Comment: A climate hero languishes in prison. Let’s fight to get him out

This article is by Bill McKibben. It was first published on April 16 on www.commondreams.org

The underwater pictures from the Maldives last weekend brought back a staggering rush of memories.

In 2009, when 350.org was still a fledgling organization and not the world’s largest grassroots climate campaign, we’d called for our first global day of action. All around the world people rallied in iconic locations, from the summit of Antarctica’s highest mountain to the middle of Times Square. There were 5,200 demonstrations in all, in what CNN called ‘the most widespread day of political activity in the planet’s history.’ But maybe the most memorable was from the Maldives.

Or rather, from below the Maldives. Where newly elected president Mohamed Nasheed, who had taught his cabinet to scuba dive, convened their regular meeting underwater, on the edge of their threatened coral reef. There they signed a proclamation to the UN, asking that it work to lower the level of carbon in the atmosphere.

Underwater Cabinet

That picture helped bring home the newly dawning truth of global warming—that entire nations like the low-lying Maldives were on the edge of extinction. It also marked Nasheed as the most committed head of state in the climate fight.

But that’s not all Nasheed represented. He’s also the Mandela of the Indian Ocean, the man who through long years of nonviolent resistance freed his nation from a long tyranny and won its first democratic election.

That thug government just receded into the shadows, though, and a few years lateroverthrew Nasheed in a military coup. And now it has jailed him for 13 years on absurd charges of terrorism after a trial that would have delighted Kafka—among other things, the presiding judges were also witnesses against the accused.

The long-suffering people of the Maldives are fighting back, though—peacefully, with massive demonstrations night after night in the streets of Male. And over the weekend, a hundred of them dove down to the reef with scuba tanks, and with banners demanding Nasheed’s release. The picture—a purposeful echo of the moment when he made the world notice his embattled archipelago—should alert the planet once more.

There are signs of international support beginning to emerge. Maybe most significantly the renowned human rights lawyer Amal Clooney (yes, that Clooney) has joined his defense team, bringing both great skill and a bright spotlight. But much more is needed.

For one thing, though Nasheed and his colleagues have not called for a tourist boycott, it’s hard to imagine anyone with a conscience wanting to support the goons running the country at the moment. Its beaches are indeed beautiful—but they will be more beautiful once the Maldives have returned to democratic rule.

Our leaders, too, need to act. India, America, the EU all need to be firm in the demand for Nasheed’s safety (there are great fears for his life as he returns to the prison where he’s already spent so many years) and for his release.

For those of us in the worldwide climate movement, this is not just a moment to stand by one of our own. It’s also a good reminder that we need working, inclusive, democratic governments if we are to make real progress. The autocrats now running the Maldives of course abandoned the Nasheed government’s remarkable plan to turn the nation carbon-neutral and even offered to drill for oil in the surrounding waters; as in so many places around the world, tyranny and fossil fuel have a friendly working relationship.

The Maldives is existentially imperiled by a rising ocean. But before it can fully deal with that predicament it needs its voice back. At the moment that voice is languishing in prison.We all should work to get him out.

Bill McKibben is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College and co-founder of 350.org. His most recent book is Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet.

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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Nasheed denied access to international lawyers

The police have denied jailed former President Mohamed Nasheed’s requests to contact his international legal team, stating they must first register with the attorney general’s office.

The opposition leader was sentenced to 13 years in jail last month on terrorism charges in a trial heavily criticised by foreign governments, the UN and Amnesty International for its apparent lack of due process.

Nasheed’s international legal team is made up of heavyweight human rights lawyers including Amal Clooney, who has advised the UN and is the wife of Hollywood actor George Clooney, Jared Genser, the founder of renowned campaign group for political prisoners Freedom Now and Ben Emmerson QC, a former UN rights chief on counter terrorism.

The international team is to push for Nasheed’s “freedom from arbitrary detention” through international lobbying mechanisms such as the UN working group on arbitrary detention, the opposition leader’s domestic legal team has said.

The working group’s decision on Nasheed’s detention will affect the international community’s policies towards the Maldives and will inform decisions on possible sanctions, lawyers said.

Speaking to the press today, Nasheed’s lawyer Hassan Latheef said Nasheed had met with a representative from the Commonwealth yesterday.

However, the former president refused to speak about his trial with the British judge Peter Beaumont CBE QC, stating an additional inquiry into his trial will serve no purpose.

“President Nasheed told the delegation he does not believe the commonwealth needs to do an additional inquiry into the Maldivian judiciary. He said the Commonwealth knows very well the state of the Maldivian judiciary and its courts, and so there is no meaning to do an additional report into his trial,” Hassan said.

Nasheed requested the Commonwealth’s aid in reforming the Maldives’ system of governance and criticised the government’s jailing of rivals, including himself and ex-defence minister Mohamed Nazim.

The result of the Commonwealth-backed inquiry into the 2012 transfer of power had undermined both the government and the opposition’s trust in the organisation, Nasheed reportedly said.

The inquiry was established after Nasheed claimed he had been forced to resign in a coup d’état following a military and police mutiny. But the commission’s report found the transfer of power to be lawful and said there was no mutiny.

Foreign minister Dunya Maumoon in February reacted harshly to Commonwealth criticism of Nasheed’s prosecution, stating the organisation had “wronged us in the past and you are still mistreating us.”

But with growing international criticism of the trial and sentence, the government invited representatives from the Commonwealth and EU to observe an appeal process.

However, Nasheed has refused to file an appeal, instead appealing to President Abdulla Yameen for a political solution. His supporters have called on President Yameen to release the former president by exercising powers granted in the clemency law.

The opposition has been protesting daily for two months over Nasheed’s arrest and imprisonment.

Correction: An earlier version of this article said Nasheed’s international lawyers were planning a visit to the Maldives. This is incorrect. Minivan News apologizes to its readers for the mistake.

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Maldives blames GMR, Axis Bank for sanctions by India after airport takeover

An Indian infrastructure company and a bank successfully lobbied India for sanctions on the Maldives over the 2012 cancellation of a deal to develop the international airport, the government has claimed.

The government made the allegation last month at a Singaporean arbitration tribunal, where India’s Axis Bank is seeking the repayment of a US$160 million loan from the Maldives. The loan was given to GMR group in 2011 to upgrade and manage the Maldives’ main airport.

India had tightened visa regulations for Maldivians and ceased exporting some construction materials to the Maldives, after the government took over the airport in 2012, but neither India nor the Maldives had explained the reasons for the sanctions.

India only lifted the restrictions after President Abdulla Yameen was elected in November 2013.

In its submission to the Axis Bank tribunal – obtained by Minivan News – the government claimed the bank had been involved in an “attempt to secure political pressure from the Indian government” to prevent cancellation of the deal.

The Axis Bank in 2012 also told the government it would “approach the regulatory-diplomatic authorities in India” after GMR was ordered to handover the airport, the government said.

GMR also wrote to the prime minister in August 2012 “requesting intervention by the Indian government, when it was clear that future of the concession agreement was in jeopardy,” the government said.

GMR is meanwhile claiming US$803 million from the Maldives in a separate arbitration after the tribunal ruled last year that the government had “wrongfully” terminated a “valid and binding” concession agreement.

The campaign by GMR and Axis Bank led to Indian officials including then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh telling ex-president Dr Mohamed Waheed that the “Indian government stood ready to assist GMR in making sure [the cancellation] did not happen.”

According to minister Mohamed Hussain Shareef, “the message [Waheed] got from them was confident and unbending: they expected [the Maldivian government] not to take any action to terminate the concession agreement”.

The Indian government subsequently “insisted on the repayment of outstanding debts of US$100m” in mid-November 2012 and warned of “repercussions” shortly before the agreement was terminated, lawyers representing the Maldives said.

The lawyers also alleged that then-Indian high commissioner to the Maldives “sought to intervene through several meetings with [then-defence minister Mohamed Nazim] in which he asked the Maldives to cooperate in allowing GMR/GMIAL back into the airport.”

Nazim in his testimony said that the message from India was “either back off or suffer the consequences.”

Documents disclosed during arbitration proceedings also showed that the Axis bank’s officials had met the Indian High Commissioner in January 2013, a month after the government took over the airport, lawyers added.

The submission noted that former president Mohamed Nasheed stated after a visit to India in February 2013 that “India believes the deteriorating ties between Maldives and India will recover” if the 25-year contract is restored.

“On 11 March 2013 several Indian Navy attack craft were reported as having conducted exercises just outside Maldivian territorial waters,” it added.

With the tightening of visa regulations for Maldivian citizens, dozens of people to queued outside the Indian High Commission to obtain visas to travel for medical treatment.

In February 2013, the Indian government revoked a special quota afforded to the Maldives for the import of aggregate and river sand. The move led to a shortage of the supply of construction material and rising costs for construction companies.

The current Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meanwhile invited the GMR chairman to a state banquet in honour of President Abdulla Yameen in January 2014, lawyers representing the Maldives noted.

Minivan News is awaiting a response to the allegations from the Axis Bank and GMR, while the government has declined to comment on the ongoing arbitration.

The Axis Bank is seeking repayment of the US$160 million loan as well as an additional US$10 million as interest and fines from the Maldivian government. The bank contends that state is liable for the loan in the event of an early termination or an expropriation of the airport.

However, the government has argued that declaring the concession agreement invalid from the outset does not amount to an early termination. The government also accused the Axis Bank and GMR of colluding to extract large sums of money, claiming the developer paid for the bank’s litigation fees for the separate arbitration process.

The Axis Bank meanwhile dismissed the argument as “highly semantic” and stated: “what words were used by the government to characterise its own acts are irrelevant to establishing whether the acts of the government amounted to an expropriation.”

Verdicts are expected in both the GMR and Axis Bank arbitrations in June.

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Villa accounts freeze will ‘send shockwaves’ through Maldives economy

Jumhooree Party leader Gasim Ibrahim’s Villa Group has warned of negative repercussions for the Maldivian economy if the tax authority freezes the company’s bank accounts next week.

A 20-day final notice seeking US$90.4 million allegedly owed as unpaid rent, fines and interest expires on Saturday (April 18), while the civil court last week refused to grant stay orders halting enforcement of the notice.

The enforcement policy for defaulting taxpayers involves freezing bank accounts to recover the unpaid amounts and ceasing to provide services from any state institution.

Villa – which won the tax authority’s “Ran Laari” award last year as one of five companies that paid the highest amount to the state – insists it does not owe any money to the state.

“It is not only Villa’s shareholders’ and the company’s rights that are lost [if bank accounts are frozen]. The rights of a lot of employees who work at the company, small and medium-sized businesses dependent on this company, guests who have made bookings at our resorts, tour operators, and many other people, would also be lost,” said Villa Group executive director Shimad Ibrahim at a press conference last night.

Banks that have issued loans to Villa will also be affected, he added.

“In sum, we are having to face something on Sunday that will send shockwaves through the whole economy,” he said.

The holding company Villa Shipping and Trading Pvt Ltd conglomerate operates businesses in shipping, import and export, retail, tourism, fishing, media, communications, transport, and education.

Villa business secretary Ibrahim Rasheed added: “We are all holding our breath.”

Rasheed said the company will continue to seek “a peaceful resolution” and “hope for justice”.

He noted that Villa companies employ about 5,000 people.

In an interview on his Villa Television on Saturday, Gasim repeatedly appealed for talks with president Abdulla Yameen and tourism minister Ahmed Adeeb to resolve the dispute.

However, the Villa officials said the government has not responded to “pleas” for discussions.

Adeeb meanwhile accused Gasim at a ruling coalition rally last week of hoarding islands and lagoons and refusing to pay money owed to the state.

“Fabricated”

The Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA) issued the US$90 million notice after the tourism ministry terminated agreements for several properties leased to Villa and subsidiary companies for resort development.

The move followed Gasim’s JP forming an alliance with the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party. However, the government denies the opposition’s accusations of unfairly targeting Gasim’s business interests.

Some 27 cases challenging the termination of the agreements and MIRA’s notice as well as appeals of the civil court’s refusal to grant stay orders are ongoing at court.

While the tourism ministry cited lack of “good faith” as the reason, the Villa officials insisted the terminations were unlawful and that the fines were “fabricated”.

If rent is not paid, the government is required to give a 30-day notice before issuing fines or seizing the properties, they noted.

The lease agreements also specify procedures for termination on the grounds of financial or non-financial breaches, but the tourism ministry’s termination notices did not refer to any violation.

“This is something that investors should seriously consider. This is a frightening and dangerous thing,” said Villa lawyer Ahmed Shafeeq.

In response to a letter from Villa contending there was no basis for the fines, Shimad said MIRA told the company it was “following instructions” from the tourism ministry.

Settlement agreement

The properties at stake were leased under a settlement agreement signed with the tourism ministry on December 12, 2013, less than a month after president Yameen took office.

The settlement agreement was reached after the Supreme Court on November 19 ordered the state to pay US$9.7 million to Villa in one month as compensation for damages incurred in a project to develop a city hotel in Laamu Kahdhoo.

As part of the settlement, Villa withdrew cases involving a dispute over a city hotel in Haa Dhaal Hanimadhoo and resort development on Gaaf Dhaal Gazeera.

In return, the government signed five ‘amended and restated lease agreements’ with Villa for three islands and several Kaafu atoll lagoons.

The government also agreed to forgo rents for the islands and lagoons for a construction period of five years and seven years, respectively.

However, after the settlement agreement was terminated in February, MIRA’s notice stated that Villa owed US$75.5 million as fines, US$600,000 as interest, and US$14.8 million as unpaid rent dating back to original lease agreements signed in 2006 and 2007.

The Villa officials noted that the company has paid over US$15 million as advance payments for the properties.

In the case of Kahdhoo, MIRA claimed an unpaid rent of US$293,000 and a fine of US$10 million – 34 times the allegedly unpaid rent – despite the 2013 Supreme Court judgment declaring Villa does not owe rent for the property, the officials said.

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Judicial watchdog criticised over 12-member trip to Thinadhoo

A former member of the judicial watchdog has called a 12-member trip to the south for training purposes “unnecessary and for personal interests.”

The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) team, which includes six commission members and a criminal court, Judge Abdulla Didi, left to Gaaf Dhaal Thinadhoo on Wednesday for a training session for magistrates and to investigate several cases, a JSC official said.

The total number of people in the delegation is nine, the JSC has said. But the Thinadhoo council confirmed that a total of 12 people with the JSC delegation met with the council yesterday.

A former JSC member, Shuaib Abdul Rahman, said the commission’s decision to leave Malé with a 12-member delegation despite hundreds of pending cases was “unacceptable.”

“A substantive number of people are saying the criminal court has handed out unfair verdicts [against ex-president Mohamed Nasheed and ex-defence minister Mohamed Nazim],” he said.

“The commission has the power to investigate issues on their own initiative. So ignoring what is important and leaving with a 12 member team to an atoll is unacceptable.”

The criminal court has been criticised for lack of due process in the sentencing of Nasheed to 13 years in jail and Nazim to 11 years in jail on terrorism and illegal weapons charges, respectively.

In 2014, the JSC conducted four trips to the atolls to present appointment letters to magistrates. Members also went on two international trips to Zambia and China.

Shuaib said only one or two members were sent to the atolls for investigation during his term at the JSC.

“It is totally unnecessary to put together a team that large. This probably includes personal interests,” he said.

JSC’s media officer Hassan Zaheen dismissed the criticism and said: “The commission is conducting training programs to magistrates about some criminal proceedings.”

He also defended Judge Didi’s presence on the training trip, saying “Judge Didi was a former member and a Criminal Court Judge. I see him to be fit for the purpose and there are no legal barriers.”

Didi was the presiding judge in Nasheed’s trial, and sat on the three-member panel in Nazim’s trial.

The judicial watchdog, formed in 2008, has 111 cases pending, a majority of which relates to the integrity of judges. Complaints over criminal court Judge Abdulla Mohamed’s misconduct and an alleged sex scandal of Supreme Court Justice Ali Hameed are still pending.

Hameed was recently appointed as the president of the JSC.

The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party has accused the JSC of failing to fulfil its mandate of ensuring ethical conduct among judges.

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Hundreds of inmates display artwork at national gallery

Some one thousand inmates displayed a variety of artwork showcasing their creativity and skills in an annual exhibition at the national art gallery today.

Nimal Ibrahim, who won first place for his painting, said: “This is a great opportunity to showcase our potential and be a part of the society.”

Ibrahim’s painting depicted a man in a suit holding a scale jeering at four people, one of whom carried the Maldives flag.

The three-day exhibition organised by the Maldives Correctional Services (MCS) is open to the public and will continue till Saturday night.

Inmates from the Maafushi and Asseyri jails exhibited over 850 paintings and hundreds of handicrafts and furniture today. Plants grown by inmates in an agricultural training session were also on display.

Hundreds of inmates were present at today’s exhibition, accompanied by security guards.

Several paintings depicted interrogation rooms and courtrooms, demonstrating the trials inmates go through in the Maldives criminal justice system.

A member of the organising team, corporal Abdulla Ameen, said inmates had worked on their artworks over the last year.

“There are about 500 inmates who have participated every year since this exhibition began in 2011,” he said.

Winners are given a prize of MVR500 (US$32). Members of the public can purchase any artwork and proceedings are to go to the correction centre’s cooperative society.

inmate art 2

Mohamed Shifag, who made a large wooden sail boat, said inmates worked on their artworks for a few hours every day.

“I learned how to do craft work from the courses we are taught,” he said.

In addition to art classes, inmates are also given classes in agriculture and religion.

“We receive help from the authorities for the courses we hold, and inmates are always looking for such opportunities,” said superintendent of jails, Mohamed Asif.

Inmates are selected for the courses based on their discipline.

The exhibition will be open from 2-6pm in the afternoon and from 8-10pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

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Comment: International community must not ignore the plight of ‘Mandela of the Maldives’

The following op-ed was written by Anders Henriksen and Lykke Friss from the University of Copenhagen and first appeared on The Conversation. Republished with permission.  

This year has been anything but tranquil in paradise. In March, after a prolonged period of tension in the Maldives – the Indian Ocean island nation better known as a honeymoon paradise – a panel of judges found the former president, Mohamed Nasheed, guilty of terrorism and sentenced him to 13 years imprisonment.

The international community has condemned Nasheed’s trial as a farce. The charges against him were highly dubious, he was denied the right to legal counsel, given just a few days to prepare his defence – and two of the presiding judges even testified on behalf of the prosecution. Amnesty International labelled the trial as “a travesty of justice”.

As numerous UN reports have shown, the Maldivian judiciary is highly corrupt. It is a judiciary that is loyal not to the rule of law, but to the regime that has been in charge since a coup d’état in 2012. Nasheed is now back in the same jail where he spent years as a prisoner of conscience during the former Maldives dictatorship.

Shattered dreams

At the end of 2008, when democracy swept aside 30 years of dictatorship, it all looked so promising. The Maldivian people chose Nasheed as president in their first democratic elections and, for a brief moment, freedom blossomed.

During Nasheed’s presidency, Maldivians could speak freely for the first time, enjoy new found political freedoms, and express themselves through art and culture. Internationally, the charismatic new leader gained fame for his remarkable efforts to persuade the world to combat climate change, which threatens low-lying Maldives. Nasheed toured the world as a political rock-star, receiving accolades from the White House to Windsor Castle.

But it did not take long for the old regime to move against the young democratic government. On February 7 2012, Nasheed was forced to resign and the presidency was handed to Mohamed Waheed, a puppet of the former regime. The Maldivessoon reverted to type: journalists were targeted, protesters beaten up, and opposition politicians threatened and murdered.

The subsequent presidential elections 2013 were marred by widespread allegations of vote-rigging. The former dictator’s half brother, Abdulla Yameen, won – despite an overwhelming expectation that Nasheed would be returned.

Democracy trampled

Nasheed’s incarceration should be cause for concern to anyone who cares about democracy, liberty or the rights of women. In the Maldives, the moderate, freedom-oriented version of Islam that Nasheed espoused is under threat from a regime that colludes with Islamic extremists.

Unless the current trajectory is turned, the liberal forces in the countries will lose the on-going battle with fundamentalist Islam. In the last year alone, Islamic State supporters have rallied in the streets of Male, the Maldivian capital, and a growing number of Maldivians – some with experience of terrorist training camps in Pakistan – have gone to Syria to fight for Islamic State. Only Nasheed and his Maldivian Democratic Party have been willing to tackle the growing problems of Islamic radicalism.

There are few statesmen of Nasheed’s stature. Many foreign journalists, with good reason, refer to him as the “Mandela of the Maldives”. In the interests of democracy and stability, the international community must take a clear stand. Unless Nasheed is swiftly released from prison, the European Union and other nations should impose targeted sanctions against those in power.

These sanctions should include travel bans and foreign asset freezes. The sanctions should target President Yameen, his cabinet ministers, including the minister of tourism, and the corrupt judges who imprisoned Nasheed, and members of the security forces responsible for attacks on peaceful protesters.

Furthermore, since the survival of the regime depends on the annual arrival of the more than a million foreign tourists, individual countries should also supplement sanctions with a tourism boycott. Just like potential tourists should think twice before spending their money on the atolls. Yameen’s regime is baring its teeth. It is time for the international community to respond in kind.

Anders Henriksen is an associate professor of public international law and Lykke Friis is the prorector for education at the University of Copenhagen.

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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Maldives faces second crippling payout in airport dispute

The Maldives faces a payout of US$170million to a bank in the dispute over the government’s abrupt takeover of the main airport from an Indian developer in 2012, Minivan News can exclusively reveal.

India’s Axis bank, which loaned US$160million for airport development in 2011, is seeking repayment of the loan and an additional US$10million in interest and fees from the Maldives, according to submissions made to a Singaporean arbitration tribunal.

The airport developer, GMR group, is meanwhile claiming US$803million from the Maldives in a separate arbitration after the tribunal ruled the government had “wrongfully” terminated the concession agreement.

President Abdulla Yameen estimates Maldives will be required to pay a much lower figure of US$300million to GMR. If the Axis Bank wins its claim, the payout of US$470million may cripple the domestic economy.

Although total foreign reserves stood at US$614.7million by the end of 2014, usable reserves stood at only US$143.9million, according to the central bank.

Public debt meanwhile stands at 75 percent of GDP and is likely to increase this year with the government seeking additional loans to finance key projects including a US$600million loan for airport development.

The attorney general’s office last year denied receiving notice of the arbitration, but since then has been silent on the proceedings.

The office declined to comment on the arbitration today, and the ministry of finance was not available for comment at the time of going to press.

A verdict is expected in both the GMR and Axis Bank arbitrations by June.

Early termination?

The Axis bank, in a submission in February, said it is entitled to recover the US$170million from the government under an agreement that states the Maldives state is liable for the loan in the event of an early termination or an expropriation of the airport.

But the government in its first statements in 2013 denied having knowledge of the agreement with the Axis Bank.

When the signed agreement was produced, the government said declaring the concession void ab initio or invalid from the outset does not amount to an early termination.

When the separate tribunal in the first phase of the GMR arbitration said the concession agreement was valid and constituted a “wrongful repudiation” (refusal to honor the contract), the government in March this year claimed that “repudiation” alone does not lead to termination.

The government went on to blame the GMR for terminating the concession agreement by “accepting” the government’s repudiation, and said no force was used in the takeover.

Axis Bank is “perfectly entitled to recover the loaned sums from the party to which it loaned them” i.e. GMR, it continued.

However, the Axis Bank contended the Maldives argument to be “highly semantic” and said: “what words were used by the government to characterize its own acts are irrelevant to establishing whether the acts of the government amounted to an expropriation.”

The bank also pointed out the Maldives civil aviation authority had cancelled GMR’s aerodrome certificate from December 7, 2012, making it “legally impossible for GMR to continue to operate the airport.”

The government also accused the Axis Bank and GMR of colluding to extract large sums of money, claiming the infrastructure giant had paid for the bank’s litigation fees for the separate arbitration process.

As an Indian Bank for whom GMR was a major customer, the Axis Bank wanted to cement its relationship with GMR “by assisting it in making a very substantial claim for damages,” the government alleged.

The Axis Bank has dismissed the allegations as baseless.

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Toxic fumes shut down Malé school

A school located a block away from Malé’s powerhouse was shut down today after teachers and hundreds of students complained of headaches and vomiting due to toxic fumes.

The principal of Kalaafaanu School, Nazleen Wafir, said the school will be closed until Saturday as officials from the environment ministry determine the source of the fumes.

Wafir said six students had complained of toxic fumes on Tuesday, but there were more complaints today with at least two students throwing up.

“No one is in critical condition, however, heavy fumes rose from the whole school area, so we decided to call off sessions,” she said.

A Kalaafaanu student, Nuha Naseer, 15, said the smell was very strong throughout the school today. “I saw one student fall from dizziness. It was as if something had exploded inside the school.”

Another student in eighth grade, who wished to remain anonymous, said many of his classmates complained of headaches today, and all students were sent home at 10:00am.

The state electricity company’s managing director Abdul Shakoor said STELCO had turned off two power generators on Tuesday when the smell was first reported. This is the first case of its kind in 25 years, he added.

The power generators are located 30-40 meters above ground, Shukoor said, suggesting that the incident may have occurred due to a lack of wind in the dry season.

April and May are the hottest months of the year in the Maldives.

Officials from the environmental protection agency will make public a report into the source of fumes by Saturday, he said.

The education ministry said the school is scheduled to re-open on Sunday.

A senior teacher at Kalaafaanu, Abdul Fahthaah, said; “These days without the school sessions are, of course, a loss. However, we hope we are able to resume classes on Sunday.”

President of the Teacher’s Association of Maldives, Athif Abdul Hakeem, said he hoped the situation is resolved as soon as possible, and said: “I believe the school is going to organise classes on Saturdays to make up for the classes that were missed, however, it is quite a burden for people to come to school and go back again due to such mishaps.”

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