Category: Society & Culture

Livestock import ban following anthrax scare in Tamil Nadu

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has enforced a ban on importing live animals and meat to the Maldives from Tamil Nadu in India following an anthrax outbreak, local media reports.

A statement from the HPA read that two towns in Tamil Nadu had reported an outbreak of anthrax, and as a precautionary measure the agency had banned live animal and meal imports from any state within Tamil Nadu.

The HPA has urged against using live animals and meat produced after December 31, 2012 imported from India.

“Normally anthrax affects animals such as goats and cows. However, humans can get the disease from animals. Humans contract the disease by coming in contact with infected animals, airborne germs and consuming meat of infected animals,” the HPA stated.

Anthrax is an acute disease caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, according to the agency.

Orf virus found in Thilafushi goat

Prior to being abolished, the Centre for Community Health and Disease Control (CCHDC) reported that a goat in Thilafushi had tested positive for the Orf virus earlier this month.

Despite the Ministry of Agriculture earlier stating that Orf is a dangerous virus, as reported by local media, the CCHDC said it does not pose a great risk to humans.

Epidemiologist at CCHDC Dr Aishath Aruna said that a human can only contract the virus by coming into direct contact with an infected goat, Sun Online reported.

“Humans can contract the disease from goats, by coming into direct contact with an infected goat. It’s not a dangerous disease. Only people who tend and rear goats are at risk,” Aruna was quoted as saying by local media.

In regard to goats being reared in Thilafushi – otherwise known as “garbage island” – Dr Aruna told Sun Online that eating the meat from these goats could pose a risk to humans.

The Thilafushi Corporation said the island is used for industrial purposes, and that people who rear goats in the island do so without obtaining the necessary permits.

The CDHDC was abolished by President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik earlier this month. The President’s Office confirmed that functions and responsibilities of the CCHDC were to be transferred to the HPA.

The CCHDC had been working to identify diseases prevalent in the Maldives, and to prevent disease and increase health awareness.

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Morning Star crew told to sell ship or be stranded “forever”: Mallinks Managing Director

The owner of a Maldivian ship detained in the Indian Port City of Kochi for the last five months has told the crew they must sell the vessel or they be stranded in India “forever”.

Crew members aboard the MV Morning Star have been left stranded in the country after the ship they were towing from the Maldives – MV Sea Angel – sank in Indian waters.

Following the sinking of the vessel, the Indian Environmental Authority launched a probe into the incident and detained the MV Morning Star, local media reported.

According to the Transport Authority, the crew have also gone without pay for the last five months and are relying on a local union in India to provide them with food.

MV Morning Star’s owner, Managing Director of Mallinks Pvt Ltd Ibrahim Rasheed, told Minivan News that the crew and captain of the MV Morning Star would not be allowed to sail out of the port until the sunken vessel is salvaged, in accordance to a ruling by the Indian Judiciary.

“There is nothing I can do now. It is up to the insurance company to salvage the sunken ship, but they are saying they will not do that. I don’t have the money to do it myself, I am not the World Bank.

“I have told the captain to sell the ship as it is the only option now. With the money they can pay the crew salary and return to the Maldives. If they don’t they will be stuck in India for 3 years or five years or forever because I cannot afford to pay their return,” Rasheed said.

Despite Rasheed’s proposal, Transport Authority Chairman Abdul Rasheed Nafiz claimed that to “simply sell the ship” was not an easy procedure as there are regulations that have to be adhered to with Indian and Maldivian maritime authorities.

“This is a very sad story for the crew. I have spoken to their families and they are relying on them [the crew] to provide money for children’s books, rent and bills. However, [the crew] have not received any payment,” Nafiz told Minivan News.

“[The Transport Authority] are working with our legal team to determine what type of action can be taken against the owners of the ship. These people are blaming the insurance company, then the insurance company are blaming the owners; it goes around in a circle.

Both of the vessels owned by Mallinks Pvt Ltd are insured by Allied Insurance, according to Rasheed.

Under the insurance policy, Rasheed claimed that Allied Insurance was required to salvage the sunken vessel, and that it was their failure to do so that has kept the crew unpaid in India for so long.

“We had fully insured both ships. The insurance company gave us a wage policy and in the policy they have written, ‘within 40 days we have to sail the vessels’, which we did.

“The insurance company needs to take responsibility, but they are saying no, so I will file a case at court,” Rasheed alleged.

MV Morning Star had been towing MV Sea Angel to a port in India for it to be scrapped, however just eight miles from Kochi, the 26 metre vessel began to sink.

According the ship’s captain, Hussain Ali, the crew were becoming “more and more depressed” with the situation and are yet to receive any help from the Maldivian government.

Rasheed said he had paid the crew two out of the five months they had been in India, claiming that he did not have the money to pay the full amount.

He further claimed it had been Ali’s fault that the MV Sea Angel had sunk, and that Indian courts had declared the sinking was due to Ali acting with “negligence” and “harassment of navigation”.

“At the end of all of this, this is my loss. my ship will be lost because of the captain. It was his fault the MV Sea Angel sank,” Rasheed claimed.

“The captain has already filed a case against me with the International Transport Workers Federation,” Rasheed added.

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Police arrest underage females from orphanage, detain in Maafushi prison

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has called for the immediate release of two underage females living in the Villingili orphanage, who were arrested and sent to Maafushi prison.

Local media alleged that the two girls, aged 15 and 16, were arrested on December 28, 2012, after escaping the orphanage in the middle of the night to fraternise with some boys.

HRCM asked the Ministry of Gender, Family and Human Rights to return the girls to the Villingili orphanage immediately, noting that their incarceration in Maafushi prison violated chapter 2, article 35[a] of the constitution.

The commission stated that government authorities had not cooperated with the commission’s investigation and had furthermore provided false information on the matter.

Police Spokesperson Hassan Haneef and the Villingili orphanage were not responding to calls at time of press.

HRCM said that the two girls were living in Villingili  when they were arrested and said that HRCM understands that the girls were kept in Dhoonidhoo Police Custodial before they were transferred to Maafushi Prison.

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Comment: Mistakes cannot be rectified after an execution

This article first appeared on the website of the UK High Commission. Republished with permission.

Like many I was saddened by the execution of the Sri Lankan housemaid Rizana Nafeek in Saudia Arabia last week.

The UK has been actively supporting calls for clemency, not least because there is evidence to suggest that Rizana was a minor at the time of the alleged murder she committed (UK statement on execution).

The UK and fellow EU Member States are strong advocates for abolition of the death penalty (which is no longer permitted in the EU). Last autumn we tried to encourage both Sri Lanka and Maldives to join us in supporting the UN moratorium on the Death Penalty. Despite supporting the previous UN motion in 2010, this time both countries chose to abstain.

Although both Sri Lanka and the Maldives have legislative provision for imposing the death penalty, neither country has carried out judicial executions for some time (since 1976 in Sri Lanka and 1953 in Maldives).

But in both countries there have been recent calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty to help combat some of the more serious crimes. As someone who has worked with very serious offenders in previous jobs, I personally doubt the efficacy of capital punishment as a means of deterring crime and the research I have seen bears this out.

Of course for some people and cultures retribution is an important part of the argument.

It’s natural to feel anger and to desire revenge when we have been wronged. But part of the role of an impartial justice system is to remove emotion from the consideration in order to arrive at an objective assessment of the facts.

This is not to say that the victim’s wishes or feelings should be ignored, but a more dispassionate approach reduces the prospects of a miscarriage of justice. And after an execution, mistakes can, of course, never be rectified.

For others, forgiveness is a stronger impulse.

I was humbled to read the recent comments of Mrs Nimalaraja, a Sri Lankan whose husband was killed by a 14 year old boy in the UK last summer. Following the sentencing of her husband’s assailant last week she said: “I am not angry any more. Before, I was angry because I lost my husband, but I am not angry now. The boy is a child and he didn’t mean to kill Nimal – it was an accident.”

For Mrs Nimalaraja – who attended every court sitting – understanding what had happened and seeing justice done was more important than heaping heavy punishment on the perpetrator.

Robbie Bulloch is the UK Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

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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Party switching adding to lack of public confidence in parliament: Transparency Maldives

Political figures and civil society organisations have expressed concern at a perceived accountability failure within the Maldives’ democratic system, which they allege allows MPs to switch freely between rival parties for personal gain.

Local NGO Transparency Maldives claimed the lack of mechanisms for investigating the alleged use of incentives to encourage MPs to transfer to other parties had done very little to “allay fears” among the general public of parliament being a corrupt institution.

Ibrahim Shareef, Deputy Leader of the government-aligned Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), claimed while MPs were not necessarily having their allegiance bought by rival parties, there was “always a temptation” for elected officials to transfer to a party expected to come to power. He claimed such activities were likely a factor in growing public disillusionment with democracy.

The issue arose after Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MP Ilham Ahmed was reported in local media as stating this his allegiance was “not for sale”, despite his “love and admiration” for Jumhooree Party (JP) Leader Gasim Ibrahim.

“Gasim is someone whom I love very much. He is a very good friend of mine since Television Maldives and through my teenage years. But loving or being close to someone is not reason to change parties,” Haveeru reported Ilham as saing.

While aware of MP Ilham’s comments, JP Spokesperson Moosa Rameez maintained it was against the values of the party to offer incentives to encourage MPs to join up.

“We have our doors always open for people who believe in our policies to join us. There have been no attempts made to bring Ilham to JP ,” he told Minivan News.

The JP is a coalition partner of the PPM within the government of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik.

Corruption fears

Transparency Maldives Project Director Aiman Rasheed maintained that a lack of investigative mechanisms and regulations within the Majlis to outline rules for MPs wishing to switch political parties had helped to further erode public trust in elected officials.

Rasheed pointed to a report published by Transparency International last year concluding that 90 percent of a surveyed group of Maldivians believed that the People’s Majlis was the most corrupt of the country’s institutions.

The “Daily Lives and Corruption: Public Opinion in Maldives” report surveyed 1001 people in the Maldives between April 23 and April 29 of 2011 to capture public perception of corruption in the country.

Rasheed maintained that reports and allegations of MPs switching to other political parties for incentives was one of a number of factors that had led to dwindling trust in the country’s parliament.

“The problem is that all these claims [of MPs switching parties or being bought] remain allegations. No one is doing any investigation into these claims and these is no interest in doing so,” he claimed.

“What this serves to do is erode trust in parliament, which our Public Opinion in Maldives report found to be seen as the most corrupt national institution. Parliament is not doing anything to allay these fears and it is really hard to verify such allegations.”

Rasheed claimed that Transparency Maldives was concerned that parliament was failing to do its duty by providing details of MPs’ interests and finances to the public.

He stressed that although efforts were taken to try and make an MPs assets and interests publicly available, parliamentarians themselves failed to agree on procedure for doing this.

Party switch

Ahead of presidential elections scheduled for later this year, Shareef warned there was a “real danger” MPs would switch to rival parties to protect their political careers, regardless of ideology or political allegiance.

“The Maldives is in a transition state to a democracy, however the situation has been very volatile in the past five to six years,“ he claimed.

Shareef claimed a lack of understanding within the country about the workings of a democratic system had also led to difficulties following a switch from autocracy after general elections were held in 2008.

“Democracy is a word we all talk about.  But the Maldives is a mostly youthful nation that chose to believe that democracy would bring solutions to all our problems. However, over the last few year that had been growing disillusionment with [former President] Mohamed Nasheed,” he claimed.

Shareef alleged that politicians on both sides of the country’s political divide sought to be in power by making unrealistic promises spread through what he believed was mostly privately-owned, politically biased media services.

“The media is being controlled and used as a tool to mislead [island] communities about MPs. There is always a temptation for MPs to go where the wind blows strongest,” he claimed.

“If it looks like a party might be coming to power, many MPs without a strong ideology might choose to switch to them to ensure they can keep their well-paid political positions.”

Shareef claimed that rather than earning condemnation from constituents for switching their political allegiance, MPs would at times decide to swing towards parties that would provide them with the greatest benefit in line with voter preference in their communities.

“Royalist stance”

As well as criticising the ideology of the opposition MDP, Shareef also hit out at coalition partner the PPM, which he accused of favouring a “royalist stance” towards leadership in the country.

The PPM was formed back in 2011 after a split between supporters of current DRP leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and those of his predecessor and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Gayoom had previously been the autocratic ruler of the country for 30 years from 1978 to 2008, when he was defeated in the country’s first democratic elections by former President Mohamed Nasheed.

Shareef accused the PPM of holding a deeply conservative ideology in favour of what he labelled a constitutional monarchy. He claimed such an ideology was focused on maintaining the former President’s legacy through his immediate heirs.

“They represent a very deeply conservative ideology of invoking a golden age of 30 years [of autocratic rule],” he said. “If you carefully observe, the top ladder of the PPM represent a legacy of Gayoom that will be maintained though his children.”

Shareef contended that traditionally, the president of the Maldives seemed as far away and distant to the everyday lives of the Maldivian people as the president of the US.

“Until recently, people saw the president as someone with divine authority to rule the country from Male’,” he said. Shareef claimed that efforts to change would be difficult.

When contacted by Minivan News today, PPM MP and Parliamentary Group Leader Abdulla Yameen said the party was busy with its congress and internal elections to decide on its key positions ahead of presidential elections later this year. He declined to comment on the issue.

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PG withdraws charges against two suspects of Ayyube’ murder case, pending review

Lawyers for the Prosecutor General’s Office have withdrawn charges against two suspects arrested in connection with the murder of 76 year-old Ali Hassan, of Kudahuvadhoo in Dhaalu Atoll.

The two suspects were previously identified by the police as Fauzan Mohamed and Ibrahim Majeed of Kudahuvadhoo.

Local media reported that the state attorney had told the Criminal Court the charges were withdrawn for revision, and were to be re-submitted to the court.

The state attorney told the court the police investigation into Fauzan Mohamed and Ibrahim Majeed’s involvement in the murder case was ongoing at the time the trial began in the Criminal Court.

According to the state attorney, police have obtained additional evidence against the suspect and the PG wished to review it and revise the case.

The judge then asked the state attorney to resubmit the case as soon as possible.

Criminal Court Spokesperson Ahmed Mohamed Manik did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

Fauzan Mohamed and Ibrahim Majidh have previously denied the charges against them in the Criminal Court. A case involving Ibrahim Waseem, Ali Hassan’s step-grandson, remains in court.

On March 25, 2013, the first hearing was held into the case and Ibrahim Waseem confessed to being an accessory to murder.

During the hearing Waseem claimed he has been seeking revenge after hearing allegations that Hassan was responsible for the murder of his mother using sorcery.

Waseem was accused of conspiring with Fauzan Mohamed and Ibrahim Majeed, both also from Kudahuvadhoo, of murdering Ali Hassan as he made his way back from maghrib prayers. The defendant admitted to spying on Ali Hassan, but denies direct involvement in the murder.

On January 8 this year, Ali Hassan’s body was discovered with multiple stab wounds in an abandoned house on Kudahuvadhoo.

The victim had previously been accused of using sorcery on a 37 year-old woman, who was reported missing at 2:00am on December 4, 2011 and whose body was later found floating in Kudahuvadhoo lagoon later that morning.

In September 2010, the Juvenile Court obtained statements from Ali Hassan’s heirs. Little is known about the hearing as the Juvenile Court conducts all hearings closed to public and the media.

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Foreign Ministry halts issuing India visa application tokens

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to hand back all Indian visa application operations to the Indian High Commission following a decline in visa requests, a Foreign Ministry spokesman has confirmed.

Last month Maldivians were forced to queue outside the Indian High Commission in Male’ – sometimes overnight – to obtain medical visas to travel to India due to tightened restrictions by Indian authorities.

To alleviate the issue, the Foreign Ministry launched an SMS system that alerted individuals when it was their turn to have their visas processed.

However, following a decline in visa requests this month, Maldivians wishing to obtain tokens for their Indian visas to be processed will now have to use the Indian High Commission building as before, as the Foreign Ministry is no longer providing the service.

A spokesman from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Minivan News that the decision to hand back full control of the visa process to the Indian High Commission was due to a “decline in visa requests”.

“During the school holidays there were more locals requesting visas to go to India, however the holidays are over now and the demand is less.

“Also, only 50 percent of the people we contacted by SMS to collect their visas from the high commission actually turned up,” the spokesman added.

Asked as to what would happen should the visa demand suddenly increase, the spokesperson assured the ministry would take measures to “ensure” all visas are processed

“If there is a requirement we will consult the Indian High Commission. It is currently issuing 53 tokens per day and we think that is working fine for now,” he said. “We will ensure that Maldivians will get their visas.”

An official from within the Indian High Commission today confirmed that visa applications to India had decreased, noting that today there had been “less than 50” applicants.

“The Foreign Ministry is only taking difficult cases now as the arrangement from December was only a temporary solution to deal with the circumstances,” he said.

The official admitted that there was a possibility for the queues to increase following the switch, however added “if there is a problem, we will try our best to find a solution to it.”

Visa restrictions

The High Commission has claimed that the tightened restrictions were in line with a bilateral agreement signed back in 1979 and its appropriation by Maldivian authorities in the intervening years.

A source within the Indian High Commission, speaking to Minivan News on December 29, 2012, contended that all visas given to Maldivians for travel to India were provided free of charge – a courtesy claimed to have not been extended to Indian citizens coming to the Maldives for work.

The commission spokesperson added that the introduction of the tighter regulations was imposed as a clear “signal” from Indian authorities that the concerns it had over practices in the Maldives such as the confiscation of passports of migrant workers, needed to be brought to an end.

On November 26 last year, a public notice had been issued by the Maldives Immigration Department requesting no employer in the country should be holding passports of expatriate workers.

The Maldives has come under strong criticism internationally in recent years over its record in trying to prevent people trafficking, with the country appearing on the US State Department’s Tier Two Watch List for Human Trafficking three years in a row.

The high commission also claimed this year that skilled expatriate workers from India, employed in the Maldives education sector, had continued to be “penalised” due to both government and private sector employers failing to fulfil their responsibilities.

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Freedom House drops Maldives, Mali from list of electoral democracies

The Maldives is one of two countries to be dropped from Freedom House’s list of electoral democracies, in its annual survey of political rights and civil liberties.

The other, Mali, is a landlocked nation in West Africa which experienced a coup d’état on March 21 and is now battling a surge in Islamic extremism, harsh sanctions and foreign military intervention.

Freedom House is an independent, non-government watchdog organisation dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world. The NGO assesses and scores countries for political rights and civil liberties each year, and labels them ‘free’, ‘partly free’, or ‘not free’.

The Maldives’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. Civil liberties remained at a score of four.

The country remained listed as “partly free” for the third time, after being upgraded from ‘not free’ in 2009 following the 2008 presidential election.

According to Freedom House’s definition, a partly free country “is one in which there is limited respect for political rights and civil liberties. Partly free states frequently suffer from an environment of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic and religious strife, and a political landscape in which a single party enjoys dominance despite a certain degree of pluralism.”

Approximately 46 of the world’s population live in ‘free’ countries, while 47 live in those designated ‘not free’. “Noteworthy gains” in freedom were made in Egypt, Libya, Burma, and the Côte d’Ivoire. Lesotho, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Tonga moved from ‘party free’ to ‘free’.

Full report

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Government schedules talks over reforming sexual abuse laws

The Maldivian government has said it remains committed to legislative reforms regarding the treatment of minors and other victims of sexual offences in the country.

President’s Office Media Secretary Masood Imad told Minivan News the government had scheduled meetings next week with the both the environment and Islamic ministries to amend local laws that he contended, in certain cases, punished sexual abuse victims as if they were criminals.

The government last week announced it was looking to review legislation in the country in line with relevant authorities amidst international media coverage of a decision by the Prosecutor General (PG’s) Office to press charges against 15 year-old girl for having “consensual sexual relations”.

In a case unrelated to these charges, the girl’s stepfather was also facing criminal charges for alleged sexual abuse of the minor after authorities last year discovered a new born baby buried in the outdoor shower area of a home on the island of Feydhoo.

Judicial authorities told Minivan News earlier this month that the charges against the 15 year-old were yet to be filed with the Juvenile Court at the time.

Director of the Department of Judicial Administration Ahmed Maajid was not responding to calls today.

Victimisation

After pledging last week to review laws on the back of a number of similar cases where young women had been victimised and punished by authorities – Masood claimed that discussions would be held next week on the treatment of minors and adults who had been sexually abused.

“If needs be we will come out with legislation were victims [of sexual abuse] are treated as victims,” he said. “It’s incredible that sometimes these victims are actually being seen as perpetrators [of crime] under the law.”

Masood added that the government would be making further announcements on its future plans to address these concerns once it had held talks scheduled for next week with ministerial and legislative authorities.

Acting Minister of Gender, Family and Human rights Dr Mariyam Shakeela, Minister of Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed and Attorney General Azima Shukoor were not responding to calls at time of press.

NGO criticism

The filing of criminal charges of “consensual sexual relations” against the 15 year-old girl were slammed this month as an “absolute outrage” by NGO Amnesty International.

The NGO’s Maldives Researcher Abbas Faiz stressed that suspected victims of rape and sexual abuse required counselling and support rather than facing prosecution.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) Vice President Ahmed Tholal told Minivan News at the time Amnesty’s statement was released that he was hugely concerned about the number of reports of sexual abuse against minors in the country.

Fornication offence

Back in September 2012, a 16 year-old girl was sentenced to house arrest and 100 lashes for fornication with a 29 year-old man.

Permanent Magistrate of Hulhudhuhfaaru in Raa Atoll, Magistrate Abdul Samad Abdulla, sentenced the girl to eight months house arrest, and public flogging once she reaches the age of 18.

Ali Rashid, an official of the Hulhudhuhfaaru Magistrate Court,referred Minivan News to Article 25 of the act detailing special actions to be taken in cases of sexual offences against children (Act number: 12/2009).

Article 25 says: “Unless proven otherwise, it cannot be considered that a child between ages 13-18 had given consent to committing a sexual act. And unless proven otherwise, it will be considered that the sexual act was committed without the child’s consent.”

In November 2011, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, speaking in parliament, raised concerns about the issue of flogging in the Maldives.

Pillay said at the time: “This practice constitutes one of the most inhumane and degrading forms of violence against women, and should have no place in the legal framework of a democratic country.”

Her statements and calls for discussion on the issue were met with outrage from then political opposition and religious conservative Adhaalath party, giving rise to protests and demonstrations. The Foreign Ministry, under the former government of Mohamed Nasheed, dismissed the calls for discussion on the issue, stating: “There is nothing to debate about in a matter clearly stated in the religion of Islam. No one can argue with God.”

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