Author: Ahmed Nazeer

Dr Bari reappointed Minister of Islamic Affairs

Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari was reappointed Minister of Islamic Affairs this morning, less than a week after he resigned from the position in the wake of the religious conservative Adhaalath party’s decision to sever its coalition agreement with the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

Dr Bari told Minivan News last week that he resigned “out of respect” for his party’s decision.

While both Dr Bari and State Islamic Minister Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed were asked to resign by the Adhaalath Party as they could “no longer represent the party in this government”, the latter issued a statement saying he would not resign unless he was asked by President Mohamed Nasheed.

Speaking to press at the Islamic Ministry today, Bari claimed that he accepted the post “as an individual” after “98 percent” of the people he consulted with – including religious scholars, businessmen and members of the general public – had advised him to do so.

Bari explained that he did not resign out of dissatisfaction with the government or difficulties in performing his duties, insisting that he accepted the post again “as a second opportunity to serve the nation.”

President Nasheed had welcomed Bari’s decision to accept the post while remaining a member of the Adhaalath Party, he said, insisting that he had no intention of resigning from the party.

Bari added that he expected Adhaalath Party to be “satisfied” that a member of the party would be filling the post of Islamic Minister.

Bari went on to criticise the party’s decision to sever the coalition agreement, claiming that a decision had been made before the consultation council held a meeting.

Moreover, he added, the meeting was held in violation of party rules and regulations as members were not informed of the items on the agenda. Dr Bari said he had argued against leaving the MDP-led coalition.

Adhaalath Party Spokesperson Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, who resigned as State Minister for Islamic Affairs last year, told Minivan News today that Dr Bari’s resignation was “a drama.”

“It was a drama he played so I would not like to comment on his action,” he said.

Adhaalath Party meanwhile issued a press statement today strongly condemning Dr Bari’s decision as going against “the spirit of the party’s constitution as well as the party’s decisions.”

“We also note that Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari lied when he claimed to have assumed the post again after consulting with the party,” it reads, characterising the move as “lowly conduct” on the minister’s part.

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Man sentenced to six months for possession of sex toys

The Criminal Court has sentenced a man to six months imprisonment after the police discovered two plastic sex toys inside his room.

The court identified the offender as Musthafa Hussein of Mahchangolhi Feyruge.

According to the Criminal Court, possession of objects shaped like sexual organs were prohibited under articles 4(c) and 13(c) the Contraband Act of 1975.

While article 4 of the Act states that pornographic material cannot be brought into the country, under article 13[c] images, sounds or videos depicting sexual activities as well as objects made to look like sexual organs shall be considered pornographic material for legal purposes.

Musthafa was therefore charged with possession of pornographic material.

The sex toys were discovered by police when they searched his room during a special operation on April 30, 2011.

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Renowned Qari Thaufeeq charged with possession of pornographic material

Renowned Qari (Quran reciter) Hussain Thaufeeq has been charged with possession of pornographic material by the Prosecutor General’s Office, on top of multiple counts of child molestation.

The Criminal Court held the first hearing of the pornography charges this morning.

Deputy Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem confirmed to Minivan News today that additional charges had been pressed against the famed teacher.

“Police discovered [the pornographic material] on his computer,” he said.

Qari Thaufeeq, widely considered to be the best Quran reciter in the Maldives, was arrested in August last year on allegations of sexually abusing a number of under-aged girls.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News at the time that Thaufeeq was arrested in connection with “many” child sex offences against girls, “some cases going back a long time.”

Prior to his arrest, Thaufeeq hosted a daily Quran teaching programme with school children on state television every night after Maghrib prayers. He also led Friday prayers and conducted religious sermons.

Under the Child Sex Offenders (Special Provisions) Act of 2009, the penalty for child sex abuse is 10-14 years but can be extended to 15-18 years if the accused was in a position of trust with the children he allegedly abused.

In child sex abuse cases, the court usually exercises its authority to conduct closed hearings, excluding journalists and the public from observing the trial.

While the Criminal Court initially extended Thaufeeq’s detention in police custody to 15 days following his arrest on August 17, 2010, the court later transferred to the Qari to house arrest.

Thaufeeq was also sacked from his post at the Centre for the Holy Quran by the Islamic Ministry after it received reports of misconduct.

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Finance Minister condemns Public Accounts Committee Chair

Finance Minister Ahmed Inaz has said that the Rf456,000 (US$31,000) issued to Maldives Media Association (MMA) according to the Finance Report sent by the ministry to parliament was actually issued to Maldives Media Council (MMC) and not to the dissolved NGO MMA.

”It was technically a typing error, we sent the Public Accounts Committee a report consisting information about some of the recent transactions, and the Public Accounts Committee’s Chair MP Ahmed Nazim [who is also the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament] asked us to send detailed information of all the transactions mentioned in the report,” Inaz explained.

He said the ministry then sent the committee details of the transactions in the report, which still had the typing error uncorrected.

”We did not identify that error, and after we sent the details, the chair of the committee told the media that we have used Rf456,000 from the contingency budget to pay salaries of MMA staff,” he said. ”Actually it was used to pay the salaries of MMC staff.”

Inaz said he regretted that Nazim had not verified the typing error with the ministry before going to the media.

”We send the report to the parliament to cooperate with them and to assist them in making us accountable, I attended the committee three days in a row this week and we do not have a policy of withholding information,” he said, adding that he condemned Nazim’s actions and hoped that he would not repeat such things in the future.

”I also apologize to MMA members, but the responsibility goes to the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee as well,” Inaz said. ”Things like this make the ministry lose the confidence we have in the Chair of the committee.”

Nazim told local media this week that a report submitted by the Finance Ministry showed that over Rf450,000 from the state budget was issued to the MMA.

In the wake of the revelation, the Maldives Journalists Association (MJA) and senior members of the now-defunct Maldives Media Association (MMA) called on the Auditor General and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to investigate the alleged Rf456,000  released from the state’s contingency budget.

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MJA calls for investigation into release of Rf456,000 to defunct media association

The Maldives Journalists Association (MJA) and senior members of the now-defunct Maldives Media Association (MMA) have called on the Auditor General and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to investigate an alleged Rf456,000 (US$31,000) released from the states contingency budget.

The MMA – not to be confused with the Maldives Media Council (MMC) which is currently facing legal action for paying members almost Rf 1 million in ‘living allowances’ -was registered as an NGO in 2007 and was active for a year. However the NGO ceased its activities and many of its board members resigned.

Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, MP Ahmed Nazim, told local media this week that a report submitted by the Finance Ministry showed that over Rf450,000 from the state budget was issued to the MMA.

“According to the NGOs Act, the Maldives Media Association was supposed to be dissolved for being inactive for a long time, but the Home Ministry has not yet announced it has been removed from the NGOs list,” the MJA said in a press release. “It is astonishing to hear that such a large sum of money has been given to the MMA from the state budget to pay their staff.”

The MJA said it understood that information on assistance given to the MMA was stored at the Information Department, and called for an investigation.

State Tourism Minister Mohamed Thoyyib was the last President of the NGO, and other figures such as Mohamed ‘Hiriga’ Zahir, who is the current editor of Sun Online and Maldives Media Council member, along with Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) Sub-Editor Ahmed Muhsin, were all senior members of the MMA.

Finance Minister Ahmed Inaz told Minivan News that he was not sure how the allegations surfaced.

“We are currently trying to determine whether it actually happened,” Inaz said, adding that the ministry would put out a press statement explaining the incident.

Hirigia, who was a senior member of the MMA, told Minivan News that the NGO had received no money from the government when it was active.

“We call on the Auditor General and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) to investigate this matter and we call on the government to tell everyone where the money really went,” Hiriga said. “It’s been almost 24 hours since the Public Accounts Committee told the media about this, and still the Finance Ministry has not said anything about it.”

The emergence of the issue indicated that the government may have been misusing funds out of the contingency budget, he said.

“There will be still more than Rf60,000 of the Maldives Media Association’s money stored in the Information Department, we want to know what happened to that as well,” Hiriga said.

The then-President of the Maldives Media Association, currently State Minister for Arts and Culture Thoyyib Mohamed, said that the association received no money from the government.

”We did not receive any money from the government, maybe there is confusion in the Finance Ministry,” Thoyyib said.

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ACC to sue Maldives Media Council over illegal ‘living allowance’

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has said that it has decided to sue the Maldives Media Council (MMC) after the Auditor General’s report revealed that members took almost Rf 900,000 in additional allowances.

President of the ACC Hassan Luthfy confirmed to local media that suits will be filed against the MMC, one in the Civil Court and one in the Criminal Court for corruption.

Meanwhile, the Maldives Journalists Association (MJA) has called on the members to resign following the publication of the audit report.

In a statement, the MJA said that “this raise questions about the integrity of MMC which was established by the Parliament to regulate media. The MMC Act which was passed by the parliament clearly stipulates that no additional money other than wages shall be given to the council members for their work, unless it is approved by the Parliament.”

The MJA said the MMC Act required the council to comprise of eight members from the media and seven members from the public, but questioned the legitimacy of the council after noting that member from the public had been employed by the Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) after he was appointed as a member.

“This has dropped the number of members representing public to six, and increased the number of members representing the media to nine,” the MJA said, asking parliament to probe the issue.

The MJA said it was unacceptable for the NGO to see an institution assigned to regulate the media breaching the laws and democratic principles.

“This primitive action by the MMC has tarnished the trust and dignity of the local media in front of the citizens,” the MJA said. “We are very concerned, as this may also damage the reputation of the Maldives media in front of international organisations, and may raise questions about the integrity of the sole media regulatory body in the country.”

The opposition joint parliamentary group has meanwhile told the media that next week they will submit a bill to parliament to dissolve the council and transfer its mandate to parliament’s Maldives Broadcasting Corporation (MBC).

Spokesperson for the opposition parliamentary group, MP Ahmed Nazim, told newspaper Haveeru that the council had not been fulfilling its responsibility and noted that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has accused the council of corruption.

He said that the MMC’s initial refusal to obey the direction of the ACC and repay the money was also an issue.

President of the Maldives Media Council (MMC) Mohamed Nazeef did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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MP Muthalib re-joins Adhaalath Party

Former Adhaalath Party MP Ibrahim Muthalib, who resigned from the party and joined the Jumhoree Party (JP) until August this year, has re-joined the Adhaalath Party.

In a statement, the party said that Muthalib resigned from the party due to differences in opinions between the party’s then leadership.

‘’Many citizens hope that other MPs in parliament who love the nation and the religion will join Adhaalath Party,’’ the Adhaalath Party’s statement said. Muthalib was the first treasurer of the Adhaalath Party.

Muthalib resigned from JP – led by local business tycoon Gasim Ibrahim – claiming that his dreams of making the JP the country’s third most active party had been “shattered due to lack of cooperation.”

‘’I resigned because I did not want to remain depressed with these thoughts. For now I just want to relax and remain independent for the time being,’’ Muthalib said at the time. Newspaper Haveeru quoted Muthalib as saying that his resignation came following Gasim’s vote in favor of the appointment of Dr Ibrahim Didi for Fisheries Minister and Thalhath Ibrahim for Defense Minister.

Until Muthalib last night joined Adhaalath, the party had no MP representing them.

Today Muthalib told Minivan News that he decided to join Adhaalath because the party was in need of his assistance and ‘’I have always said that I would join Adhaalath when the change I needed to bring to the party was brought. I resigned from Adhaalath Party on November 2011, and although when I was elected to the parliament I was registered in the Adhaalath Party, I was elected as an Independent MP,’’ Muthalib said.

‘’I had to resign from the Adhaalath Party because of some issues I don’t want to talk about right now,’’ he said. ‘’After resigning from the Adhaalath in November, I joined the Jumhoree Party at the request of some persons, and I worked to make the party a strong opposition party. But it did not work out that way so I had to resign from JP.’’

‘’I want to work with the scholars, I think that is the only way we can set this country the right way – by working with the scholars,’’ he added.

The Adhaalath Party recently terminated the coalition agreement made between the government, and asked Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari and State Islamic Minister Sheikh Hussain Rasheed to resign from their positions.

Dr Bari respected his party’s decision and resigned from the position yesterday, while Sheikh Hussain has said that he will not resign unless the President requests him to do so.

Dr Bari meanwhile withdrew his resignation from the Adhaalath Party’s religious council, of which he was formerly chairman.

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MP Ismail Abdul Hameed appeals Criminal Court ruling

MP Ismail Abdul Hameed, who was recently sentenced to one year and six months banishment after the Criminal Court found him guilty of corruption, has appealed the case in the High Court.

The Prosecutor General pressed corruption charges against Hameed alleging that he had abused his authority as the former Director of Waste Management at the Male’ municipality to financially benefit a Singaporean company named Island Logistics, in a deal to purchase a barge.

According to local media reports that time, Judge Abdulla Didi noted in the verdict that the agreement stipulated the barge was to be delivered within 90 days of signing the agreement, upon which 50 percent of the value was to be paid to Island Logistics.

Although the barge arrived in the Maldives on October 23, 2008, Hameed had however signed a document claiming that the barge was delivered on schedule on April 28, 2008.

The judge ruled that Hameed’s actions were intentional and in violation of the Anti-Corruption Act.

Under article 73(c)(3) of the constitution, MPs found guilty of a criminal offence “and sentenced to a term of more than twelve months” would be stripped of their seat.

Article 78 of the constitution meanwhile states that “whenever there is a vacancy among the members of The People’s Majlis, an election shall be held within sixty days from the date of the vacancy. A by-election shall not be held within six months prior to a general election.”

However, Elections Commissioner Fuad Thaufeeq previously told Minivan News that the commission does not consider the seat in the parliament is vacant, and noted that Hameed had requested the commission to delay the by-elections as he planned to appeal the case.

When Minivan News contacted Hameed for a comment today, he said he was busy.

Meanwhile, Jumhoree Party (JP) Youth Wing leader Moosa Anwar filed a case in the Supreme Court, requesting the court  determine whether the Kaashidhoo seat should be made vacant after the Criminal Court ruling or if it would  be vacant after appeals were exhausted.

The case was first rejected however Anwar resubmitted the same case to the Supreme Court on September 26. No further information about the case has been reported.

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Adhaalath Party accuses local science association of leading Fuvamulah students astray

The Adhaalath Party has accused the Maldives Association for the Advancement of Science (MAAS) of attempting to lead the students of Fuvamulah schools astray by lecturing them against the tenets of Islam.

In a press release issued by the party’s Fuvamulah branch, Adhaalath claimed that lecturers from MAAS tried to convince the students that human beings originated from monkeys and that “our forefathers were monkeys and we are sons of monkeys.”

‘’They [MAAS] told the students that everything was created from nothing, on its own, without a God,’’ the press release alleged.

The Adhaalath Party claimed MAAS lecturers taught the students about Big Bang Theory and Quantum Theory, and told the students that the earth, universe and everything in it “was created from nothing.”

‘’Students of Fuvamulah understand that it is impossible for something like a pencil to be created by itself. It is regrettable that this scientists’ association did not know as much,’’ the party said.

When the students refused to accept what the lecturers were trying to explain to them, the lecturers spoke in such a way as to make the students feel they were unscientific, said Adhaalath.

Founding member of MAAS, Ahid Rasheed, told Minivan News that the series of science lectures had been solicited by the school, and that students had shown “excitement and curiosity.”

“We were invited to give presentations on science and astronomy, and mostly gave an introduction to science, such as why it’s important, and how can serve as an introduction to the universe,” said Rasheed. “We introduced key concepts in the field such as findings by Einstein, the discovery of gravity, evolution and the Big Bang. But we didn’t promote anything, and we did not mention religion. That wasn’t why we were there.”

Rasheed said the presentations spanned one week and that school staff were in attendance. “If the school and teachers had any objection to what we were teaching, they would have said something. Until today, we have had no negative feedback from people on the island. They’ve actually been inviting us to do more presentations.”

Rasheed supposed the anxiety generated by the lectures was due to basic misconceptions of science, which he said were evident in the classroom.

“We had to do a whole lecture on basics. For example, a majority of the students didn’t believe that humans had gone to the moon,” he said.

In another case, Rasheed reported that younger students were asking basic questions such as why the sky is blue. “Students deserve to know about the basics of where they are, and the world around them,” he said.

The possible contradiction between science and Islam was broached by one student, Rasheed said. “I said what I tell others: that there might be some reservations from Islamic scholars, maybe because of misconceptions about science. But there is no contradiction between Islam and the Big Bang theory as far as I am aware. A majority of Islamic scientists agree with that.”

Pointing out that Islamic scientists were historically famous for their discoveries, Rasheed said “it’s sad because science is not something we can neglect, science means development.”

Adhaalath’s press release noted that the MAAS team was sponsored by the Fuvamulah council. The Fuvamulah councilor is a known member of the Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), from which Adhaalath recently split.

‘’We strongly condemn this act of MAAS, which was also against the Religious Unity Act. We assure the people of Fuvamulah that we will not let them get away with this and will work on this issue until either action has been taken against them or until a trial is conducted,’’ the party said.

Violations of the Maldives’ Religious Unity Act are punishable by up to five years imprisonment.

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