Author: Ahmed Nazeer

MDP “destroying the sanctity” of Adhaalath, claims religious party

The political Adhaalath Party led by State Islamic Minister Sheikh Hussein Rasheed has accused the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) of “attempting to destroy the sanctity of the Party” by misleading the public over its work.

”Although the Adhaalath Party is an institute in the current government, [it] is a party that supports justice and rights, and has expressed its opinions under the responsibility of integrity,” the group said in a statement. “Even if we were not an institute of the government, we will always keep our work to this policy.”

The party statement claimed that it was very concerned that some MDP officials were trying to misrepresent its work as the ideas of just a few specific individuals rather than an entire party in a manner that could damage the “sanctity and honour” of the party.

“Adhaalath Party will never just follow the decision of individuals, we will always follow the decision of the party’s discussion committee,” the party stated. ”All the opinions the Adhaalath Party has expressed and all the work it has conducted was done according to the decision of our discussion committee.”

Officials of the religious party have also advised politicians to avoid personal confrontations and stick to political discourse instead.

Unnamed government officials recently described scholars like Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed and the vice leader of the Adhaalath Party’s religious council, Sheikh Ilyas Hussein, as “hate preachers” in an interview with India-based magazine The Week.

The party has claimed that senior officials of the current government, including former Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed and Home Minister Hassan Afeef, made false allegations against a number of the country’s religious leaders, including the vice leader of the Adhaalath Party’s religious council, Sheikh Ilyas Hussein.

Minivan News attempted to contact MDP’s parliamentary group spokesperson and MP Alhan Fahmy, who was unavailable for comment at time of going to press.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Supreme Court to look in to High Court judges case

The Supreme Court of the Maldives has today announced that it will conduct a trial on the issue of appointing High Court judges that had originally been scheduled for the country’s Civil Court, amidst ongoing debate over the institution’s right to influence the workings of a higher authority.

The case was first filed in Civil Court last week by Criminal Court Judge Abdul Baary over concerns that there were policy and legal issues related to the Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC) appointment procedures, such as giving higher priority to appointees on the basis of gender.

Judge Baary claimed in Haveeru at the time that the JSC policy stated that if a female and a male scored even marks, higher priority should be given to the female when appointing judges for the High Court bench. This, he said, was against the Constitution and the Labour Act.

A Writ of Prohibition was issued by the Supreme Court last week in an unprecedented step against the Civil Court designed to order the institution to hand over the case to determine whether it had the authority to deal with the functions of a higher court.

The Supreme Court has today ruled that the issue was a constitutional matter and that the Civil Court did not have the authority to decide on constitutional matters such as the legality of appointing members to the High Court bench.

”If the matter was conducted in the lower court, the case would get appealed and would cause a delay in the appointment of High Court judges which will lead to a loss of basic rights for the administration of justice,” said the Supreme Court in a statement posted on their website.

High Court judges appointed by the JSC last week included Juvenile Court Chief Judge Shuaib Hussein Zakariya, former Law Commission member Dr Azmiralda Zahir, Civil Court registrar Abdu Rauf Ibrahim, lawyer of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Abbas Shareef and Civil Court Chief Judge Ali Sameer.

A JSC spokesperson was unavailable to comment on the issue at the time of going to press, though told Minivan News that the commission had not had any communication with the Supreme Court over today’s decision.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Significant increase in drug charges against juveniles last year, says Juvenile Court

The Juvenile Court has observed a “significant increase” in the number of juveniles charged with drug offences last year.

”In 2009 there were 22 drug-related charges in the court concerning juveniles, while 34 such cases were presented to the court last year,” said the Juvenile Court in a statement.

The court said it had also observed a rising number of charges of drug dealing against minors, with nine cases sent to the court in 2010, an increase of three on 2009. Of the nine cases, three youths were found guilty.

‘The court added that 10 juveniles were brought to the court for extension of detention on charges of possessing illegal drugs for dealing, suggesting that this was “very concerning ” as it was “a sinister crime in nature that serves high penalties.

Juvenile Court said that it was very important for parents to prevent their kids from committing such crimes and urged everyone to pay more attention to juveniles.

Furthermore, the Juvenile Court said, that there were people in society “who are behind the crimes committed by juveniles.”

Police statistics for 2010 showed that most arrests made across the Maldives in 2010 were for drug offences (1153), assault (941) and theft (773), and that most of these were first time offenders.

While the bulk of those arrested were young men aged between 17-23, key crimes committed by minors (aged under 18) were assault, theft and drug offences – albeit with an overall decline in 2010 on 2009.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

MDP expels member for running against Manik as an independent

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has expelled member Aishath Sherin from the party after she decided to run as an independent candidate in the Local Council Elections, in opposition to head of Male’ municipality council ‘Sarangu’ Adam Manik.

Sherin had openly criticised Manik and alleged that he was influencing people using money, the MDP said in a statement.

”The party decided to expel Sherin because the area of Mahchangolhi South, where Sherin decided to run, was won by Sarangu Adam Manik by the primaries conducted by MDP to choose candidates,” said the MDP in a statement, further accusing the candidate of “smearing respect” for both Manik and the party.

MDP alleged that Sherin had been “continuously criticising the party and candidate in front of people of South Mahchangolhi area”, and declared that t it would “take action against other such candidates.”

In an interview to SunFM, Sherin has denied running for the election as an independent candidate with the intention of confronting MDP.

”I have always said, I will run against Sarangu Adam Manik, and I will try my level best to win because he is influencing people with money,” she told the station.

She said her expulsion had “made it easy” for her to win the election.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Petition against Education Ministry permanent secretary unprofessional, says CSC

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has questioned the professionalism of civil servants who circulated a petition against the Education Ministry’s permanent secretary Dr Aamal Ali, around the media.

The petition, signed by 44 civil servants, includes a ream of complaints against Aamal including allegations that she was misusing her power and taking actions against the Constitution.

The CSC said that the Civil Servant’s Act required civil servants to work according to the Act, follow the code of conduct and work without prejudice: “It is necessary to follow professional manners in a working environment,” said the Commission.

It called on civil servants to report cases regarding permanent secretaries or other civil servants in a professional manner, as required by law.

“Civil servants have the right to file complaints against the permanent secretary if they were unsatisfied by any decision they make, according to the Civil Servant’s Act,” said CSC. ”If any such case was presented to the commission, the commission will always proceed the case and look in to the matter and take necessary measurements.”

Minivan News attempted to contact Dr Amaal Ali, however she was in a meeting and unavailable for a comment at time of press.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Supreme Court enters legal wrangle over High Court appointments

The Supreme Court of the Maldives has ordered the Civil Court to halt its case regarding the Judicial Services Commission (JSC)’s appointment of five High Court judges last week, and hand the matter to the Supreme Court.

The Judicial Service Commission appointed five judges, Shuaib Hussein Zakariyya, Dr Azmiraldha Zahir, Abdul Rauf Ibrahim, Abbas Shareef and Ali Sameer to the High Court bench last week. Zahir is the first woman to be appointed to the High Court bench in the Maldives.

However once the appointments were concluded, Criminal Court judge Abdul Baary filed a case in the Civil Court against the appointment of the new judges, claiming that there were policy and legal issues in the JSC’s appointment procedure.

Judge Baary told Haveeru that there were issues with the High Court Judges Appointment Policy as established by the JSC itself.

He claimed that the JSC’s policy stated that if a female and a male scored even marks, higher priority should be given to the female when appointing judges for the High Court bench. This, he said, was against the Constitution and the Labor Act.

The Civil Court issued an injunction halting the appointment of the High Court judges prior to taking their oath.

However the Supreme Court today stated that it had issued a Writ of Prohibition to the Civil Court, ordering it to hand over the case file to the Supreme Court before 4:00pm tomorrow.

Six JSC members have been accused of criminal charges by the President’s Member on the Commission, Aishath Velezinee, while the Commission as a whole is under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission for allegedly embezzling money by paying itself a ‘committee allowance’.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

US$1.5 million for student loans, but drugs remain an obstacle for youth

Youth Minister Dr Hassan Latheef has said the ministry has budgeted Rf 19 million (US$1.5 million) to be given out as loans for young people to pursue higher education.

Latheef said the money would be distributed to provinces equally, with a view to increasing the number of educated professionals in the islands.

While Latheef claimed that during the MDP’s campaign across the islands he had witnessed a great amount of support for the ruling party among youth, the ongoing lack of education and employment opportunities for young people in the Maldives has led many to become involved in crimes, drugs and gang violence.

President Mohamed Nasheed has previously said that there is “not even a single family in the Maldives that has not been affected by drugs.”

In an effort to understand the country’s drug trade and its impact, Minivan News interviewed several self-described drug dealers in May last year, and was told that more treatment facilities and job opportunities would curb addiction.

One claimed to earn “at least Rf15,000 every day” (US$1167) selling drugs, approximately Rf465,000 per month (US$36,186).

”Everyday one person will buy at least three to five packets, sometimes people from the islands come and buy 40 packets also,” he said, claiming that each 0.03 gram ‘packet’ (of brown sugar) cost Rf 100 (US$7.70).

“All gangs are operated by people and money. Gangs earn money by selling drugs. If someone gets stabbed also the gangs would provide them with medication and financial assistance,” he told Minivan News, adding that drugs were imported into the country 1-2 kilograms at a time “with the assistance of high-profile people in the country.”

“Real drug dealers” did not use drugs themselves, he added.

Police statistics for 2010 showed that most arrests made across the Maldives in 2010 were for drug offences (1153), assault (941) and theft (773), and that most of these were first time offenders.

While the bulk of those arrested were young men aged between 17-23, key crimes committed by minors (aged under 18) were assault, theft and drug offences – albeit with an overall decline in 2010 on 2009.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

MPs deny involvement following rumours of DRP-PA plan to oust Speaker

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) parliamentary group leader and MP Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik has denied rumours the MDP is planning forward a no-confidence motion against Speaker of the Parliament, DRP MP Abdulla Shahid.

Late last week, opposition leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Ahmed Thasmeen Ali alleged that some DRP and coalition partner People’s Alliance (PA) MPs were plotting with MDP MPs to forward a no-confidence motion against the Speaker.

‘’MDP MPs will always, always vote according to the party line,” claimed Moosa, dismissing rumours of a planned no-confidence motion against Shahid.

“MDP is not a party divided into factions and groups,’’ he added, in reference to the recent factional turmoil within the opposition.

He claimed the intention of the rumours was to divide the MDP parliamentary group, “because DRP has already been split,’’ he claimed. “MDP will never fall into factions, no matter how much the opposition tries.’’

Thasmeen last week told the media he would not support such a vote, and assurances that “most” of the DRP MPs would not vote against Shahid.

The PA Secretary General Ahmed Shareef told Minivan News that no information on the accusations raised last week by Thasmeen.

“Nothing has been done to forward a no-confidence motion [against the Speaker],” said Shareef.

DRP MP Ahmed Nihan also dismissed rumours of the joint no-confidence motion against the Speaker as false.

”There are a few who are trying to split our party and they are taking advantage of this,” said Nihan. ”They are circulating this rumor through the media, and as far as I am concerned, it has never been discussed.”

He said that no DRP MPs had informed him of a potential no-confidence motion.

Meanwhile, DRP MP Dr Abdulla Mausoom emphasised that DRP MPs “will not join the no-confidence motion against Shahid and have not even discussed anything like that.”

Dr Mausoom said he could confirm that DRP MPs had not planned to put the motion forward.

”There maybe someone bitter about Shahid who wishes to do so, but he is the best Speaker of parliament I have ever seen,” Dr Mausoom said. ”He has worked in a very volatile environment, but he has handled the situation well as a smooth operator.”

Dr Mausoom said he was ready to breach the party’s three-line whip in the event the DRP did decided to put forward a motion to dismiss the Speaker.

However, daily newspaper Haveeru has quoted a DRP MP anonymously that discussions about forwarding a motion to dismiss Shahid have been going on for two months, along with potential candidates for the speaker position.

Leader of the DRP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali originally raised the matter when he told the media that he had information that a no-confidence motion against Shahid was to be filed in parliament in what would be rare cooperation between DRP, MDP and PA MPs.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)