Author: Ahmed Nazeer

Drug kingpin arrested in India

A Maldivian drug kingpin, who was among the top six dealers the President announced had been identified by the government, has been arrested in India on a joint special operation conducted by Maldives police and the Indian Drug Bureau.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that the man was arrested yesterday while he was in India.

“He was arrested in a joint special operation conducted by the police Drug Enforcement Department and India’s Drug Bureau,” Shiyam said. “He is currently being held in detention in India.”

Shiyam said that his name and other details of the operation will be provided later.

On February 28 last year, Criminal Court ruled that Adam Naseer of H. Reendhooge was innocent of dealing drugs. He was later named by the President as one of the top drug dealers in the Maldives.

Police searched Naseer’s home in Addu Atoll on 30 June 2009, where they found over Rf6 million (US$461,500) in cash and a tin containing drugs outside his house.

On June 26, police arrested an individual suspected of being one of the Maldives’ most high-profile drug dealers after spending several months collecting information about his procedures for importing narcotics.

The Head of the police’s Drug Enforcement Department (DED), Superintendent Mohamed Jinah, told members of the press that the alleged drug lord was arrested on June 24, along with several companions also suspected of being involved in supplying drugs.

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Maldives delegation forced to return ahead of UNESCO vote for Palestinian membership, says Press Secretary

The Maldives delegation to the 36th UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) General Conference was forced to return without participating in yesterday’s vote to grant full membership to Palestine, Press Secretary to the President Mohamed Zuhair has said.

Zuhair said the delegation, which included Education Minister Mariyam Shifa and Deputy Education Minister Dr Abdulla Nazeer, were unaware of a vote when they attended the bi-annual meeting of the UN cultural agency.

“They were travelling on a UNESCO ticket and they had difficulties in extending their stay, besides Education Minister had to attend a [parliamentary] committee meeting the next day,” Zuhair explained. “Due to those reasons they were forced to return but that does not mean that the Maldives worked against the Palestine resolution. It was co-sponsored by the Maldives and we did a lot of campaigning for it.”

The resolution was adopted with 107 countries voting in favour, 14 voting against and 52 abstaining. The vote signaled a significant symbolic victory for Palestine’s bid for statehood ahead of a similar vote at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Zuhair said the Ambassador to France, Dr Farhanaz Faisal, was in the Maldives at the time and Ambassador to Geneva, Ibthisham Adam, was unable to attend on short notice.

Opposition parties, including Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and religiously conservative Adhaalath Party, has meanwhile condemned the non-participation and dismissed the reasons provided as “unacceptable.”

Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Media Coordinator MP Ahmed Nihan told Minivan News that the government’s stated reasons for the non-participation was very irresponsible.

“What they are saying to defend themselves is a big joke to me and does not make much sense,” said Nihan. “The campaign they did and the co-sponsoring the resolution is a big drama the government played.”

The Vili-Maafanu MP claimed the last time he sent a notice to the Education Minister to attend a parliament committee, she appared one and half month later.

“So the cabinet ministers in this government does not give that much attention to attend committee meetings and saying that they returned without taking part in the vote does not make any sense at all,”

He alleged the absence of the Maldives delegation was the result of conversations between former Defence Minister Ameen Faisal and Israeli intelligence agency MOSSAD revealed by the Wikileaks US State Department cables

Nihan claimed the current government had “secret relations with Israel” and suggested hidden reasons behind the non-participation.

Press Secretary Zuhair however dismissed the insinuations as attempts by the opposition to “politicise the matter and mislead the public.”

“The Maldives will be one country that worked most to make the Palestine resolution get passed,” he said.

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No-confidence motion against Attorney General will not succeed, say MDP Chairperson

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Chairperson ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik has said that the no-confidence motion opposition parties were trying to file in the parliament against the Attorney General Abdulla Muiz will fail.

“We will not let the no-confidence motion succeed, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) is attempting to terminate anyone that works for justice,’’ Moosa told MDP Official website.

Moosa said that the no-confidence motion was planned to save Gassan Maumoon, son of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who is currently being investigated for allegedly hitting a 17 year-old boy with a wooden plank.

Recently, interim council member of PPM Mohamed ‘Mundhu’ Shareef told the local newspaper that he was concerned about the revision of prosecution guidelines, insisting that it might force Prosecutor General Ahmed Muiz to press criminal charges against Gassan Maumoon.

“His decision to revise prosecution guidelines concerning a single individual proves that he hasn’t been carrying out his responsibilities,” he told newspaper Haveeru, adding that Muiz had violated the Supreme Court ruling issued in September 2009 in Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) President Hassan Luthfy’s case that the AG cannot appeal verdicts delivered by lower courts.

Shareef told the media that he will submit a resolution to PPM Parliamentary Group to forward a no-confidence motion against AG Muiz.

Meanwhile, the government has said that it will forward a no-confidence motion against Prosecutor General after he allegedly forced a police senior officer’s team to leave his office when they went to see the PG for advice on Gassan’s arrest and the Criminal Court’s ruling.

When police arrested Gassan for investigation of the case where a 17 year-old boy was injured, the Criminal Court ruled that police have violated the criminal justice procedure in arresting Gassan and that he cannot be held in detention.

Later the police said most of the criminals arrested in the past were arrested in the same way as Gassan and that if Gassan’s arrest was unlawful so will be all the arrests made in the past.

PPM Spokesperson Ahmed Mahlouf and Media Coordinator Ahmed Nihan did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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MDP PG Deputy Leader accuses Speaker of cancelling sittings without reason

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Parliamentary Group Deputy Leader Ahmed Sameer has said that Parliament Speaker Abdulla Shahid has been cancelling parliament sessions without reasonable cause.

“There is no reason the parliament sitting should be cancelled and there is no issue within the MPs that should be solved diplomatically,” Sameer told MDP’s official website.

Sameer said that the opposition was cancelling the parliament sittings because the Foreign Minister had earlier said that former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom will not be invited to the upcoming SAARC summit.

“And, the opposition MPs want to obstruct the speech by Indian Prime Minister,” he said, adding that the opposition’s main objective is to delay economic reform bills currently before parliament.

Sameer called on the Speaker to conduct parliament sittings according to law.

Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MPs have recently said that the parliament sittings will be unlawful if they proceed with Independent MP Abdul Hameed after the Criminal Court found him guilty of corruption and sentenced him to 18 months’ banishment.

However, Hameed appealed the case in the High Court where it is currently being tried.

PPM has said it will not allow parliament to proceed in his presence.

Opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Parliamentary Group Deputy Leader Dr Abdulla Mausoom said he believes the parliament deadlock could be solved if the issue were sent to the Supreme Court for review.

“DRP MPs in the Independent Commission’s Committee support sending the issue to the Supreme Court for advice on whether the MP Abdul Hameed can sit in the parliament,’’ Mausoom said. “In DRP there are people who say that he can attend the parliament until he is done with the appeal process and others who do not see it that way.”

Mausoom called the stalemate a legal issue which is beyond the parliament’s jurisdiction.

“The complications in the appeal procedure should be clarified, no one made it an issue when Hameed stayed at home,” he said. “Parliament went smoothly when he stayed at home.”

Mausoom added that MDP MPs in the committee do not want to send the issue to the Supreme Court for advice.

Tomorrow’s sitting is scheduled to proceed as normal, according to parliament’s official website.

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High Court rejects Gassan’s case

The High Court has rejected the appeal submitted by Attorney General (AG) to re-arrest Gassan Maumoon, son of Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and to rule that his arrest was lawful, after the Criminal Court last week found that his detention was unlawful and ordered his release.

According to local newspapers the High Court rejected the case because the case was presented 48 hours after the ruling was made, and secondly because the case was presented by the AG.

The High Court said the AG cannot present criminal cases to the court on behalf of the state and that only the Prosecutor General (PG) has that authority.

Gassan Maumoon was arrested after a 17-year-old boy was severely injured in a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) protest against the judiciary that started near the Supreme Court and later moved towards the residence of former President.

The 17-year-old was struck in the head by a wooden plank that was allegedly thrown down from the former president’s residence. Gassan was subsequently accused of the violent act.

After the Criminal Court ruling, the police said they were confused whether the arrests made in the past will be lawful and said they were considering the release of many dangerous criminals who were arrested according the same procedures used with Gassan.

Following the ruling the police met with PG Ahmed Muiz for advice. The PG allegedly told the police officers to leave his office immediately.

The government concluded that it cannot work with the current PG and decided to forward a no-confidence motion against Muiz, which would lead to dismissal if passed.

However, the no-confidence motion has not been forwarded.

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MDP MP calls on Speaker to use armed forces to control parliament

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed Mustafa has sent a text message to the Speaker of the parliament Abdulla Shahid calling on him to invoke his authority to use armed forces to control MPs that disrupt parliament meetings.

In the text, he tells Shahid that Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MPs were making plans to delay passing the amendment presented by the government to the Import/Export Act, which he said will decrease prices of goods in the market.

”This amendment presented by MDP MP Ibrahim Rasheed, after spilling blood in the parliament as you will recall, will decrease the prices of all types of food items and construction materials and other basic products that citizens need,” Mustafa explained in the text. ”The amendment will cut Rf 1700 million from import duties.”

Mustafa said the PPM MPs were concerned that if the amendment was passed it would “benefit the citizens and MDP will gain more support.”

”Many businessmen in the country are waiting for the day that this amendment gets passed and ratified by the President,” he said in the text he sent to Shahid. ”Due to these reasons I believe that you should invoke the authority to use armed forces to get disruptive MPs out of the parliament’ chamber.”

He said the citizens would not accept the work of the parliament coming to a halt due to a political game.

However, PPM Media Coordinator and MP Ahmed Nihan said that the PPM was not concerned that the amendment might get passed.

”PPM is concerned that the MDP MPs are demanding to hold the parliament meeting with Independent MP Ibrahim Abdul Hameed present, who was recently sentenced and his seat is supposed to be vacant,” Nihan said. ”What if later at some point the High Court and the Supreme Court upholds the lower court’s ruling and declares that his seat is vacant?If that happens, then another issue will be raised – how do we know if the votes he gives now are valid?”

Nihan said according to the constitution the seat should be vacant.

”Mustafa and Reeko Moosa Manik claim to know things the KGB, MOSSAD and CIA do not know. They say whatever comes to their mouth,” he said. ”There will be no one on earth who believes what they say.”

Nihan said that the reason the PPM did not support GST was that it would increase the prices of goods at the market.

In July this year four MPs of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party’s (DRP) Z-faction, who are now MPs of PPM, were forcibly removed from the chamber after Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim invoked the Speaker’s authority to evict disruptive MPs by force from the parliament floor.

Z-DRP MPs Ahmed Mahlouf, Ilham Ahmed and Ali Arif were forcibly taken out of the chamber by MNDF officers while MP Ahmed Nihan left of his own accord.

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MDP Parliamentary Group considers no-confidence motion against HRCM

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed Mustafa today said that the MDP Parliamentary Group was considering forwarding a no-confidence motion against the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) members, for failing to protect the human rights of citizens.

‘’We have noticed that the HRCM members that we appointed have failed to protect the rights of the citizens, and are more concerned about protecting the rights of particular persons,’’ said MP Mustafa. ‘’I am ashamed of HRCM for they have showed no effort in fulfilling the duty assigned to them.”

Mustafa referred to the recent incident where a 17 year-old boy was injured in a protest led by the MDP calling for judicial reform, during which the activists gathered outside former President’s house.

‘’HRCM did not even a say a word of sympathy to the young boy who was injured, they did not even visit the hospital to see him, but when police arrested the former President’s son Gassan Maumoon, they prepared a press statement,’’ he claimed. ‘’This shows what kind of things concern HRCM members.’’

Mustafa said that HRCM had another statement, as yet unreleased, calling on the MDP not to gather near the former President’s residence, and not to threaten the judiciary.

‘’But we have a right to protest, we conducted the protest in accordance to the laws,’’ he claimed. ‘’So there is no use of the current HRCM members and paying money to them is a big waste.’’

He called on the resignation of the commission members and said the commission would be “better with empty desks”.

‘’That day knives were dropped and pots filled with stones were thrown from the former President’s house, and a 17 year-old boy left disabled. He is very young and he is half-paralysed.”

President of the Human Rights Commission Mariyam Azra did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

In August, a delegation from the Maldives headed by Attorney General Abdulla Muiz reported to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that the country’s Human Rights Commission “was one of the most active national institutions in Asia”.

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MNDF concludes investigation into the shooting death of Sergeant Shaukath

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has concluded its investigation into the death of MNDF Sergeant Ibrahim Shaukath, who was accidently shot in the head while he was on SAARC Bodyguard Training.

In a statement, the MNDF said that the investigation team had determined that Shukath’s death occurred due to the negligence of Lieutenant Muaz Mohamed.

The MNDF said that Shaukath was accidently shot while he and fellow MNDF Officers were doing a private training in the resting area to prepare for a ‘’wounded shoot’’ test due to be held the next day of the incident.

In a ‘Wounded Shoot’ exercise, soldiers are trained how to shoot and reload when one hand is wounded. While they were practicing, Muaz received a magazine with a bullet in it did not check whether the magazine was loaded before putting it into his pouch.

According to the MNDF he inserted the magazine into his pistol and fired at Shaukath. The soldiers were standing in a circle when the incident occurred and Shaukath was in front of Muaz.

The MNDF said the incident was unintentional but due to the negligence of Muaz, he had been ousted from the course and transferred to a section where he does not have to handle weapons.

The MNDF said that according to its regulation it is a required to check whether a magazine has bullets before firing, and that in the bodyguard Training, instructors had not told the students that officers should point weapons at each other in violation of MNDF regulations.

‘’While bodyguard Training is a high risk course, there wasn’t an adequate number of trained instructors sent to the program,’’ the MNDF statement acknowledged.

There were not enough magazines to use in the program and officers had to share magazines, a practice that was not safe, noted the MNDF in the statement, adding that officers had mismanaged the issuing of the magazines.

‘’That day there was only one first aid-trained person in the training centre, and he was also not a person trained for high risk programs,’’ the MNDF said in the statement. ‘’Some tools that are used in first-aid were unavailable at the training centre and the emergency vehicle used in the training was  not an adequate vehicle to use in emergencies.’’

The MNDF said that the issues noted in the investigation have been sent to the Defence Ministry as recommendations.

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Former Deputy Police Commissioner denies PIC allegations

Former Deputy Commissioner of Police Mohamed Rishwan has denied findings of a Police Integrity Commission (PIC) investigation that he ordered police officers to forcibly cut the hair of several persons that were arrested during a special operation, conducted in July last year when he was in police force.

In a press statement issued to the media, Rishwan said that he had never committed a criminal offence during his time as Deputy Commissioner, and that he had only sought to be accountable for the actions of police as he was in charge of the operations conducted across the country.

Rishwan said he had served the nation for 18 years and that he had a right to defend his status and protect his reputation.

Rishwan denied giving the order to cut the hair of the detained suspects and insisted that he had cooperated with the investigation into the incident after he had learned of it.

The PIC launched an investigation into allegations made by several persons that were arrested during the special operation that they were mistreated and their hair was forcibly cut without their consent.

After the investigation, the commission publicised the investigation report which said that Rishwan was the person bearing responsibility for the action, as he had confessed to the PIC that he gave orders to cut the hair of arrested persons.

The PIC also alleged that Rishwan had violated the Police Act and said that the case had now been sent to the Prosecutor General to press criminal charges against Rishwan.

Rishwan resigned from his position in July this year. Speaking to local media about the decision at the time, Rishwan said his resignation was based solely on wanting to spend more time with his family.

Back in February, Rishwan was reported to have been temporarily suspended from his duties after allegedly failing to follow orders regarding a dispute over taking control of the Thulusdhoo Atoll Council’s office without a court warrant.

In July last year, police and the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) arrested almost 60 people, including children, in a joint special operation launched to curb the rise in gang violence.

Many arrested at the time claimed that their mobile phones and personal belongings were confiscated and not returned when they were released.

Almost everyone arrested in the operation was released without any charges.

A number of those arrested claimed they were mistreated and abused in custody, including being forced to remove their clothes, blindfolded and beaten.

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