Cabinet will hold a discussion on Tuesday regarding a proposal to repopulate Maafilaafushi in Lhaviyani atoll.
Maafilaafushi is used by the military and has around 100 residents, reported Haveeru, adding that residents protested after President Nasheed visited yesterday to inaugurate two military schools on the island.
Islanders demanded to be relocated to Male’ or Hulhumale, because of the military exercises, Haveeru reported.
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(0)Air India has restored flights between Male’ and Trivandrum following a 10 day strike by the airline’s 700 pilots.
The pilots were demanding pay parity with colleagues flying international routes, and halted the strike promises by the government to look into the complaints.
The strike reportedly cost Air India US$3.35 million a day in lost revenues, as it was forced to cancel 70-80 percent of its domestic flights.
(0)Dislikes(0)Maldives police have reportedly discovered a man’s corpse within a rented room in Male’ today, though have not disclosed any further details regarding the details of his death.
Haveeru reported that the body, which was identified by the newspaper as 26 year old Ahmed Shahid, was found within a house in the Henveiru area of the city.
According to the report, the room in which the corpse was discovered had been locked from the inside. Police have said they will disclose more details on the case at a later date.
(0)Dislikes(0)Protesters in the capital city of Male’ gathered in the Artificial Beach area last night for a sixth night of protests, ahead of a major demonstration planned for today after Friday prayers.
The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) maintains the protests are ‘youth led’ demonstrations against rising commodity prices, brought on by the government’s decision to implement a managed float of the rufiya.
Haveeru reported that despite warning demonstrators to remain in the open artifical beach area, police treatment of demonstrators was relaxed compared to previous evenings.
Groups of protesters split from the main group and attempted to gather in the intersection used as the focus of the protesters this week, but were dispersed by police.
Dismissed deputy DRP leader Umar Naseer and several DRP MPs, including Ali Arif and Ahmed Mahloof, were briefly detained by police, and protests dissipated around 1:30am.
(0)Dislikes(0)President Mohamed Nasheed has granted clemency to two convicted criminals who were found guilty of drug related charges, reports SunFM.
SunFM reported that the two were identified as Ahmed Izhan Rasheed, Green Lily, Male’ and Ahmed Imsaah of Lhaviyani Atoll Naifaru.
The Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Service (DPRS) told SunFM that both of them were released according to the Clemency Act and that if they committed any crime their sentence would be reinstated, in addition to any further sentences.
(0)Dislikes(0)Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP)’s MP Ahmed Mahlouf has claimed that 317 protesters have been arrested over the past four days and 75 persons injured, according to daily newspaper Haveeru.
Haveeru reported that Mahlouf said among the persons arrested there were 203 persons whose whereabouts “are now unknown”.
The government has claimed that all but 14 of those arrested have been released, after the court extended their period of detention.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Maldives’ new Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim was formally appointed by President Mohamed Nasheed yesterday, following approval by parliament.
Nasheed present Niyaz with a letter of appointment during a ceremony at the President’s Office before Supreme Court Judge Abdulla Areef yesterday morning, and requested he comprehensively audit all government authorities, and other institutions and the entire state treasury.
The President’s Office said that all independent institutions established under the new constitution of the Maldives should function as envisaged by the constitution to ensure the country’s progress.
The Maldives has been without an auditor general for over a year. The former auditor general was dismissed by parliament for purchasing a tie and transport on government money, a week after requesting an audit of all current and former government ministers.
(0)Dislikes(0)Relatives of a murdered women whose body was placed in a suitcase and then dumped into rubbish at a Male’ construction site last year have requested that her alleged killer face the death penalty during an ongoing trial in the country’s Criminal Court.
Haveeru has reported that the family of the murdered woman, identified only as Shereen, had generally decided in favour of calling for the death penalty under the rules of Islamic Shariah, should suspect Mohamed Najah be found guilty of killing her.
According to the report, during the Criminal Court hearing that took place today in Male’, relatives of the victim, including her father, brother and three sisters, called for the sentence to be imposed over the phone from Lhaviyani Thun’dee Magistrate Court.
Shereen’s mother, who was present at the Criminal Court hearing in Male’, also stressed her preference for the death penalty if Najah was convicted, with Judge Abdulla Mohamed stating that three more relatives, who were unable to attend the court session, were required to provide their consent for the death penalty.
Statements are expected to be taken from these relatives at the court on a later date, the report added. Shareen’s body was discovered on January 2, 2010.
Currently, death penalties imposed within the Maldives are able to be reduced to a 25 years prison sentence by the president under the Clemency Act. In November 2010, the Criminal Court of the Maldives issued a death sentence to a person found guilty of murder. However the last person to actually be judicially executed was Hakim Didi in 1953, who was executed by firing squad after being found guilty of consipiracy to murder using black magic.
The death penalty issue has become extremely pertinent for the nation’s politicians of late with a number of amendments proposed this year to the country’s Clemency Act that outlines policy related to any possible death sentence.
on April 18, Parliament accepted an amendment presented by Jumhoree Party (JP) MP Ibrahim Muthalib requiring the death sentence to be implemented if the Supreme Court upholds an execution decision issued by itself or a lower court.
Out of the 59 present MPs, 14 declined the amendment, while three parliamentarians did not vote on either side.
MDP MPs Alhan Fahmy, Eva Abdulla, Hamid Abdul Gafoor, ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, Ilyas Labeeb, Imthiyaz Fahmy, Ibrahim Rasheed, Rugiyya Mohamed, Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed, Ahmed Rasheed, Mohamed Aslam, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and DRP MPs Ali Azim and Hussein Mohamed voted to dismiss the amendment.
(0)Dislikes(0)Five students from countries including the Maldives, the Bahamas and Jamaica have completed a 17-week instruction course designed to train officers in the United States Coast Guard.
The five candidates were trained along with 37 US students at an Officer Candidate School as part of a programme that aims to verse participants in a military lifestyle along with dealing with “highly technical information” required by coastguards as part of their duty, reports the New England-based newspaper, The Day.
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