Author: Ahmed Nazeer

Indian gynecologist attacked by masked men on Hoarafushi

An Indian gynecologist working at Hoarafushi Health Centre in Haa Alifu Atoll has said she will “never come back to the Maldives” after two masked islanders attacked and gagged her.

“They broke in to my room with their faces covered, holding knives, and they tried to attack me,” the doctor told Minivan News. “I could only see their eyes. It was like the worst nightmare I have ever seen.”

The doctor said at first she tried to escape by shouting, but then the men tried to cover her mouth and tie a rope to her neck.

“I dialed the last dialed number on my phone and it was the health centre. When the health centre answered the phone the attackers snatched it from my hands and switched it off, but luckily the person who answered heard me screaming.”

The doctor said she fought with the men and was able to escape.

“I held their knife and pushed them back, then jumped out of the window and screamed for help,” the doctor said. “Then they ran away.”

The doctor said it was the “worst experience I have ever had” and that she would “never ever come back to the Maldives.”

“I’ll even advise my friends and my students not to choose Maldives,” she said. “I mean why should they do this? I did my best to serve the people here, why should they do this to me?”

The doctor said she had no idea what had motivated the pair to attack her, and said she was emotionally, mentally and physically hurt in the incident.

Deputy chair of the island council Ali Riyaz, who told Minivan News he was the first to attend the scene, said the incident was “regrettable”.

Riyaz said he first heard of the incident when the doctor phoned a councilor during a council meeting last night at 9:50pm.

“I went to her room immediately and called the police,” Riyaz said. “Her room is very close to the Council Office and we rushed there very quickly. When we knocked on the door she did not open it because she was so frightened.”

Once the councilors had convinced the doctor who they were, “she came outside and started crying. She was injured,” Riyaz said. “She said two men with their faces covered entered her room and attacked her.”

Riyaz said the doctor had told them not to do this to her and that she was like a sister to them.

“She even told them to take any amount of money they wanted, and also to take any electronics including her laptop if they wanted, without attacking her.”

Police had arrested 11 people following the incident, Riyaz said.

“Two of them were the two men suspected by the police, and the other nine were those who went [to police] of their own accord because they have past crime records and they wanted to show that they had no hand in this incident,” Riyaz said.

The doctor was the only specialist working in the Hoarafushi Health Centre and the only gynecologist in the entire atoll. Riyaz said her departure would be “a great loss” for the atoll.

“She had decided to leave Maldives some time ago,” he said. “She was a great doctor and is loved by many islanders across the atoll.”

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that police had arrested two promising suspects, although he said their motives remained unclear.

The community had been very supportive of the police investigation and were taking care of the doctor, he said: “The heart of the whole island is with her.”

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Mother of self-declared Addu apostate launches media appeal seeking scholars’ help

The mother of a 22 year-old girl from Addu City who publicly declared her apostasy has launched an appeal in the local Maldivian media seeking the help of religious scholars to make her daughter repent.

“She’s been a bit odd ever since she was in the seventh grade, but at the  time she did not say the things that she says now,” the 49 year-old mother told Minivan News.

“Every time I try to advise her she shouts at me and asks me what I was trying to make her believe, and says that she cannot believe the existence of Allah,” the mother said.

The mother said her daughter was currently being held under house arrest while being investigated for allegedly giving birth to a child out of wedlock.

“She has misbehaved since she was young, and is saying things that should not be said in front of the children. She has even been calling me balhu (dog).”

The mother said that whenever she tried to inform her daughter about death, the afterlife and the punishments for apostasy, her daughter would reply that it was “not a problem for her, and not to worry.”

“I admit that it was our negligence as well that allowed her to come this far. We knew about this a while ago and we could have been more careful then,’’ the mother said. “I have been asking around my neighbors and everyone about what to do, but all I can do is remain in this grief thinking about her.”

The mother said she “had no solution” to her grief.

“There’s still some good inside her. I know that because she has been advising her younger sisters not to be like her,’’ she said. ‘’It’s because she can believe that she is not going the right way.’’

The mother said there “was a reason why this had happened to [her daughter],” but said it was “a long story”.

President of Islamic Foundation of the Maldives, Ibrahim Fauzee said the organisation had heard of the appeal and that its local branch was looking into the matter.

“For sure, we will provide her assistance,’’ Fauzee said.

The Islamic Ministry said it had not received official notice of the matter.

The Maldivian Constitution states that the Maldives is a “100 percent” Sunni Muslim country, and the country maintains a reservation to article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on freedom of religion.

The last Maldivian to publicly declare apostasy, Mohamed Nazim, did so in front of an 11,000-strong audience attending a lecture in May 2010 by well-known Islamic speaker Dr Zakir Naik.

Nazim was escorted from the venue by police for his own protection after members of the audience attempted to attack him, and was held in police custody. The Islamic Foundation of the Maldives subsequently issued a statement calling for Nazim to be stripped of his citizenship and sentenced to death if he failed to repent and return to Islam.

After two days of religious counseling in police custody, Nazim declared that his misconceptions had been clarified and gave Shahada – the Muslim testimony of belief – on national television during a press conference held at the Islamic Ministry.

In a later interview with Minivan News, Nazim said that he did not regret his actions.

“Somebody had to do it, it needed to be spoken about. The repression of thought, the lack of debate and a lack of a proper public sphere in which such discussion can take place, is dangerous,” he said.

The reaction, he said, was mixed – angry and supportive, superficial and profound. He lost 65 friends on Facebook, the social networking site to which almost every computer literate Maldivian subscribes. He did, however, gain 246 new ‘friends’.

His own friends and colleagues, he said, were uneasy talking about it, and very few actually discussed it with him. However, he told Minivan News he could feel the presence of the issue, “unspoken yet potent”, in every social interaction he had with another person.

In July 2010, 25 year-old air traffic controller Ismail Mohamed Didi hanged himself from the control tower of Male’ International Airport after seeking asylum in the UK for fear of persecution over his lack of religious belief.

Over two emails sent to an international humanitarian organisation on June 23 and 25, obtained by Minivan News, Ismail confessed he was an atheist and requested assistance for his asylum application, after claiming to have received several anonymous threats on June  22.

In the emails, he said he “foolishly admitted my stance on religion” to work colleagues, word of which had “spread like wildfire.”

“Maldivians are proud of their religious homogeneity and I am learning the hard way that there is no place for non-Muslim Maldivians in this society,” Ismail said, in one of his letters.

“I cannot bring myself to pretend to be something I am not, as I am a staunch believer in human rights. I am afraid for my life here and know no one inside the country who can help me.”

A colleague of Ismail’s told Minivan News that it appeared the 25 year-old had sought the early 3:00am shift and “came to work fully prepared to die.”

“His mother said she called him in the morning at 5:30am to tell him to pray, but there was no answer. They found his cigarette lighter on the balcony.”

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Thaa Atoll Hospital’s doctors on strike

Foreign doctors and nurses working at Thaa Atoll Hospital on Veymandoo in Thaa Atoll have declared themselves on strike over visa issues they say are preventing them from leaving the country.

Head of Thaa Atoll Hospital, Midhath Nasir, told Minivan News that expat doctors and nurses have complained that their visas have not been renewed accordingly and that they have had difficulties in leaving the country in emergency situations.

“All the expat doctors and nurses have stopped work and all the patients that came today had to go home without receiving any services,” Nasir said, but added that there were no patients currently admitted to the hospital in a critical condition.

A technician working in the laboratory of the hospital recently needed to urgently return to his home country, Nasir said, but was unable to do so because of the visa renewal issue.

“His visa was not renewed and because he had an expired visa, he could not make there on time,” Nasir said.

Nasir said that he had requested the doctors and nurses make a list of issues and hand it over to him so that he could forward it to the Health Corporation.

“I do not know what other issues they have, after I get the list I will know,” he said. “All the nurses and doctors currently working in the hospital are expats.”

Minivan News requested a contact number for one of the striking staff, but Nasir said he did not have the contact number of any doctor or nurse working at the hospital.

Meanwhile local newspaper Haveeru reported that more than 25 expats working at the hospital had met with the atoll council and complained about their issues.

The paper reported that head of the Atoll Council, Abdulla Shareef, had told the paper that the Health Corporation was counting staff vacation days in contradiction to how their contracts required the days to be counted, as the days staff had spend in the Maldives waiting for their visas to be renewed were being deducted from their vacation allowance.

Doctors and nurses told the council that in some cases their vacation days were all but over by the time they reached their home country.

Shareef also told the paper that the hospital was using expired medicines imported during 2004 tsunami, and that doctors were being blamed for not having enough medicine in the hospital.

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Body found on shore of Hudhuranfushi may belong to missing Japanese woman

A decomposing female body has been found on the shore of the Adhaaran Hudhuranfushi resort, a week after a 29 year-old Japanese tourist and her 37 year-old husband were reported missing from the property.

A staff member at Hudhuranfushi confirmed that the body found was female, but was unable to confirm whether it belonged to the missing Japanese woman.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News that the body had yet to be formally identified and appeared to have been in the water for several days.

‘’The body is too decomposed for us to identify it, but it is clear that it was in the water for a couple of days,’’ Shiyam said. “We are currently running DNA tests, and will get whatever information we can from the results.”

Shiyam said that apart from the missing couple, there had been no other reports of missing persons in the area.

In a statement, the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) said that the resort’s management notified the authorities after noticing the that the couple had been absent for two consecutive meals. The couple were staying in a water villa, the MNDF stated.

“The management team went searching for the couple in their room, but the ‘Do Not Disturb’ board was displayed so they did not open the door. But after there was still no sign of the couple later, the management opened their room they found that they were not inside,’’ the MNDF said.

Police and MNDF were called around 8:40 pm on August 17.

MNDF officers have snorkeled around the island and searched the area using Maldivian Air Taxi (MAT) and Trans Maldivian Airways (TMA) seaplanes searching for the missing bodies since the report was filed.

Shiyam told Minivan News that “accidents may happen, but we don’t feel that there is anything to be concerned about with resort safety. We don’t feel the disappearance of the Japanese couple reflects on the resort’s safety procedures.”

Two weeks ago Minivan News reported on a British couple found dead following a quad bike accident on Kuredu Island Resort. Emma and Jonathan Gray had been married just seven days before the accident, when the quad bike they were riding on as passengers collided with a tree on the island. The driver, subsequently identified as Filip Petre, the son of a Kuredu resort shareholder, was seriously injured in the accident.

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Islamic Foundation launches certificate course in use of incantations to cure black magic

The Islamic Foundation of the Maldives (IFM) has said that it will commence a certificate level course on incantations, teaching the participants “spiritual healing” and how to cure diseases using “incantation”.

“Incantations consist of words said or written in the form of dud or Dhikr for the purpose of protection or cure. It is sometimes accompanied by other actions, such as blowing or wiping over the thing to which it is applied,’’ the Foundation explained on its website.

President of the Islamic Foundation, Ibrahim Fauzee, told Minivan News that the main reason why the organisation had decided to conduct courses on spiritual healing was that many people in the islands had become victims of black magic performed by their enemies.

“Sometimes people have lost their lives [to black magic], and sometimes people perform the black arts to ruin the life or family of others. Many do not know how to cure this,’’ Fauzee said.

“Many people have requested that we teach them this, so we decided to open a course for the public and we are receiving huge support for it.’’

The one month course, beginning September 15, costs Rf 350 (US$23). Fauzee said seats for the class had been limited to 30 students, and it had already sold out.

During the course, students will learn incantations, ayahs, “extracted from the Quran which were taught by the Prophet (PBUH) during the old days, which people have always delivered to the next generation.”

Practitioners of black arts, he explained, spoke with djinns and used them to harm others.

“The Prophet’s (PBUH) Sunnah as well as the Quran reveals many things about the existence of djinns,” Fauzee said.

“Djinns often cause trouble and disturbances to humans, so we know that they are there. The Quran and the Prophet (PBUH) has taught us ways to cure [these disturbances],’’ he said.

Fauzee said the course would teach participants basic cures, and would involve both theoretical and practical work.

The Islamic Foundation explained that the practical component would involve the students accompanying tutors to treat people victimised by djinns, during which they would be taught how to use incantations.

Well-known scholar Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed and other senior members of the Islamic Foundation are scheduled to lecture the students during the course.

Sorcery, known locally as fandita, is widely practiced on many islands in the Maldives. In fact, the last person to be judicially executed in the Maldives was Hakim Didi in 1953, who was executed by firing squad after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder using black magic.

Didi’s daughter, Dhondidi, was also sentenced in 1993 for performing fandita on behalf of the former President’s brother-in-law Ilyas Ibrahim, in his bid to win the 1993 presidential election.

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MDP Ali Waheed alleges that journalists politicised his housing bid

Former Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ali Waheed, who recently crossed the floor to join the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), has claimed that journalists covering his winning bid for a beach house in Hulhumale’ had politicised the matter and implied he was corrupt.

Waheed said that he had paid Rf1 million (US$64,580) upfront for the house, after winning the bid with the Hulhumale Development Corporation.

“The house will become my property only after I finish the rest of the payment within five years,” Waheed said in a press statement. “However, the story of this business transaction was spun in the media, with [outlets] writing ‘Ali Waheed and his wife have bought two houses in Hulhumale’ for Rf9.4 million’ (US$600,000)’ in their headlines.’’

Waheed said the journalists who wrote the articles had “attempted to damage my reputation” by implying to the public that there was “corruption in everything I spend money on.”

“Perhaps that is how journalists and owners of those news outlets got land plots, houses and wealth from previous governments,” he continued. “I will not use a proxy and stay hidden, and will do everything very publicly. For the information of such journalists who get personal with their pens, I will be involved in the real estate business in the future.”

He added that he had joined the MDP “with empty hands” to support government’s efforts to “change an antiquated and weak economy to a modern and robust economy.”

“I see the future of the Maldives very clearly, I can see the flats of flat Dhonbe [phrase used by opposition to mock President Mohamed Nasheed],” he said. “By God’s will, Maldivian citizens will see a better tomorrow than today and Ali Waheed will go boom boom to maximum.”

Waheed won the beachfront house for Rf4.6 million (US$300,000), bidding Rf 3020 per square foot. His wife also reportedly won a house.

Waheed’s former opposition colleague, MP Ahmed Nihan, questioned Waheed’s ability to afford such a property on his MP’s wage. Waheed, he alleged, “was quite a poor boy when we first met him as a DRP MP – that’s why we spoke with a friend and arranged him a house for rent that did not require an advance paid upfront,” said Nihan. “There was no way that Waheed could afford to buy a house in Hulhumale’ for Rf4.6 million unless there was a hand of corruption in it.”

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Maldives Halal-Haram Committee researching Golden Churn Butter

Spokesperson for the Islamic Ministry, Sheikh Ahmedulla Jameel, has said that the Halal-Haram Committee of the Maldives has begun to determine whether ‘Golden Churn Creamy Butter’ contains any unlawful substance in it, after Malaysia’s Islamic Ministry declared that the product contains the deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA) of swine and may be haram for Muslims.

The product is a popular food commodity in the Maldives and found in many local convenience stores.

Jameel said that the Islamic Ministry had received no official information from the Malaysian authorities, and was going by media reports.

‘’The Committee will declare whether it is haram or halal, as it is the committee that determines the status of food products in the Maldives,’’ he said, adding that the Islamic Ministry did not have further information to share on the matter.

Malaysian newspaper reports said the issue came in to light in April 18 when the Johor State Religious Department (JAJ) circulated a memo within its department to alert them of a swine DNA finding in Golden Churn Pure Creamery Butter products.

“There has been much confusion regarding the Golden Churn product. We have released a media statement before stating that the product contains pig DNA but many doubted it,’’ the newspaper quoted the Assistant Islamic Minister Datuk Daud Abdul Rahman saying.

President of Religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohamed Ibrahim said he heard about this incident but did not have any official information on the issue.

”These kind of issues do occur in the Maldives, in many cases these companies produce both types of the same product, one type which is for Gulf countries,” Sheikh Abdulla said. ”But the Maldives have sometimes received stocks produced for the Europe.”

He said the NGO has recently discussed the issue with the Islamic Minister.

”The ministry told us that because the cost of establishing a laboratory was expensive they were were many challenges they faced in solving the issue,” he said.

Andrew Ballantyne, Executive Chairman of the Australian company that produces the butter, Ballantyne Foods, said in a statement that both Ballantyne factories in Australia and New Zealand had been certified halal by halal certification authorities for all the butter brands produced and distributed by the company.

“It is important to understand that each delivery of butter out of Australia and New Zealand carries mandatory quality standards from relevant Government Food Authorities including Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, (AQIS) and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) in additional to strict Halal certification requirements. We confirm that our Golden Churn butter complies with the requirements of these authorities,” Ballantyne stated.

“Ballantyne only use high quality milk to make cream that is churned into butter. Ingredients are: cows milk, milk solids (non fat), moisture and 1.5-2 percent salt. No other additions, colours or preservatives are permitted.”

The particular canned butter variety under question in Malaysia had been certified halal by New Zealand Islamic Processed Food Management, “a recognised Islamic authority in New Zealand. NZIPFM is duly accredited by Jakim to certify products that are produced in New Zealand.”

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Parliament commences preliminary debate on amendment to Immigration Act

The parliament has commenced preliminary debate on an amendment presented by the government to the Immigration Act.

The amendment was presented to the parliament by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Chairperson and MP ‘Reeco’ Moosa Manik on behalf of the government, with the intention of easing the process for investors and foreign businessmen to settle down in the Maldives.

If the amendment is passed, residential visas will be issued for persons mentioned in article 6[a] of the Immigration Act: a foreigner married to a Maldivian, or a former spouse of a Maldivian citizen who is assigned the guardianship of their child by a court of law.

A foreigner who has invested in a business which is declared by the Economic Ministry as a large investment will also be allowed a residential visa according to the new amendment presented, or foreigners who have invested in a government project to enhance the economy of the country.

Speaking in parliament’s sitting today Peoples Alliance (PA) MP Abdul Azeez Jamal Abubakur expressed concern that the bill would allow Israeli nationals to live in the Maldives, and that it was a threat to the sovereignty of the country.

Jamal said that the bill needs to clearly define how the Economic Ministry will determine the distinction between large businesses and investments, and how many persons can have residential visas.

He also alleged that the amendment was drafted with the intention of letting specific foreigners in the Maldives have residential visas, and said he would not support the amendment.

Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) MP and Parliamentary Group leader Riyaz Rasheed also alleged that the government was attempting to deploy Israelis to the Maldives and “make them wear white jubba [Arab garment] and promote their religion in this country.”

He also claimed that the government was intending to issue the residential visas to foreigners brought to the country by Indian infrastructure giant GMR, which is managing and upgrading the country’s main airport.

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Civil court orders police to pay MP Yameen Rf 244,000

The civil court has ordered police to pay Rf 244,000 (US$$15,823) in compensation to the former President’s half-brother and People’s Alliance (PA) leader Abdulla Yameen for unlawful detention on the Presidential Retreat of Aarah.

Yameen was arrested in June last year on charges of bribery and treason, alongside Jumhooree Party (JP) leader and ‘Burma’ Gasim Ibrahim.

However the Criminal Court at first refused to extend their detention beyond three days’ house arrest, claiming that there were no reasonable grounds to hold the MPs.

Yameen was subsequently taken into protective custody by the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and held on the Presidential Retreat for 13 days.

The MNDF at the time claimed that Yameen had sought their protection after violent clashes between MDP supporters, police and another group outside his house on the evening of July 14. However Yameen claimed he refused the offer of protection and requested that security forces control the crowd outside his residence.

In August last year the Civil Court ruled that the government’s detention of Yameen was unconstitutional and declared that the MNDF had violated articles 41, 19, 21, 26, 30, 37, 45 and 46 of the constitution.

Explaining the decision to award Yameen compensation, Judge Aisha Shujoon said that the Supreme Court had at the time of Yameen’s detention determined that the arrest was unlawful.

Police had claimed that the case could not be filed against the police because the High Court had subsequently extended Yameen’s detention.

However, Judge Shujoon said that despite this ruling the Supreme Court had ruled that there were no judicial grounds to believe that Yameen was arrested in accordance with the law, and that therefore it was to be believed that the arrest was unlawful from the time he was arrested.

The Civil Court judge then ruled that Yameen’s detention from 29 June to 11 July was unlawful, and that Yameen had the right to be compensated for the 13 days and 20 minutes he was unlawfully held in detention.

Judge Shujoon said that considering respect for human dignity, detaining someone unlawfully could not be considered a minor offence.

She awarded Yameen Rf 1500 (US$972) for aggravated damage, Rf 41,600 (US$2697) for exemplary damages, and Rf 20,915.70 (US$1356) to reimburse Yameen for upgrading the security of his house.

The court also ordered police to pay the money within 30 days.

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed Musthafa recently submitted a resolution to parliament calling for an investigation into allegations that Yameen as former head of the State Trading Organisation (STO) had been complicit in trading subsidised oil to the Burmese military junta on the black market.

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