Category: Politics

Civil Court orders the immediate release of Supreme Court’s key

The Civil Court of the Maldives has today ordered Ministry of Defense and National Security to release the Supreme Court’s key immediately, and allow the reinstatement of the interim Supreme Court.

The case was presented by the Prosecutor General to the Civil Court this morning. The first hearing was conducted almost immediately and the verdict was delivered this afternoon.

‘’We declare in the absence of state Attorney General’s office, to the Ministry of Defense and National Security and to all concerned authorities of the state, the key of Supreme Court should be issued to the Supreme Court at any time Supreme Court wishes immediately,’’ said Chief Judge Ali Sameer, delivering the verdict.

Citing articles 284 and 141 of the constitution, Judge Sameer declared “that no person shall hold the key of the Supreme Court without the consent of the court.’’

Judge Sameer said the PG’s office had the authority to present the case when the work of the Supreme Court was obstructed, or if the Supreme Court came to a halt by any cause, because it potentially obstructed the PG from fulfilling his responsibilities.

The judge also noted that the court order to summon the Attorney General was delivered and that the AG office failed to send representation to the court, and did not inform why.

State Defense Minister Muiz Adnan said he had not seen the verdict and would not comment until  he had read it.

When questioned according to the last declaration how long the key will be held by the military, he said  he had no information regarding the issue.

Major Abdul Raheem, also a spokesperson of Maldives National Defense Force, said the keys of all the state institutions were kept with the MNDF and issued according to a procedure established by the defence ministry.

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Attorney General resigns claiming job untenable in parliament-caused “constitutional void”

Attorney General (AG) Husnu Suood has resigned claiming his position is untenable in the “constitutional void” triggered by parliament’s failure to enact legislation ensuring the continuation of state institutions such as the judiciary after the interim period.
Suood publicly called for Speaker Abdulla Shahid to follow his lead, after the Speaker cancelled a special session of parliament yesterday intended to resolve interim matters – such as the appointment of Supreme Court judges – before the deadline yesterday.

Following initial reports in the media from opposition MPs, the president’s office issued a statement confirming it had received a letter of resignation from the AG.

In his resignation letter, Suood stated that he had resigned because he did not believe that the state could be operated according to the constitution, because he had noted that state institutions had failed to fulfil their responsibilities as obliged by the constitution.

As a consequence, Suood wrote he did not have the opportunity to perform his own duties and responsibilities under article 133 of the constitution, prompting his resignation.

“His legal opinion is that his job is no longer tenable until the Majlis enacts the appropriate legislation,” said Press Secretary for the President’s Office, Mohamed Zuhair.

Suood appeared on Television Maldives (TVM) this around noon blasting parliament for failing to legislate the continuation of state institutions by the interim period’s deadline yesterday.

Opposition DRP MP Ali Waheed meanwhile stated that the resignation of the AG “proves the disobedience of the executive to the laws.”

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Legal limbo leads MNDF to confiscate Supreme Court keys, after Majlis cancels last session of interim period

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) confiscated the keys to the Supreme Court on Saturday afternoon pending the conclusion of the interim period of the Constitution.

Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair said the President had ordered the move “to prevent entry until the Majlis (parliament) reaches a consensus [on appointing the new Supreme Court judges].”

Zuhair explained the decision to confiscate the keys was made “to avoid unforeseen circumstances, because right now there is a difference of opinion as to what will happen should the Majlis fail to reach a decision by tonight.”

The current Supreme Court judges have previously declared themselves permanent in a letter sent to President Mohamed Nasheed, although the President’s member on the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), Aishath Velezinee, claims this was unconstitutional “and no one has recognised or even mentioned it.”

According to the constitution, the president is required to nominate the new Supreme Court judges following consultation with the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), and then present the names to parliament to approve in a vote.

Nasheed has already nominated Supreme Court Judge Uz Ahmed Faiz Hussain for the position of Chief Justice, however “he has not been able nominate [the rest of the bench] because parliament has not yet passed the Bill on Judges that stipulates the number required,” Velezinee said.

The constitution obligates parliament to resolve the matter before the end of today, however scheduled sessions were postponed to 8pm and then eventually cancelled in a statement issued by the Speaker, opposition DRP MP Abdulla Shahid, on the grounds that both sides were unable to decide the matter.

The Majlis was also to approve nominations for the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) and the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

Under the constitution, the cancellation effectively leaves the country in a legal ‘limbo’ period as of midnight, without several institutions functioning legitimately including the country’s highest court – “as of midnight there are no Supreme Court judges”, Zuhair noted.

Parliament has also yet to approve the reinstated cabinet ministers.

A senior government official told Minivan News that “rather than leave the country without a legitimate judiciary on conclusion of the interim period, the President will decree at midnight that the trial courts [the Criminal and High Courts] will continue to function, while an interim body of credible judges of high reputation will serve as an appellate court, under advisory of the Commonwealth.”

Appellate courts have been used in countries like the United States, and are typically limited to reviewing decisions made by lower courts rather than hearing new evidence.

Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed confirmed the President had proposed to decree that the two trial courts continue to function after midnight, “to give parliament time to pass the necessary legislation.”

However Dr Shaheed said the President would not re-mandate the current Supreme Court bench, “because that would be a de-facto extension and could go on forever.”

“Parliament has failed to complete legislation that would give legitimacy to the Supreme Court [under the new Constitution],” Dr Shaheed said.

He also said that while the government had asked the Commonwealth for assistance running the interim appellate court, it had not yet received an answer. The government had also briefed the UN Resident Coordinator, Andrew Cox, he said.

“It’s not just tonight’s cancellation [of parliament],” Dr Shaheed said. “Parliament has had two years to do these things. It baffles me why they would put the country in this situation – tonight people should be asking who they should blame.”

Minivan News was still waiting for a response from Attorney General Husnu Suood at time of press, following the announcement of the appellate court.

Suood had previously told newspaper Haveeru that parliament had the option of extending the transition period for another one to two months with a two-thirds majority vote, or by appointing a new chief justice before midnight.

“Questionable matters will arise when this state is over,” Suood told Haveeru.

Velezinee told Minivan News that the country was now “in a vacuum”, and the JSC had been asked to be on call to meet with the President and suggest names should parliament reach a decision.

She noted that the JSC now consisted of eight members, as the Supreme Court’s member and head of the commission Mujthaz Fahmy and ex-officio member of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Dr Mohamed Latheef no longer retained their positions on conclusion of the interim period, until reappointed.

“I have asked the Secretary General to call the police if they try and enter the building,” she added.

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Cabinet passes regulation limiting ministers’ interactions with parliament

The cabinet has approved a new set of procedures governing its interactions with parliament.

“After discussing the draft Cabinet rules of procedure, the Cabinet passed relevant clauses for communications with the People’s Majlis,’’ said the president’s office in a statement last week.”

Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed said the regulations “are quite important in terms of how the government will interact with parliament from now on. It draws a clear boundary.”

Referencing article 115 (f) of the Constitution, the new regulations state that a cabinet member can only be summoned to the parliament on mention of a the appropriate article in the constitution, and shall answer questions only during a parliament meeting.

Furthermore, cabinet ministers shall only answer to the parliament “if the cabinet minister is given the notice 14 days prior”,  and “shall only answer questions that the minister must according to the law on questioning ministers.”

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Deputy Leader and MP Ali Waheed said the approved procedures were “against the spirit of the constitution” and would be void.

‘’Actually, parliament has yet to approve a cabinet. When a cabinet is established we will summon them to committee meetings as well –  ministers must appear before committees in the interest of the people – the constitution is very clear. Without doubt these new procedures are void – nobody can narrow the summoning of cabinet ministers to parliament.’’

However, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Shifaz said that according to the constitution, the reality for cabinet ministers was very different.

“It does not say that the ministers have to be present at committees hearings – the constitution says that ministers should be answerable to the parliament inside the parliament chamber, not in the committees,’’ said Shifaz.

He said that the opposition still had to approve the cabinet, and that otherwise summoning them for questioning was an act against parliamentary system.

‘’It is not the people who the opposition wish that should be in the president’s cabinet, it should be people appointed by the president,’’ he added.

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JSC condemns police interference

The Judicial Service Commission [JSC] yesterday issued a statement condemning the interference of police in its efforts to reappoint 160 judges before the August 7 deadline.

‘’This action of Maldives Police Services obstructed the duty given to the commission under article 285 of the Constitution, and the act violated article number 13 of the police law,’’ said the JSC’s statement. “Therefore, we strongly condemn the act of police.’’

A statement from the Maldives Police Service (MPS) said the office was closed by police at the request of President Mohamed Nasheed, to prevent “unlawful and unconstitutional work from taking place.”

In an interview with Minivan News, JSC member Aishath Velezinee said the commission was failing in its role as an oversight body and had not examined any of the 71 complaints submitted this year, and was instead protecting the interests of  several individual judges, thus “robbing the nation of an honest judiciary.”

It was in the interest of certain elements in parliament, who were members of the former government, to retain the judiciary appointed by the former administration, she explained.

“What they are doing right now is going to kill the Constitution,” she told Minivan News last week, urging parliament’s Independent Commission Committee (ICC) to issue an injunction against the reappointments while an investigation was conducted.

In its statement yesterday, the Commission claimed that “under article number 285 [b] [d] of the Constitution it is the duty of the commission to reappoint judges within the time of two years. That deadline is August 7.’’

The JSC said it had “included the opinion” of members of the commission who disputed the criteria for reappointing judges – according to Velezinee, many of whom have only primary school levels of education –  “and now we are following a criterion that was approved by nine present members of the commission.”

‘’Under the amended criteria, 160 judges were approved by the members of the commission [who were] present,’’ the statement added.

The JSC has 10 members.

Speaker Abdulla Shahid told MPs today that the Majlis would hold a special sitting on Saturday to settle matters relating to the transition period, on the day of the stipulated deadline.

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MDP head office damaged in alleged arson attack

The head office of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) suffered almost Rf 1 million in damage in an alleged arson attack last night, according to managing operator Ibrahim Manik.

”Photocopy machines, fax machines, printers, huge speakers, microphones, cloths and flags were burned in the arson attack at around 12:45am, last night after the MDP rally,” Manik claimed.

The arson attack caused more than Rf 900,000 (US$70,o00) in damage to the office.

Manik said that when he came back from dinner after the rally, some of the MDP supporters present at the head office claimed to have heard something hitting the roof.

”So we checked the area, because recently some people on different occasions have attempted to attack us with petrol bombs,” Manik claimed. ”We checked but did not see anything, but after a while we started smelling smoke in the area so I went to check the depository room.”

Manik said he saw clothes in the room on fire, and ”I called the people outside and told them the place was on fire.”

”We started to evacuate the room, but everything was destroyed after we evacuated. We controlled the fire using a water tap, but it was a dangerous attack and it caused us to lose much of our valuable property.”

Manik claimed the fire was the result of an attack orchestrated by “some opponents.”

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the case was reported to police, who were now investigating the case. Nobody has been arrested in connection with the matter, he said.

Recently a group of people attacked and destroyed the glass windows of shops belonging to Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) deputy leader Ibrahim Shareef.

In another incident, a group of people attacked the house and car belonging to People’s Alliance [PA] leader and MP Abdulla Yameen.

Very recently during an MDP protest, protesters threw stones at the house of Deputy Leader of PA Ahmed Nazim, breaking the window of the house’s first floor at midnight.

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Citizen’s rights “crushed under foot”, Dr Saeed tells UK Law Society

Leader of the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) Dr Hassan Saeed has called on the UK-based Law Society to lead a mission to the Maldives to assess the erosion of the rule of law, in an interview with the organisation’s publication The Law Society Gazette.

Dr Saeed told the Society that President Mohamed Nasheed, “a former political prisoner dubbed the Maldives ‘Nelson Mandela’”, was dismantling the 2008 Constitution and trying to “crush citizens’ rights under foot”.

President Nasheed was establishing his own “public courts” to replace independent courts, the Society reported Dr Saeed as claiming, while “courts are suspended” and “judges assaulted.”

In the article, the Society’s president Linda Lee urged the Maldives authorities “to uphold and protect key constitutional principles.”

Minivan News contacted the DQP seeking clarification of the claims.

Regarding the assaults on judges, the party’s Secretary General Abdulla Ameen noted that following a ruling in a case concerning Juhmoree Party MP Gasim Ibrahim by Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed, “a lot of people went outside [the judge’s] house and physically threatened him, and set his motorcycle on fire.”

Concerning the suspension of courts, “the government has created a culture of fear among the judiciary, and they have had to cancel sessions and hold emergency meetings because of the increase in tension.”

The government had breached the rights of individuals “by arresting people without warrants,” Ameen said, referring to the recent detention of People’s Alliance MP Abdulla Yameen on the Presidential Retreat of Aarah following accusations of bribery and treason.

He also criticised the government for leaking audio tapes appearing to implicate MPs for corruption, “despite the Constitution clearly protecting private conversations between individuals.”

Ameen said Dr Saeed had requested the Law Society send an independent delegation to investigate the issues, “but if any other [institution] is interested we would also welcome it.”

The President’s member on the Judicial Services Commission Aishath Velezinee has also appealed for the UN Special Rapporteur on Independent Judiciary and the International Committee of Jurists (ICJ) to send mediators to the Maldives.

Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed said Dr Saeed’s claims in the Law Society article were “totally out of orbit.”

“One has to wonder what he is talking about – look at his own track record serving under former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom [as Attorney General]. We are clearly making steady progress,” Dr Shaheed said.

“Claiming that judges are being assaulted is very irresponsible. I’m not aware of any case where a judge has been assaulted, and in such an event there are domestic remedies available,” Dr Shaheed said.

Regarding Dr Saeed’s claim that courts were being suspended, “that’s outrageous. I’m not aware of a single time this has happened.”

“When a lawyer becomes a politician, they must continue to respect certain professional ethics as well,” he said.

“They are out to tarnish [President] Nasheed’s image, and they have taken issue with his awards and his description as South Asia’s ‘Nelson Mandela’,” Dr Shaheed said. “I think this is a case of the green-eyed monster.”

The request by the Law Society that the government respect the rule of law was “a standard expectation and we respect it.”

“The government is not disregarding the law,” he said. “Look at the behaviour of the other [arms of state]. Parliament is trying to usurp the powers of the executive, and the judiciary is behaving very questionably.”

Working in such an environment, Dr Shaheed said, the President had been called upon to make “some very difficult judgments, such as [the detention and release] of MP Abdulla Yameen.”

Dr Saeed recently led a DQP delegation to the UK to present the opposition coalition’s case to UK politicians and international institutions, employing a PR company to arrange interviews with several organisations, including The Law Society. The trip was jointly funded by the opposition parties, Minivan News was told at the time.

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No democracy without justice, claims Reeko Moosa

Police have the right to prevent any act violating the constitution, claimed Parliamentary group leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik, following a police blockade of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) yesterday morning.

The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) yesterday expressed concern over the police action against the JSC, following criticism of the commission’s intention to rush through the reappointment of 160 judges before the Constitutional deadline of August 7.

Speaking to an MDP rally today, Moosa declared that “if there is no justice, there is no need of democracy.’’

“The Constitution compels the executive to uphold the constitution, so police can stop any action that violates the constitution and can enter any place where such an action is going on,’’ he claimed.

”MDP’s parliamentary group is ready to pass the bill on judges and we have informed the [opposition] Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and the speaker of the parliament,” he added.

Police cordoned the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) on Monday morning, preventing its staff from working or entering the building, while the President’s Office summoned members of the judicial oversight body for questioning at an 11am meeting.

A statement from the Maldives Police Service (MPS) said the office was closed by police at the request of President Mohamed Nasheed, to prevent “unlawful and unconstitutional work from taking place.” Nasheed reportedly asked police to stand down following the meeting.

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Letter on treatment of visitors

Dear Sir

Wake up – this is no way to treat your visitors! As a regular visitor to your beautiful country, I feel it’s time to let you know what many international visitors to the Maldives feel about your poor airport service.

Should foreign visitors to the Maldives be treated to such poor service at the important time of arriving and leaving the country – especially when there are many other equally beautiful island countries around the world where they can spend their holidays?

Passport Control – here there are often long and unpleasant delays and queues on arrival. To make matters worse the guest has to go through the gauntlet of the impolite passport control staff. How difficult is it for them to offer a greeting to the guest as they arrive at the passport counter? “Good afternoon” – “thank you” – “goodbye…” It’s so easy and so simple. The passport control staff need a lesson in basic manners and why it is important for the benefit of their country that guests are treated with basic courtesy.

Food – There is a self-service cafeteria at the International Terminal – (apparently owned by a Maldivian – Mr Hassan Bagir), where there are no pricing notices and where a cup of coffee will cost the same as the most expensive cities in the world, London or Paris.

The service in this cafe is poor and unpleasant, and one has to ask for change! No wonder there were no Maldivians eating or drinking at the tables of this cafeteria – it’s only the ignorant foreigner who is foolish enough to order food and drinks here.

Souvenir shop – where the Hindi Film is so loud you cannot think clearly and the staff have no other interest than to watch the Hindi film. The badly displayed stock includes Sharks Heads (I thought Shark Fishing in Maldives is meant to be banned?)

Customs and immigration – It’s still unbelievable that visitors coming to the Maldives from somewhere like Sri Lanka or Thailand will have any Buddhist statues in their possession confiscated. This is crazy when you have an excellent museum in Male’ displaying Buddhist statues – representing a period of Maldives history!

I would like to suggest to the Airport Authorities and the Ministry of Tourism: Wake up, this is no way to treat your visitors!

I hear a new airport is going to be built in the Maldives – there is little point unless there is an understanding why customer service and basic manners are important in the competitive business of tourism.

Yours,
Concerned Visitor

All letters are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to submit a letter, please send it to [email protected]

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