Category: Society & Culture

Government, GMR appoint arbitrators in compensation case

Arbitrators have been appointed to determine the amount of compensation payable by the Maldivian government to Indian infrastructure giant GMR, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

GMR signed a US$511 million 25-year concession agreement with the Nasheed government to manage and upgrade Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).

However in November 2012, the government of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik declared the developer’s concession agreement void and ordered it to leave the country within seven days.

A last minute injunction from the Singapore High Court during arbitration proceedings was overturned on December 6, after Singapore’s Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon declared that “the Maldives government has the power to do what it wants, including expropriating the airport.”

GMR is seeking US$800 million in compensation for the sudden termination, while the Maldivian government is contending that it owes nothing as the contract was “void ab initio”, or invalid from the outset.

The awarding of the bid in 2010 was overseen by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), which the Waheed government has accused of being “negligent” and “irresponsible”.

The Maldives’ Deputy Solicitor General Ahmed Usham told local media today that the Maldives would be represented by Singapore National University Professor M. Sonaraja, while former Chief Justice of the UK, Lord Nicholas Edison Phillips, will represent GMR.

The arbitrator mutually agreed by GMR and the government is retired senior UK Judge, Lord Leonard Hubert Hoffman, according to the Attorney General’s office.

“They have sent us the terms and conditions now. A day to start the arbitration proceedings will be decided once it is agreed to and signed,” Usham was reported as saying.

Should the matter be decided in the government’s favour, uncertainty remains as to the potential impact on foreign investor sentiment given the prospect of sudden asset seizure under the ‘void ab initio’ precedent.

If decided in GMR’s favour, the outcome of the case could potentially see the Maldives facing sovereign bankruptcy, with millions of dollars in additional debt emptying the state’s already dwindling reserves, crippling the country’s ability to obtain further credit, and potentially sparking an economic or currency crisis.

In December 2012, the Maldives government paid back US$50 million to the State Bank of India, after it refused to extend the period of the treasury bonds issued by the bank during the previous government. India has called in further instalments of US$50 million, forcing the government to draw on the state reserves.

Finance Minister Abdulla Jihad has said the government is yet to come to an arrangement to pay the next US$50 million instalment to SBI, explaining that the money will have to come from the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).

“The US$50 million due in February will have to be paid from the reserve. We have been ordered to pay the amount. There has been no change to the order so far. So it must be paid,” Jihad told local media.

At the start of 2013, state reserves had shrunk to MVR 4.9 billion (US$317.7 million), according to the MMA.

“Gross international reserves at the MMA have been declining slowly, and now account for just one and half months of imports, and could be more substantially pressured if major borrowings maturing in the next few months are not rolled over,” an International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation observed during a mission to the Maldives in November last year.

Moreover, one of GMR’s lenders, Axis Bank, is also seeking the repayment of loans for the airport project, which were guaranteed by the Ministry of Finance and approved by the Attorney General’s Office under the former government.

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Criminal Court concludes hearings into terrorism charges against Shahum

The Criminal Court has concluded hearings into terrorism charges against Ibrahim Shahum Adam of Galolhu Couzy.

Spokesperson for the Criminal Court, Ahmed Mohamed Manik, said the court will deliver a verdict in the case on  February 24.

Shahum was charged with terrorism after he allegedly attacked a group of men with a sharp weapon in March 2010, March, near Maaziya football stadium in Maafannu Ward. He also stands accused of murder is a separate case.

One of the victims of in the Maafannu attack died the following day. He was identified by the police at the time as 17 year-old Mohamed Hassan.

The victim was admitted to Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital and was treated for more than eight hours in the intensive care unit, but the knife had severed a major artery and despite an emergency blood transfusion he died the following morning at 6:15am. He was was buried that afternoon at Aasahara cemetery.

A person familiar with the matter told Minivan News at the time that the boy was stabbed while climbing on to the back of a lorry after watching a football match held in the Maaziya football ground.

“He was with his friends on a lorry and about to leave when they were attacked by a group of people armed with stones and sticks,” the source said. “After a while they came close and stabbed him with a knife. Two other boys were also stabbed, one in the chest and another in the leg.’’

Shahum was previously sentenced to a year in prison for attacking a fellow student in an Imam course.

The Criminal Court has almost concluded the second trial against Shahum, concerning his alleged murder of 21 year-old Ahusan Basheer in 2011.

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Kun’burudhoo development hampered by bureaucracy, insufficient budget

The council of the island of Kun’burudhoo in Alif Dhaal Atoll is struggling to meet its mandate of bringing development to its population of just over 500 people, a problem they say is increased due to insufficient annual budget.

The Council President Mohamed Azmy, who was voted in as an independent candidate, echoed the concerns of atoll councils and the Local Government Authority(LGA) that the biggest challenge faced by the council was the lack of adequate funding.

“Last year’s budget covered nothing more than salaries and some stationery for the office. And this year, we have received an even lower budget,” Azmy said. “To add to this, the Decentralisation Act overlaps with other stronger laws and this in the end inhibits us from fundraising through other means.”

Azmy said the Ministry of Finance had notified island councils in late 2012 that any earnings of the councils are to be considered part of the state budget and must be deposited with the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority (MIRA).

Council Member Ahmed Ashraf, from the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), added that the past year’s budget had proved insufficient to maintain the office’s phone and fax lines, or to establish a work space for any of the council members besides the President.

“This is our work space,” Ashraf said, gesturing at a ‘joali’, a set of reclining seats, placed outside the office. “It’s impossible to work productively in conditions such as these. There is so much we are mandated to do for our island, but how will we achieve it unless the state can provide us with resources or at least the autonomy to raise funds ourselves?”

The councillors stated that despite a period of almost three years having passed since the local council elections, the LGA had still not transferred the government-owned lands, which can be used to generate income, to the jurisdiction of the council, citing administrative delays as a cause.

Relocation: President suggests Hulhumale’

President Mohamed Waheed Hassan pledged to address the major concerns of the council during a meeting held January 9.

Speaking of the small size of the island, and the ensuing lack of natural resources and difficulty in providing basic services, Waheed suggested relocating of the island’s population.

Vice President of the Council Mohamed Adam stated that the people of Kun’burudhoo had some demands if they were to be relocated, and that they would only accept the idea on condition that they were moved to a more developed island with a better standard of living.

“We haven’t released any land to individuals in over 30 years. Now there are large families sharing homes here and living standards are decreasing day by day,” Adam said, also pointing out the less than adequate health and education facilities.

The council said Waheed spoke of possibly moving the island’s people to Hulhumale’ during the second phase of its development or to the island of Maafushi, another island close to the capital city of Male’.

President’s Office Spokesperson Ahmed Thaufeeq denied that any mention of specific islands had been made during the time.

“Relocating smaller populations to larger islands is part of this government’s plan. However, we have not yet identified specifically which island will be relocated where. Moving people to Hulhumale’ is definitely not in our plans yet. I have no knowledge of any such plans,” he said.

Adam said that the council was aware that Waheed, as he had promised in the meeting, had approached the Health Ministry asking them to deal with the issues at the island’s health centre.

“It’s a level two health centre. Normally, centres at this tier have approximately 15 staff. In our case, we only have one doctor, one nurse, one community health officer, one administrative staff and one labourer. It’s extremely difficult to cater to people’s needs,” Azmy said. “We hope the health ministry responds to this in a timely manner.”

“There’s also the matter of our mosque. We closed it down last August when we discovered human remains on the premises. Now the ladies’ mosque is open for general use, but this cannot remain a permanent solution. We did put this matter forward to Waheed too,” Azmy continued.

The final issue the council took to the President was the matter of erosion and the damaged revetments of the recently constructed jetty.

The Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC) constructed the jetty in 2009 during Nasheed’s administration.

“This island has been facing the problem of erosion for years. When Nasheed came to power, he kept his pledge and constructed this jetty for us. Now, the jetty is showing signs of wear and tear. We are speaking with the government to find a way to deal with this before matters worsen, but there’s a confusion as to who has to take responsibility,” Azmy said.

Adam said according to the government, the MTCC had not officially handed over the jetty to the government to date.

“If we try to repair this ourselves, it might end up as us acting illegally. Unless this jetty is officially handed over, we ourselves can do nothing about it,” Adam said.

Thaufeeq said that the matter was currently being discussed with MTCC. He stated that the government was working to solve the issue as soon as possible.

“Of the four issues discussed at the meeting, the only action we’ve seen so far from the government is the letter sent to the Health Ministry. There’s been no news on anything else, but I hope what was said at the meeting does translate into action soon,” Adam said.

Waste dumped into sea

“Land erosion has always been a huge problem on this island. After the jetty was built, the erosion is now occurring on the eastern side of the island, opposite from where we had the problem before,” Ashraf said.

Besides soil erosion, the second biggest issue was pollution of the seas. The island does not have any waste management system.

“We leave waste management up to the households. There is a designated area where households burn their waste, but food items and other such waste often just get dumped into the sea,” Adam said.

“I understand that the environment is a very fragile thing. Nevertheless, I don’t see how we can ask the people to not dispose of their waste in the sea unless we can show them alternative means.”

Azmy said plans had been set in place to build a garbage site on the island during the previous administration, but that the council had heard no news about the project after the change in government.

Meanwhile, a number of large dustbins have been placed along the road adjacent to the jetty, bearing the logo of Conrad Maldives Rangali Island.

“Conrad donated those dustbins. The people are only allowed to throw waste like tins, bottles and packets into it. We at the council arrange its disposal. It’s strictly not for household waste,” Ashraf explained.

“Waste management is a massive problem which our government needs to deal with. The Environment Ministry is drafting up a plan to deal with the issue. There are currently mechanisms being put in place to manage waste in Male’, and we will do the same for big and small islands across the country in time,” Thaufeeg said, in response to the matter.

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Local media “misrepresenting and twisting issues”: Indian High Commission

The Indian High Commission has issued a statement slamming local media in the Maldives for “misrepresentation and twisting of issues”.

“The High Commission has noted a recent trend in a section of local media to publish negative, unsubstantiated reports, while blacking out objective and positive news on Indian issues,” the Commission said.

“These reports have the potential to create negative public sentiment and reflect a non-serious approach by the media concerned while dealing with sensitive issues,” the statement added.

The statement highlighted several recent examples, such as coverage of the Maldivian national Ahmed Ruffan Ali, who was reported as alleging he had been “tortured” in an Indian jail after being detained for illegally smuggling peacock feathers.

“The High Commission facilitated major help and assistance for the release of the youth while in distress in India,” the statement read.

“While prominently covering the unsubstantiated and motivated statement of the sentenced youth, the media concerned did not verify the facts from the High Commission and chose to overlook the statement of the youth. His subsequent rejoinder that he was not ‘tortured’ in India has not been carried by the media, so far.”

In a rejoinder statement forwarded by the High Commission, Rufwaan expresses “deep regret” that in an article on Sun Online, “using the word ‘tortured’ is a misrepresentation made in translation of the original statement I made on January 26, speaking to the media at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA), upon arrival from India.”

Rufwaan said he had been asked by reporters as to whether he was beaten in custody, to which he “regretfully responded, “It is a jail after all, and we will get beaten. Yes I was beaten. The rules of the officers there is that, once jailed we have to beg for mercy at their feet. I refused to do that, which is why I got the beating.”

However, Rufwaan stated, “Using the word ‘torture’ insinuates that I was exposed to extreme violent treatment which was not the case. It is also the ‘cultural’ language barrier that the Dhivehi language consists of limited vocabulary which when translated to English, can fit to a variety of synonyms.

“Also, the lack of literary expertise in linguistics of the journalists can often provide misleading information and I believe this could have caused this mistake. The concerned media has taken it very lightly and when requested to correct it, responded as ‘I’ll give it a thought’,” he added.

“Hence I kindly apologise to all concerned authorities for the unfortunate choice of word used in the article, which in my understanding, creates a far more negative and graphic image of how I intended to express,” he said, expressing “profound appreciation” for the High Commission’s “constant support and assistance” throughout his detention.

Editor of Sun and head of the Maldives Journalists Association, Ahmed ‘Hiriga’ Zahir, told Minivan News that the specific word Rufwaan had used, “aniyaa”, translated to “torture”, according to Sun’s audio recordings.

“We [later] received a call, not from him, but from somebody on his behalf,” said Hiriga, acknowledging that media had a responsibility to issue a clarification or correction if this was later required. “We will be making the correction. We do not want to create any problems.”

In a second example, the High Commission highlighted a report in a daily newspaper titled “India to stop export of sand, rice to Maldives”.

“The report is grossly unsubstantiated and does not provide any credible source of its information. As far as the High Commission is aware, the government of India has taken no such decision to ban export of rice or river sand to Maldives. There is a local court injunction for the export of river sand from Tuticorin, though the importers are free to source it from any other region/state in India,” the Indian High Commission stated.

Sun Online carried a story today that the State Trading Organisation (STO) had decided to import aggregate from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka “following a temporary suspension of export of aggregate from India.”

“The Maldives has been importing aggregate from India under a special quota extended by the Indian government. The Indian Ministry of Commerce has notified Indian suppliers that the aggregate quota has been temporarily suspended from the 15th of January onwards,” Sun reported.

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Corrupt immigration practices, unregulated agencies fueling migrant worker abuse

Corrupt immigration practices and the use of unregulated employment agencies by private and state employers are limiting efforts to curb abuse of migrant workers and prevent illegal practices such as retaining staff passports, a Maldivian trade union has alleged.

The Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM) has claimed that while companies are not permitted to retain the passports of foreign workers, some hospitality operators – as well as unregulated third party agencies and government ministries – are still keeping employee travel documents without consent.

The comments were made as a source with knowledge of the current immigration system told Minivan News that the practice of retaining passports – a long-standing habit of Maldivian employers – was a key contributor to human trafficking in the country.

The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said despite improvements late last year among some state employers, the issue still needed significant work from government and private enterprise if it was to be resolved.

Last year, the Department of Immigration and Emigration issued a notice (Dhivehi) expressing concern at the rising numbers of undocumented workers in the country, and set out a revised visa system to try and combat potential people trafficking.

The document included a clause stating that under no circumstances should a passport or travel documents be possessed by anyone other than the rightful owner, and threatened legal action against anyone found to have infringed these rights on the grounds of human trafficking.  An unofficial translation can be read here.

Immigration Controller Dr Mohamed Ali was not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.

In October last year, a senior Indian diplomatic official expressed concern over the ongoing practice of confiscating passports of migrant workers arriving to the country from across South Asia – likening the practice to slavery.

Tourism workers

With the tourism industry one of the largest employers in the Maldives, TEAM Secretary General Mauroof Zakir alleged that relevant authorities in the country were either not able, or unwilling, to address abuse of foreigners.

“The issue of abuse of migrant workers is not being addressed by concerned authorities very much. We have a corrupted Immigration Department that is not able to handle these issues,” he said.

According to Mauroof, the practice of resort operators keeping worker passports was a “complicated issue” due to the common practice of outsourcing the hiring of foreign staff to agencies. He contended that a number of resorts and hotel operators were either keeping passports of staff themselves, or doing so through third party employment agents.

“Passports are being kept, often for stupid reasons. While passports should not be kept by employees, I am sure companies are doing this anyway,” he said.

Mauroof claimed that even this week, TEAM had received complaints that one multi-national hotel operator in Maldives was insisting on retaining the passports of its foreign staff, in some cases against their wishes.

Mauroof also criticised the use of third party employment agencies in particular, alleging that by relying on unscrupulous labour suppliers, resorts risked inadvertently hiring illegal workers.

“One complaint we received involved a resort paying a group of migrant workers US$100 as a monthly basic salary,” he claimed, adding that this did not include service charge payments.

A common human rights abuse involved the housing of foreign staff in substandard conditions. In one example, a group of labourers from Bangladesh were not provided with a toilet in their accommodation, forcing them to use the facilities at nearby mosques.

According to Mauroof, although TEAM’s constitution did allow for foreign workers to become members, only a small number of migrant employees had so far joined the union.

TEAM said it was at present handling three cases relating to the treatment of foreign staff.

With a majority of the country’s tourism workforce made up of foreign staff, Mauroof expressed concern that a large number of immigrant workers could see their basic rights infringed by employers with no realistic chance of seeking legal redress.

Societal attitude

A source with knowledge of the Department of Immigration’s work over the last several years said that while employers, including government ministries, had stepped up efforts to cease retaining passports, it would take “some time” before the issue was resolved.

The source claimed that the practice of retaining passports had been part of the employment culture in the Maldives for a long time, and that changing wider societal attitudes was challenging.

“Withholding passports infringes the basic rights of workers. We are talking about someone’s identity here. Addressing the matter is also the first step in working to prevent human trafficking,” the source claimed. “[Retaining passports] has been part of the culture here for a long time – the Education Ministry and Tourism Ministry have all done this. Keeping passports has been practised since foreign experts began coming to the Maldives.”

The source told Minivan News that the Department of Immigration and Emigration has sent “numerous memos” against the practice of retaining passports, but alleged that certain agencies favoured keeping worker documentation to better manipulate them.

“This is a common practice seen all over the world. But it creates major problems. If a foreigner wishes to go to law enforcement agencies for assistance, they will be asked to identify themselves with a passport,” the source said.

Third party agencies appeared to want to keep the passports to be able to “manipulate” foreign workers for their own financial advantage, the source explained.

“I do not believe that people are aware [keeping passports] is such a bad thing. Big companies, government employers and resort companies are all known to have done it,” the source claimed. “There has been an improvement that we have seen since late 2012 towards stopping the retention of passports. We have talked with government ministries and tried to resolve the matter, however when passports are being kept for visa processing they are not always returned.  This is a big challenge for employees in the outer atolls.”

The same source stressed that while ministries were showing improvements in returning passports to foreign workers, it may take “some time” till the matter was addressed properly.

Minivan News understands at present that the Department of Immigration is temporarily unable to renew work visas for expatriates, and is instead providing a three month extension period to foreign workers as a stop-gap measure. The temporary measures were imposed as a result of ongoing disputes over the controversial implementation of a new border control system provided by Malaysia-based IT firm, Nexbis.

Sources within the immigration department warned Minivan News that the country could have to resort to a “a pen and paper system” for monitoring immigration if the country’s courts approve a parliament vote to scrap the Nexbis deal, without providing an adequate replacement.

Resort challenges

Several resort operators in the Maldives, speaking on condition of anonymity, said while they did not use employment agencies themselves, the level of bureaucracy faced in hiring staff – especially for properties far from Male’ – did sometimes require third party assistance.

The general manager of one resort told Minivan News that the property had its own HR department to obtain documentation for its foreign employees, rather than relying on a third party.

“We do all the application processes ourselves and we have staff passports here in a fire-proof safe,” he claimed. “Staff can have these documents back whenever they request them.  If they do not want to be here, they are welcome to leave.”

Despite having opted against the use of employment agencies, the general manager added that, particularly for resorts in the country’s outer atolls where travel to the capital was difficult, some hospitality operators had little choice but to turn to employment agencies.

“In their defence, the state uses such a bureaucratic system that the government plays a part in these problems,” he claimed. “They have to simplify the [visa application] process. I would say some 70 percent of the rules they have are a joke.”

Another multi-national resort operator with properties across the Maldives confirmed that it did make use of some employment agencies, but favoured sourcing staff either internally from other operations, or from local islands. A source from the resort stressed that in the two years they had worked at the property, they had received no complaints concerning employment agencies they had used to bring in foreign workers.

Blue Ribbon Campaign

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier this month inaugurated an initiative targeted at raising awareness of the human trafficking issue in the Maldives.

Entitled ‘Blue Ribbon Campaign Against Human Trafficking’, the strategy is expected to include activities to try and raise awareness among students and the business community.

The Foreign Ministry announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with multiple local media outlets in the country as part of the campaign’s aim to raising awareness of human trafficking and other related issues.

The Maldives has come under strong criticism internationally in recent years for the prevalence of people trafficking, and the  country has appeared on the US State Department’s Tier Two Watch List for Human Trafficking for three years in a row.

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Court delays Afrasheem murder trial after suspect unable to afford lawyer

The Criminal Court has delayed the second hearing into the trial of Hussain Human, who is accused of murdering MP Dr Afrasheem Ali for the sum of MVR 4 million (US$260,000).

The Criminal Court told the media that the hearing was cancelled as Humam was unable to afford a lawyer.

Spokesperson for the Criminal Court Mohamed Manik told Minivan News that the defendant has asked the state to appoint a lawyer for him.

Maldivian law obliges the state to appoint lawyers for those who can’t afford one when dealing with murder cases.

Manik said the court has not yet decided a date to schedule the next hearing.

‘’A date will be decided after discussion with police and the Prosecutor General’s Office,’’ he added.

During the last hearing the state attorney read out charges against Humam, who pleaded not guilty and requested the court to grant him the opportunity to appoint a lawyer for his defence.

The presiding judge then asked Humam how soon he could appoint a lawyer. Humam replied that he would have to speak to his family. He was given one week and the second hearing was scheduled for Thursday.

Attorneys representing the state told the Criminal Court that on October 1, 2012, Humam and a group of people attacked and murdered Dr Afrasheem Ali.

Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz has previously alleged that the murder of the MP for Ungoofaaru constituency was a well-planned murder worth MVR 4 million.

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Italian tourist dies in propeller accident while snorkeling

A 51 year-old Italian tourist died in a boat propeller accident while snorkeling on Thursday afternoon (January 31) near Elaa Island in Thaa Atoll.

Minivan News spoke to Veymandoo Regional Hospital Manager Abdulla Mauroof about the incident, who confirmed that the woman was pronounced dead on arrival.

According to Mauroof, the woman suffered a “major injury to her skull”.

“Her body is still being held under police charge at the hospital and a police forensics team has been dispatched,” Mauroof added.

The snorkeling accident was reported at 14:50. The dive boat operator has not been confirmed at this time.

Veymandoo police are currently investigating the incident.

Snorkeling deaths

During 2012, tourist deaths – usually while snorkelling – were disproportionately higher among Chinese tourists, who now account for a majority of Maldives tourist arrivals compared to the country’s traditional European markets.

In October 2012, a 26 year-old male from China staying at Alif Dhaal Atoll Vakafaru resort was suspected to have died in a snorkelling accident at the property.

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Maritime surveillance system launched with US assistance

A maritime surveillance system to monitor and identify vessels operating within Maldivian territorial waters has been established with the assistance of the US government.

The surveillance system will be used to collect data from seven Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) installed along major Maldives shipping channels and is a commercial system consisting of shore based receivers and transponders.

US Ambassador for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Michele J Sison, spoke at the handover ceremony for the Maritime Surveillance System in Male’ on Thursday.

“As the Maldives seeks to become a greater contributor to maritime security in the region, these systems will increase their capabilities and open up even further opportunities for cooperation with its international and regional partners,” Ambassador Sison said.

The system will greatly enhance Maldives’ maritime domain awareness and increase its contribution to regional maritime safety and security, the US Embassy said in a statement.

“The AIS system provides data used to identify ships and their positions and allows for a common operational picture so that operators may view the information from all of the sensor sites,” the Embassy added.

During the launch ceremony Thursday (January 31) Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim called the system a “major boost to national security” and “the beginning of the many tasks ahead,” reports Haveeru.

Nazim also discussed the importance of “maintaining close ties” with India and Sri Lanka for the protection of Maldivian territorial waters and that the system will benefit neighboring countries in the Indian Ocean, according to local media.

The surveillance system will improve situational awareness by enabling the identification of and communications with vessels operating inside territorial waters, according to Head of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) Communication Electronics Information Technology Service, Lieutenant Tholhath Hassan.

The seven strategic locations for the system include Villi-Male, Uligan Island in Haa Alif Atoll, Maafilaafushi Island in Kaafu Atoll, Kahdhoo Island in Laamu Atoll, Kaadehdhoo Island in Gaaf Alif Atoll, Gan Island in Seenu Atoll, as well as Fuvahmulah Island in Gnaviyani Atoll.

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Maldives plummets to 103rd in Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index

The Maldives has plummeted to 103rd in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index, a fall of 30 places and a return to pre-2008 levels.

“The events that led to the resignation of President Mohamed Nasheed in February led to violence and threats against journalists in state television and private media outlets regarded as pro-Nasheed by the coup leaders,” RSF observed, in its annual ranking of 179 countries.

“Attacks on press freedom have increased since then. Many journalists have been arrested, assaulted and threatened during anti-government protests. On June 5, the freelance journalist and blogger Ismail “Hilath” Rasheed narrowly survived the first attempted murder of a journalist in the archipelago,” RSF noted in its report.

The index ranks countries according to levels of press and media freedoms. Countries with the best levels of press freedom rank highest, with northern European and Scandinavian countries filling the top three positions: Finland, Netherlands and Norway respectively. Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea took the bottom three places.

The Maldives’ ranking places it alongside Mali (99th), which experienced a military coup last year, and Fiji (107th), which experienced a coup in 2006.

Prior to the country’s first multi-party democratic election in 2008, the Maldives was ranked 104th – an improvement on its 2007 ranking of 129th, and 2006 – 144th. The country’s ranking in 2009-2010 reflected dramatic improvements in press freedom, rising to 51st and 52nd respectively. The ranking slipped to 73rd in 2011.

Despite its plunge in 2012, regionally the Maldives still ranked higher than India (140th), Sri Lanka (162nd), Pakistan (158th), and Bangladesh (144th).

“Only three Asian countries are in the top 25 percent of the table, while 15 countries are among the bottom 45 places,” observed RSF.

“Unsurprisingly, one-party authoritarian governments figure more than ever among the predators of press freedom and languish at the bottom end of the table.”

“Press freedom has crashed”: former President

“Press freedom in the Maldives has crashed since Dr Waheed’s coup,” read a statement today from former President Mohamed Nasheed.

“Security forces have beaten up journalists, and the regime has targeted and threatened independent media outlets,” Nasheed wrote.

“One of the defining images of the coup was Dr Waheed’s own brother leading a gang of mutinying police and storming the Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC), pulling the station off air and locking the journalists in a room. Suppression of the media has been the hallmark of Waheed’s rule.”

President’s Office Spokesperson Masood Imad was not responding at time of press.

The release of the RSF Press Freedom Index closely follows the release of the annual Freedom House survey of political rights and civil liberties, in which the Maldives was dropped from the list of electoral democracies alongside Mali.

The country’s political rights rating shifted from three to five (higher is ‘less free’) during 2012, “due to the forcible removal of democratically elected president Mohamed Nasheed, violence perpetrated against him and his party, the suspension of the parliament’s summer session, and the role of the military in facilitating these events,” Freedom House stated.

Police and military join demonstrators in storming the state broadcaster on February 7:

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