and tolerance in Maldives,” RSF stated.

“The authorities must explain the reasons for his arbitrary detention and release him at once. It is disturbing to see the government yet again yielding to pressure from the most conservative fringes of Maldivian society.”

Rasheed was one of the country’s leading free speech advocates and one of the few Maldivians bloggers to write under his own name, RSF observed.

“The Maldivian constitution bans the promotion of any religion other than Islam but guarantees freedom of assembly and expression as long as it does not contravene Islam. Rasheed professes to be an adherent of Sufism, which emphasises the inner, spiritual dimension of Islam.”

Reaction

President Mohamed Nasheed’s Press Secretary, Mohamed Zuhair, told Minivan News that Hilath had been arrested under an existing regulation passed by parliament that had no bearing on the [executive] government.

“The government’s policy is to allow freedom of expression to the greatest extent possible under the Constitution,” he said.

Under new regulations published by the government in September, interpreting the 1995 Religious Unity Act passed by parliament, media is “banned from producing or publicising programs, talking about or disseminating audio that humiliates Allah or his prophets or the holy Quran or the Sunnah of the Prophet (Mohamed) or the Islamic faith.”

Violation of the Act carries a prison sentence of between 2-5 years, and the Communications Authority of Maldives (CAM) in November blocked access to Rasheed’s blog on orders from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, on the grounds that it contained anti-Islamic material.

Rasheed was arrested amid growing religious and political tensions in the Maldives in the lead up to a ‘Defend Islam’ protest to be held on Friday, December 23.

The protest follows several incidents of religious intolerance in the past few months, including as vandalism of the ‘idolatrous’ SAARC monuments in Addu Atoll and hostility towards calls by the UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay for a moratorium and debate on the flogging of women for extramarital sex.

The December 23 protest is being organised by a coalition of religious NGOs and opposition political parties, who have attacked the government for decisions such as its diplomatic relationship with Israel.

“The government is saying that the Maldives has had an unbroken Islamic tradition for 800 years, and 90 consecutive Chief Justices who have applied Sharia Law,” Zuhair said.

“The President is asking everyone to take a stand tomorrow on the 23rd for the continuation of the Maldives’ moderate Islamic tradition,” he said.

It was “not accurate” to suggest that the government was yielding to fundamentalist fringe elements, he insisted.

“This is political. [Former President] Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and his cronies are testing their support base. The people who are funding this so-called Islamic gathering are the same people selling pork and alcohol.”

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GMR hosts groundbreaking ceremony for new terminal

Indian infrastructure giant GMR on Monday hosted a groundbreaking ceremony on Hulhule’ for the new terminal of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).

President Mohamed Nasheed, GMR Chairman G M Rao, Malaysia Airports Managing Director Sri Bashir Ahmad and assorted officials dug the first hole for the new terminal in front of journalists both local and Indian.

Aircraft belonging to local airlines flew overhead, with seaplanes from Maldivian Air Taxi and Trans Maldivian Airways dropping flowers onto the newly-reclaimed land.

Addressing the gathered dignitaries, officials, journalists and GMR staff, Rao said the company was conscious that INIA was the gateway to the Maldives.

Thoughout the ages the development of human civilisation had been spurred by transport links, Rao said, promising that the new airport would be a hub for economic development and modernisation.

“Since we have come here the love and affection of Maldivians has been of great comfort to us,” Rao said. “As an infrastructure developer GMR is the custodian of the asset it builds, while the asset belongs to the nation and its people. For the last year, we have fulfilled every one of our commitments to the government of the Maldives, and we intend to respect and fulfill every remaining commitment.”

Dehli Airport was ranked 101 in quality in the 40-50 million passenger category by the Airports Council International in Geneva when GMR took it over, Rao said. “Now it is ranked number four. And soon after completing the new airport at Hyderbad, it was ranked first in the 5-15 million passenger category.”

The bidding process for the airport, which has been attacked by opposition parties in the Maldives, “was awarded in a transparent manner in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank,” Rao said.

“It was a tough global competition, and [the bid] was finally awarded to GMR. It is a privilege to be entrusted with the responsibility for developing the airport, and GMR promises to deliver the airport well with the timeline.”

GMR had begun sending batches of 29 local employees every two months to India for on-the-job training, he said, and had committed to sponsoring 10 students every year to study engineering disciplines in India.

During the political crisis in Egypt earlier this year, “GMR safely transported 160 Maldivians from Bombay to the Maldives in a special aircraft, after they were evacuated from Egypt,” Rao said.

The company had also taken four teachers from Iskander school to India to see best practices in education, Rao said, adding that there were “various other initiatives in the pipeline.”

“Whatever the challenges, we are committed to delivering the promise we have made to your nation. GMR will find solution to every problem,” he said.

In his own address, President Nasheed said he wished to assure GMR that the government was “200 percent behind your contract, and every single other contract the government has signed with any other foreign party in this country. Not just contracts signed by our government, but also contracts that any ruler of the Maldives has signed with any party. We will honour it.”

The opposition aligned Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) recently filed a successful Civil Court case against the government claiming that GMR’s charging of a US$25 airport development charge for departing passengers, as stipulated in the concession agreement, was illegal. GMR took a stock price hit on the Mumbai stock exchange following the announcement.

GMR was also the subject of protests last weekend and a proposal in parliament for local businesses to be “defended” from the airport developer. The Alpha MVKB duty free shop at the airport was forcibly vacated by GMR and Customs officials eight months after GMR’s original notice. Rulings from the Civil and High courts upheld GMR’s right to terminate the shop’s contract, however company CEO Ibrahim ‘MVK’ Shafeeq launched the protest under the slogan ‘Go GMR Go!’.

Speaking to Minivan News, Rao said that the ADC was part of the agreement with the Maldives, and noted that President Nasheed had said the government would honour the agreement.

As for the stock market impact, “We are not working for the stock market, and we are very confident in the government of the Maldives.”

He noted that the developer had had similar experiences with unhappy concessionaires when redeveloping Delhi Airport, and that this was part of the transition process that would be vindicated when the new terminal was opened.

President Nasheed meanwhile also addressed the gathering in Dhivehi, stating that it he wished to impress upon his people “the magnitude” of the occasion in their language.

There were, he said, “people [in the country] who want to go back to the time when the islanders remained locked in their islands, with no [communications or transportation network].”

If the citizens wanted to have the development they desired, Nasheed said, “we have to be connected and think broadly, take ideas outside our islands, outside our atolls, and outside the borders of the Maldives.

”Today you all have heard about the death of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il – that is because you are connected to the outside world.”

“No sincere person” could speak out against developing the airport, Nasheed said.

“More than one million tourists visited the Maldives this year to spend their holiday on the beach – that beach is what we sell in the Maldives. But many years have passed since this airport was first built, and day by day the need to improve the airport and its services has kept increasing.”

Arriving tourists were spending in some cases over US$1000 per night for a bed, and should enter the country through an adequate airport, he said: “the tourists begin their holiday at the airport.”

Nasheed expressed surprise at the hostility to the airport development charge, noting that only a few Maldivians frequently travelled outside the country.

“Why should anyone be worried about paying US$25 to develop the airport from the money they spend on their weekend in Sri Lanka?” he asked.

He noted that the Maldives had always welcomed foreign investors, and that there was no harm in them doing so.

“The gov understands the need for foreign investment and we are aware of the role that foreign investors play in development of this country,” Nasheed said.

“A fair amount of our assets are foreign owned, even now, and today I am happy to say we are again increasing our list of assets by one with the groundbreaking ceremony we are having today.”

The new terminal is due to be completed in June 2014, and will be run by GMR under a 25 year concession agreement extendable for a further 10 years. GMR holds a 77 percent stake in the venture, with the remaining 23 percent held by Malaysian Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB). The US$400 million project is the single largest foreign investment in the history of the Maldives.

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Nasheed installs solar panels on President’s Office

The government has begun installing solar panels on the rooftops of public buildings in Male’, under the Japanese government-sponsored ‘Project for Clean Energy Promotion in Male’.

This morning President Mohamed Nasheed clambered onto the roof of the President’s office to bolt down and wire up a panel, 20 kilowatts worth of which have already been installed all over the building.

The project’s 395 kilowatts of panels will ultimately cut down the fossil fuel usage of installed buildings and ultimately energy bills by 30 percent, under the State Electric Company (STELCO)’s new feed-in tariff.

Speaking during the ceremony to launch the project, Nasheed said a transition away from fossil fuels would increase the energy efficiency of the Maldives by 20-30 percent by the end of 2013.

Nasheed has previously installed 48 solar panels on the roof of his residence, Muleeage, provided gratis by LG Electronics Califorian company Sungevity. Those panels generate 11.5 kilowatts of peak output, enough to power almost 200 standard 60 watt light bulbs, and will save the country US$300,000 over the life of the system.

Minivan News understands that the government is currently revising the draft feed-in tariff – which is currently operative – to make it attractive to companies willing to invest the upfront costs of powering remote islands with solar electricity.

The government has endorsed solar as the best renewable option for reaching its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2020, a goal that has broadened from one of environmental concern to an economic imperative.

Last year the Maldives spent 16 percent of its GDP on fossil fuels, making the country extremely vulnerable to even the tiniest oil price fluctuations and adding an economic imperative to renewable energy adoption.

Data collected by the President’s Energy Advisor, former mining engineer Mike Mason, shows that it presently costs between 28-29 cents to produce a kilowatt hour in the Maldives at best, and 77 cents per kilowatt hour at worst.

“Anything beyond 28-29 cents for a big island and 32-33 cents for a small island is just money being burned,” Mason said during the recent Slow Life Symposium held at the upmarket Soneva Fushi resort.

The cost of providing solar electricity straight from the panel was far below the cost of using diesel on any island, including Male’, Mason explained.

Mason collected data on energy usage from the island of Maalhos in Baa Atoll, and found that by pointing the solar panel in the same direction all day, “you can meet midday demand easily. But between 6-11 am in the morning, and after 2pm in the afternoon, you still need to meet the cooling load of fridges and air-conditioners.”

Mason had two suggestions – the first was to use (more expensive) tracking solar panels that would follow the sun and extend the daytime period in which demand could be met using solar. This would also generate the maximum yield from each panel, mitigating another problem – space.

“The challenge will be getting tracking to work in a hot, humid, salty environment,” he acknowledged, particularly if the panels were mounted in shallow lagoons.

The cost of providing electricity from solar in conjunction with current commercially available battery technology was not much different from existing diesel arrangements on many islands, Mason observed. “You lose 20 percent of the electricity putting it in and taking it back out, and it is expensive to fix. It’s not good enough.”

However on Maalhos, Mason noted, 28 percent of the electricity demand was for cooling.

“I had a think about storage. We could use really cold water refrigerated during the day, and use that to drive air-conditioning and fridges at night. This applies as much to resorts as it does home islands.”

This innovation would drop the cost to the level of the country’s most efficient diesel generators, Mason explained. For those powerplants currently running at 77 cents a kilowatt, “this is an opportunity to print money – and there aren’t many of those available to the government.”

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Criminal court extends detention of controversial blogger

The Criminal Court has extended the detention of controversial blogger Ismail ‘Khilath’ Rasheed by 10 days.

Rasheed was arrested on the evening of December 14 for his involvement in a ‘silent protest’ on Human Rights Day, December 10, calling for religious tolerance.

The protest ended violently after a group of men attacked the protesters with stones, and Rasheed was taken to hospital with head injuries.

Rasheed is one of only a few Maldivians who have openly called for religious tolerance on a blog under his own name. The blog was recently blocked on the order of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs on the grounds that it contained unislamic material.

“I am a Sufi Muslim and there is nothing on my website that contradicts Sufi Islam. I suspect my website was reported by intolerant Sunni Muslims and Wahhabis,” Rasheed said, following the blocking of his blog.

“Under the Maldivian constitution every Maldivian is a Sunni Muslim. The constitution also provides for freedom of expression, with Article 27 reading ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of thought and the freedom to communicate opinions and expression in a manner that is not contrary to any tenet of Islam,'” Rasheed claimed.

While the Maldivian Constitution guarantees freedom of assembly, it outlaws the promotion of religions other than Islam, and all Maldivians are required to be Sunni Muslim.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that Rasheed was being investigated for campaigning for something against the Constitution.

“Calling for anything against the constitution is illegal,” Shiyam said, agreeing that the circumstances were the same as if the group had been campaigning for something similarly illegal, such as the legalisation of marijuana.

“Once we have finished the investigation the Prosecutor General will decide whether to take action against him.”

Police are also investigating slogans published briefly on 23December.com, a website promoting an upcoming Islamic protest, calling for the slaughter of “those against Islam”.

Protest organisers attributed the slogans to a “technical mistake” and they were quickly taken down. Website developer Ali Ahsan, who also edits online publication DhiIslam, was also taken into custody after police claimed he was the only individual who could have posted the threatening slogans.

According to news outlet Sun Online, police argued that Ahsan’s release “could endanger Maldivian religious unity and even threaten life” and requested the court grant 15 days extension of detention.

Ahsan’s lawyers however argued that the slogans had been uploaded by hackers and the website developer was released.

Meanwhile, Maldives Ambassador to Belgium and the European Union, Ali Hussain Didi, told the Freedom Online Conference at The Hague this week that “it is up to us as representatives of the international community to step up our efforts to remind all governments of their responsibilities, under international law, to protect human rights on-line.”

“It is also beholden on us to better assist those who live under repressive regimes and who are trying to use the internet to spread the word about their plight, to mobilise support and to engender change,” Didi said.

In his radio address this weekend, President Mohamed Nasheed called on political parties to outline their positions on controversial religious issues, claiming that religious protesters were really calling for the enforcement of Sharia penalties such as stoning, hand cutting and execution.

The Maldives had a tradition of issuing pardons for strict Sharia penalties, Nasheed noted, with the exception of flogging for adultery, and called for Islamic scholars to reach a consensus on the subject so that the penal code could be reconsidered and established by parliament.

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Opposition calls for no-confidence motion against Economic Minister over ADC

The opposition has announced it will forward a no-confidence motion against Minister of Economic Development, Mahmoud Razee, for handing the airport to Indian infrastructure giant GMR.

The Civil Court last week ruled against GMR in a case filed by the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), challenging its right to collect a US$25 (Rf385.5) Airport Development Charge (ADC) and US$2 (Rf30.8) Insurance Charge from January 2012.

The DQP had claimed that a pre-existing Airport Service Charge (ASC) of US$18 (Rf277.56) invalidates the ADC, which was specified in the concession agreement signed with the government last year.

GMR shares on the Mumbai stock exchange fell 7.57 percent on the day of Civil Court ruling, which could potentially leave GMR facing an annual US$25 million shortfall, India’s Economic Times reported.

“GMR has been permitted to collect ADC and Insurance charge under the Concession Agreement signed between GMR-MAHB, Maldives Airport Company Limited (MACL) and The Republic of Maldives (acting by and through its Ministry of Finance and Treasury), and as such has set up processes for ADC collection from 1st January 2012 supported by an information campaign to ensure adequate awareness,” the company said in a statement following media reports of the ruling.

Villufushi MP Riyaz Rasheed alleged today challenged the legally of Razee’s signing of the document, claiming that it allowed GMR to “unlawfully tax” passengers, and claimed he was responsible.

Haveeru reported that the opposition parliamentary group allied against Razee included MPs from the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and several independent MPs.

Razee said he was “waiting for the  awaiting the motion to be duly processed.”

“There’s nothing wrong or illegal about [the contract]. It’s up to the MPs to deliberate and decide what is to be done,” he said. “If there was anything illegal, then MPs should have had a look at it when it went through the Majlis. There were some issues that were sent to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), which looked into it and things moved forward.”

Following the civil court ruling last week, President Mohamed Nasheed’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said he believed the government was obligated to appeal the ruling in the High Court. However neither Zuhair nor the Attorney General were responding to calls at time of press.

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Government to monitor corruption allegations, file defamation suits

Cabinet has instructed the Attorney General’s Office to monitor allegations of corruption made against the government, and file defamation lawsuits where such allegations are proven unfounded.

Defamation was decriminalised in the Maldives in 2009, and now carries a maximum penalty of Rf 5000 (US$325). That same year the Maldives jumped 53 places in Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index and was upgraded by Freedom House from ‘not free’ to ‘partially free’.

Cabinet’s move comes on the back of growing concern that some such allegations are being made for political purposes, and that fear of their share prices being damaged by the Maldives’ byzantine local political agendas may be a factor discouraging potential foreign investors.

Minister for Economic Development Mahmoud Razee told Minivan News that Cabinet’s intention was to review allegations of corruption against the government, and refer them to police for investigation where justified.

He said the intention was not to take on the duties of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), as “in many cases these are allegations that never reach the ACC.”

The primary objective was to show that the government was taking corruption allegations seriously in the wake of Transparency’s 2011 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Razee said.

The Maldives rose slightly to rank 134 this year, scoring 2.5 on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (very clean), placing it alongside Lebanon, Pakistan and Sierra Leone.
Transparency Maldives’ Project Director Aiman Rasheed observed at the time that there was a “systemic failure to address corruption” in the country.

“Corruption in the Maldives is grand corruption, unlike neighbouring countries where much of it is petty corruption,” Rasheed said. “In the Maldives there is corruption across the judiciary, parliament and members of the executive, all of it interlinked, and a systemic failure of the systems in place to address this. That why we score so low.”

Razee acknowledged the need for the government to address the corruption index, but emphasised that it did not reflect the actual level of corruption but only its perception – “reflected in our transparency, the availability of information, and right to information.”

Monitoring accusations and investigating or filing defamation cases where justified should show that the government was taking the problem seriously, he suggested, “and show we stick to our principles.”

Allegations of corruption and fractious local politics this year impacted several foreign investors, including mobile security solutions vendor Nexbis and airport developer GMR.

Nexbis shares immediately dropped 6.3 percent on the back of an ACC’s announcement in January that the project was to be suspended after it observed “opportunities for corruption”.

Nexbis issued a statement at the time claiming that speculation over corruption was “politically motivated” in nature and had “wrought irreparable damage to Nexbis’ reputation and brand name.”

“Although we understand that the recent media frenzy and speculation of corruption are politically motivated in nature and not directly related to Nexbis, it has had an indirect impact on our reputation and brand name,” the company said.

The ACC has since forwarded corruption cases against former Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim and Director General of Finance Ministry, Saamee Ageel to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PG), alleging the pair had abused their authority for undue financial gain in granting the project to Nexbis.

On Thursday last week GMR shares on the Mumbai stock exchange fell 7.57 percent on the back of a Civil Court ruling against the company’s proposed US$25 Airport Development Charge (ADC), included in the concession agreement signed with the government. The suit was filed by the opposition-aligned Dhivehi Quamee Party (DQP).

Razee acknowledged that while political parties were obliged to behave in a professional manner, given the tumultuous political environment “Yes there is a possibility that [corruption allegations] will be used for political purposes.”

Razee noted that investors sometimes struggled to raise finance in Maldives as it was not a weighted country, and faced potential difficulties “if a contract turns sour”, due to the lack of arbitration. Both problems were highlighted in World Bank assessments, he said, but added that the government had a bill pending for a proposed Mercantile Court, staffed by foreign judges with a separate seal and special jurisdiction to solve disputes involving business transactions.

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