Category: Society & Culture

Gang stab minor six times

A minor aged under 18 fainted after he was stabbed six times in the back by a gang on Friday, on Izudheen Road in front of Maafannu Cemetery in Male’.

According to police, the boy was stabbed six times in his back and once in his left hand, and fainted on the spot due to the injuries.

The assailants threw away the knives they used in attack and fled on motorbikes against the one way sign boards.

People at the area carried the boy to Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) on a motorbike. He is currently being treated at the hospital.

In a statement, police said the case was reported to police at about 3:15pm on Friday.

Local newspapers reported that the assailants threw the knives they used in the attack into the water drain on the roa, but witnesses recovered the knives and handed them to police.

Police Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef told Minivan News that two persons had been arrested in connection with the case.

Haneef said further details about the persons arrested or the investigation could not be disclosed at the time.

‘’We will provide details later,’’ Haneef added.

On the first of this month, Ali Shifan ‘Tholhi Palay’, 33 of Fairy Corner house was stabbed to death near West Park Restaurant on Boduthakurufaanu Road.

A friend of Shifan told Minivan News at the time that Shifan was attacked while he was waiting in front of West Park Restaurant for a friend.

‘’He was having a coffee inside West Park Restaurant and went out because a friend of him was coming to see him,’’ he said. ‘’He was waiting with another friend and this group shows up with sharp weapons.’’

Last month a 21 year-old man, identified as Abdul Muheeth of G. Veyru, was rushed to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) after he was stabbed at 1:45am near the Finance Ministry building. He later died during treatment.

Police later said that the assailants mistakenly attacked him and that he had no criminal record or affiliations with gangs either.

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Finance Committee proposes ceasing Aasandha scheme in private hospitals

Parliament’s Finance Committee has suggested ceasing the country’s universal health care scheme Aasandha in private hospitals, citing that the scheme would not be economically viable unless private hospitals were excluded.

The decision to do so will only be confirmed after parliament passes the committee’s report. If the parliament does pass the report, the Asandha service will only be  available in the government’s Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) and other government health centers and health corporations around the country.

However, medical services that are not currently available in IGMH would still be available from private hospitals and clinics, but the new arrangements would require a doctor’s referral to use such services, according to the report.

The Finance Committee’s report, compiled last week, also suggests that in order to reform the scheme, all political positions including parliamentarians and those for which parliament sets the salaries be excluded from the scheme, and that Auditor General conduct a complete audit of the scheme to ensure the absence of any fraudulent transactions.

Earlier, the Health Ministry suggested to the Finance Committee that a co-payment mechanism be introduced to the scheme in order to mitigate the system’s spiraling costs.

However, members of the committee were keen not to impose any fee on the public, and insisted that the focus of efforts should be on reducing costs and introducing controls that will reduce demand over time.

The scheme came under fire after the new government of President Mohamed Waheed Hassan came to power in February 7, which claimed that the scheme’a current rate of expenditure threatened to reach Rf1 billion (US$64.8 million) on an approved budget of Rf720 million (US$46.6 million).

The government has anticipated its annual spending will be Rf2 billion (US$129.6 million) over budget this year, after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that economic growth and stability in the Maldives were unlikely to be maintained “in the medium term” unless the government substantially cut its spending.

The President’s Office claimed two weeks ago that figures showing that 150,000 people had used the healthcare scheme a total of 250,000 times indicated that something must have gone wrong with the system.

Minivan News tried contacting Minister of State for Health and Family, Thoriq Ali Luthfee for his comments on the report, but did not respond at the time of press.

Health Minister Dr Ahmed Jamsheed was also not responding at time of press.

Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs, MP Mohamed Shifaaz, MP Ilyas Labeeb and MP Imthiyaz Fahmy criticised Finance Committee’s actions alleging that since the parties supporting the current government have a majority in the Finance Committee, the committee was trying to find excuses to stop the scheme.

The MPs stated that the party would take “all necessary measures” to prevent the government from manipulating the scheme.

Aasandha is a public-private partnership with Allied Insurance. Under the agreement, Allied will split the scheme’s shared 60-40 with the government. The actual insurance premium will be paid by the government, while claims, billing and public awareness will be handled by the private partner.

The service was initially intended to cover emergency treatment, including treatment overseas if not available locally, along with all inpatient and outpatient services, domestic emergency evacuation, medicine under prescription, and diagnostic and therapeutic services.

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Financial committee to recommend abolition of Media Council

Parliament’s financial committee announced its intention to abolish the Maldives Media Council (MMC) in a report that will be submitted to the house for debate as part of tomorrow’s scheduled agenda.

The report states that the decision has been reached owing to the Solicitor General’s belief that the MMC has not been able to perform its duties and responsibilities to a satisfactory level.

The 15 member MMC, established in 2010, is charged with preserving the freedom and integrity of media in the Maldives as well as encouraging ethical and professional standards within the industry.

The MMC was scheduled to hold elections for new council members on May 10.

President of the Maldives Journalist Association (MJA) Ahmed ‘Hiriga’ Zahir disagrees with the decision of the finance committee.

“First of all let’s look at the reason they have given for disbanding the media council. They are saying it must be disbanded because the council had not executed its responsibilities. But if it is not a justifiable reason. If the council members are not fulfilling their duties, then they must be removed from the position, new members must be appointed and the council must proceed,” he said.

“Disbanding the council just because the members are not working is like dissolving the parliament because members are not working – which is absurd,” said Hiriga.

Additionally, the financial committee will suggest to the house that the responsibilities of the MMC be transferred to the Maldives Broadcasting Commission (MBC) whose current remit covers only television and radio broadcasts.

Hiriga expressed concerns over this idea: “There are talks of assigning the task of print media regulation to the existing Broadcasting Commission. But we must remember that the commission’s composition and mandate is very much structured to regulate the broadcast or electronic media; not the print,” said Hiriga.

“If they are going to reassign the tasks, they must change the composition of the Broadcasting Commission to encourage representation of members more experienced in print media. Because the existing members are screened and selected for the position because of their expertise in electronic media,” Hiriga continued.

Additionally, the current President of the MMC Mohamed Nazeef, believes that the MBC cannot safeguard media freedoms adequately as it is a regulatory arm of the government.

“Parliament elected most of the members of the commission and so it will be hard for them to be independent from the government,” said Nazeef.

In accordance with the Maldives Media Council Act, the MMC operates as an independent legal entity.

Chairman of the finance committee Ahmed Nazim said that the establishment of the MBC has resulted in an overlap of the two bodies’ responsibilities. He said that he hoped to establish a single body “similar to Ofcom in the UK.”

Ofcom is the UK’s independent regulator and competition authority for the communications industry, created by an act of parliament in 2003. The legislation states that the group should protect the interests of citizens and consumers.

Nazim said that the necessary legislation to facilitate the adaptation of the MBC would be introduced by the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) and formed part of the financial committee’s report.

The financial committee’s report also highlights the findings of the Auditor General’s (AG) report from last year which claimed that council members had been illegally receiving a living allowance of Rf7500 (US$500) a month in addition to their salary.

Hiriga stated his agreement that certain aspects of the financial committee’s report held merit, but suggested that legal safeguards would be needed to protect the media.

“We have always maintained that media needs to be self regulated and it must be done under one body,” he said.

“We have no objection to dissolving the media council as such. But if it is being done, then mechanisms to regulate print media must be introduced, the Broadcasting Commission’s composition and legal mandate must be amended. Otherwise it will be an unfair decision.”

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MDP women’s wing protest in Male’ as party awaits CMAG outcome

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has claimed that the momentum behind an ongoing series of protests against the government of President Mohamed Waheed Hassan remains undiminished as its supporters await the outcome of increased Commonwealth pressure on the new administration.

In the latest round of protests yesterday, the party estimates that 6,000 people took part in a peaceful march around the capital passing several major streets and landmarks such as Majeedhee Magu, Sosun Magu, the People’s Majlis and Fareedhee Magu before returning to the party’s protest area. Police confirmed to Minivan News that no major disturbances or arrests were made by its officers during the march, which began yesterday afternoon at 4.00pm.

The government has responded that yesterday’s demonstration was not an official protest called by the MDP and instead represented followers of former President Mohamed Nasheed – who is affiliated with the party. The government said that the demonstration was not therefore seen as a “major issue”.

Since the controversial transfer of power in February that saw President Waheed succeed Mohamed Nasheed in office, MDP supporters have been linked with both peaceful protest action and violent clashes against police over claims security forces had been part of an alleged “coup d’etat” to remove Nasheed from office.

MDP Women’s Wing spokesperson Aishath Aniya told Miniva News that yesterday’s march, which began from the Usfangandu area, was devised to call on the government to take heed of the Commonwealth’s calls for early elections this year. The demonstration’s organisers have said that protesters also called on the president to consider the ramifications of potential expulsion from the Commonwealth unless a more “credible” and “impartial” commission is established to review the circumstances that brought the government to power earlier this year.

“While we can’t say what exact economic impacts there will be. We will lose participation in many scholarships, art and development projects if the Commonwealth removes us,” she said. “We have been in the Commonwealth for over 29 years and have been offered many opportunities internationally such as participation in the Commonwealth Games.”

While the number of participants attending yesterday’s march was reportedly down from those taking part in a similar protest held in the capital last week, Aniya said she believed that the number of anti-government protesters had remained consistent.

“I don’t see the numbers of protesters decreasing, though [turnout] does depend on the time and place of demonstrations,” she said. “We would obviously get a lot less protesters during school hours.”

Aniya claimed that from her experience, during instances where former President Mohamed Nasheed was in attendance, larger numbers of people had been found to attend demonstrations.

The Women’s Wing spokesperson added that there was “tremendous pressure” among its members at the moment to mobilise demonstrations at various events attended by the new president around the capital and the wider country.

“We are informed that our members often wish to be there to protest and shout Baghee Waheed [at the president],” she said.

Aniya said she was unable at present though to disclose any future dates or plans for protests of which a “huge number” of people were wanting to take part.

“ We have to be careful though as many people are sitting their A-level examinations right now, we don’t want to be encouraging large amounts of noise that may disturb them. We also do not want people getting arrested or injured by police,” she claimed. “We have two weeks left before the next Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) review. I’m sure there will be more protests before this, but we don’t want to disclose the frequency of them.”

After several demonstrations have been conducted in the capital during the last two weeks, Police spokesperson Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef said that there had been “no problems” regarding disturbances or arrests during yesterday’s demonstrations.

Despite recent allegations of violent provocation by both police and civilians against each other, Aniya claimed that the MDP has always been a proponent for peaceful protesting and demonstrations.

“One thing you will see is that the MDP do not provoke police,” she said.

Aniya added that the party continued to allege that police had abused their powers in certain cases over the last few months in regards to the treatment of anti-government protesters.  However, she believed increased international pressure on the government had appeared to ensure demonstrations were conducted much more peacefully.

“We protest as peacefully as we can, mostly by trying to stay away from police as much as possible. The High Court has also outlined where we cant assemble, so we walk around these areas instead,” she said.

Aniya alleged that previous reports of anti-government protesters violently attacking police and throwing projectiles had been the result of government aligned parties using young people to infiltrate MDP’s protests.  It was these infiltrators, she claimed, that were often responsible for violent acts that provoked police to use force against them.

Aniya accepted that police officers in the present political environment were often put in a “very difficult” situation due to allegations that some key figures in the service had involvement in deposing former President Nasheed in the run up to his controversial “resignation”.

President’s Office spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza told Minivan News that from a government perspective, recent demonstrations like yesterday’s march were not a serious issue for President Waheed as they did not officially represent the wider views of the now opposition MDP.

“The protests were themselves called by former President Nasheed and are not an issue for us. Any MDP protests should be called from the party’s national council representation,” he said.

Minivan News also questioned the President’s Office on the reportedly peaceful nature of the recent demonstrations.  Abbas responded that the lack of clashes with police appeared to show that the party had begun to move away from “violent factions” in its organisation that he claimed were linked to the former president.

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Maldives rowing represented at Olympic regatta in South Korea

A renaissance of rowing in the Maldives continued this week as two students from Addu Atoll travelled to Chungju, South Korea, to compete in the Asian 2012 Olympic Qualification Regatta.

The pair, Ibrahim Sharu-u from Feydhoo School and Fathimath Hasna Hassan from Addu High School, are competing in the men’s and women’s singles sculls events which began on Thursday.

The team’s coach Natasha Howard, former Olympic rower for Great Britain and World Championship bronze medallist, hopes the event will enhance the competitor’s knowledge of their own sport as well as raising international recognition of the Maldives’ potential as a rowing nation.

“Both athletes are really enjoying themselves and getting the most out of being surrounded by professional sportsmen and women, asking lots of questions and building their knowledge of the sport,” said Natasha.

“I hope our invitation to participate in the 2012 Asian Olympic Qualification Regatta will raise awareness not only within Addu but also within National bodies such as the National Olympic Committee (NOC), that the Maldives has the potential to compete on an international level through rowing,” she continued.

The successful teams at the South Korean event will go on to compete in this summer’s London Olympics. Competition has been hard with Hasna and Sharu-u competing against teams able to train full-time using professional equipment.

Additionally, many of the athletes are 20-40 kilograms heavier than their Maldivian opponents as well as often being a few inches taller – a great advantage in the sport.

Natasha believes the event’s real importance lies in terms of the sport’s growth in the Maldives and the personal development of the athletes involved: “Experience and knowledge gathering is what this regatta is about for us so that we can begin to build a truly competitive Maldives team over the next four years.”

“The great thing about being here is that every country has started in a similar fashion to the Maldives – coming to take part in their first ever international event when facilities and knowledge were still in their infancy so they can remember what it was like and are incredibly supportive of our team,” said Natasha.

“We will get to race four times over the next four days which is a fantastic opportunity for both athletes to build on each race. Our aim is for them to come off the water and able to say that they had nothing left to give and that was their best race to date.”

Long term development

The re-birth of rowing in the Maldives was given initial impetus after the British Olympic silver medallist rower Guin Batten became the first person to cross the Maldives’ Equatorial Zero Degree Channel in March 2010.

Batten became the first person to cross the 60 kilometre channel between Huvadhoo Atoll and the island of Fuahmulah. She holds the record for the fastest crossing, completing the feat in 7 hours 16 minutes.

The world-first attempt at crossing was supported by British Airways, Coco Palm Resorts (Maldives) and Crew Room.

Batten subsequently arranged for two four-person ‘quad’ rowboats and several coaches to be brought to Thinadhoo and Ghadadhoo in 2010 with the support of BA, British Rowing and Westminster School. The Maldives High Commission in London also held a fundraising event to raise funds for the purchase and shipment of the equipment.

The first local rowing association had been set up in Thinadhoo after the then Province Minister for the Upper South Province, Umar Jamaal, visited the World Coastal Championships in Plymouth in October in 2009.

The following year, after Batten’s record-setting, the Maldives was welcomed as the 131st member of the International Rowing Federation (FISA).

“My ambition is to see [rowing] take off again in the Maldives, and come back in 5-6 years and see islands having boat races with each other,” Batten said at the time.

Rowing was once the primary form of transportation between islands in the Maldives before the widespread introduction of diesel engines to the country during the 1980s.  Most Maldivians with practical rowing experience are now in their sixties.

In November 2011, the Maldives first ever inter-school rowing tournament was held in Hithadhoo, Addu Atoll, to coincide with the SAARC summit celebrations. Five local coaches were trained in order to facilitate the event which included all 12 schools in the atoll. Another inter-school competition is scheduled for this July.

The subsequent interest in the sport prompted the start of swimming classes for those wishing to begin rowing but who were unable to swim. Classes for around 100 people began in the months following the SAARC summit.

Swimming courses have also been held in Hulhumale’ in preparation for the sport’s introduction in North Male’ Atoll. Three boats arrived in 2011 and a boat house has been constructed. There are plans for a new coach to come out in 2012, according to the Maldives NOC.

In the long-term, it is hoped that local coaches will be able to continue to develop the sport. The International Rowing Federation (FISA) assists in such courses as part of its Olympic Solidarity programme which aids the global development of sport. It is hoped that courses to train 20 to 25 new coaches will take place in June or July of this year.

All expenses for the athletes competing in South Korea are being covered by the FISA and the South Korean government.

Secretary of the Maldives NOC Marzook said that Olympic Solidarity will provide $10,000 for the training. Marzook explained that rowing was a very expensive sport for a country like the Maldives: “Normally US$6000 is allocated for training in other sports.”

“Olympic Solidarity know we really need the money. They really want to develop rowing in the Maldives,” said Marzook.

Funding and equipment remain scarce while the sport continues to find its sea-legs in the Maldives. Natasha works on a volunteer basis and has her expenses are paid by Addu City Council. All the equipment used has been donated from clubs in the UK or bought with the proceeds from fund-raising events.

“We have four doubles (two man boats), one single and one quad (four man boat). We have no rowing machines. All the rowers are very aware of the need to treat what equipment we do have very well so that it lasts as long as possible. The quad we currently have we cannot use because it is too heavy to lift and requires a trolley to move it,” Natasha said.

The team are said to be taking full advantage of the equipment available in South Korea as well as learning from other athletes about how they train for competitive rowing.

Fortunately for the sport’s future, there has been no scarcity of enthusiasm for rowing in Addu. Training sessions are constantly oversubscribed with Natasha having to facilitate nearly 200 students with only nine operational seats.

The NOC’s rowing report described the plans to expand the sport from the student community to include greater sections of society.

“The future long-term sustainable success of rowing in the Maldives lies with having well trained enthusiastic coaches and involving all sections of the community within the sport,” said the report.

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All-party talks resume with agreement on priority issues

The Indian-sponsored all-party roadmap talks that stalled last month appear to be gathering momentum again after parties agreed on a new set of priority issues.

After asking the parties involved to list the five issues that concerned them most, the convener, Ahmed Mujuthaba, compiled a list of three issues which would be focused on in future talks.

The primary concerns of all the parties combined were: firstly, the country’s economic troubles; secondly, the constitution and laws of the country; and, thirdly, the judiciary and crime.

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) were represented at the talks by Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, who said the meeting was “very successful.”

Jumhoree Party (JP) representative at the talks Abbas Adil Riza – also President Mohamed Waheed’s spokesperson – informed Minivan News that there had been an agreement that only the convener would comment to the media on the content of the talks.

Despite repeated attempts, Minivan News was unable to contact Mujuthaba.

“I think there is momentum,” said Ghafoor. “We should have done this from the start.”

This is in stark contrast to the reaction of the previous MDP representative in the last round of talks, former Home Minister Hassan Afeef, who branded the talks “ridiculous”, describing them as “a farce”.

The talks appeared to have stalemated at the conclusion of the last meeting on April 7 after the MDP continued to question the make-up of the talks. The party argued at that meeting that all registered parties in the country ought to be included in the discussions, criticising the decision to include certain government-aligned parties without an apparent democratic mandate.

Ghafoor explained that the main concern of the MDP was that the party would have been outnumbered eight to one, making voting on any decisions senseless, despite it representing the largest number of MPs and political membership. However, Ghafoor explained that the convener had yesterday made it clear the process of agreement would now be based on consensus rather than votes, meaning that this previous objection was “no longer relevant”.

Whilst the talks do not immediately address the calls for early elections, Ghafoor argued that other parties could not avoid the issue forever.

“We agreed to start talks with issues they are comfortable with,” he said, but argued that the discussion of early elections remained a key part of the talks envisioned in President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s road map.

“As long as the roadmap exists, the issue of early elections exists,” commented Ghafoor.

Observing progress

The talks are being observed by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) mediation expert Pierre-Yves Monette. After speaking with parties following the last round of talks, Monette was reported by Sun Online as stating that he had seen no serious obstructions to a successful resolution of political differences.

“The worst thing would be not to want to listen to others, to be incapable of listening to other points of view. I have experienced this in my job in many other countries – but I don’t find that here. There is clearly willingness to listen, and to talk. They know they disagree on major issues. They are ready to listen to the arguments of others and to enter a dialogue: this is the beginning of a possible solution,” Monette was reported as saying.

Ghafoor said he felt that Monette had played a “significant part” in making this round of talks a success. He did, however, note a tension amongst the smaller parties represented at the talks towards the observer, notably those with little or no formal representation in the Majlis or local government, including the Gaumee Ittihad (GI), Jumhoree Party (JP) and Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

He argued that even the presence of Monette at the talks prompted a xenophobic response from these groups. Of the list of concerns listed by the parties and collated by the convener, Ghafoor claimed that foreign interference was a point raised by many of those present.

The all party roadmap talks resumed yesterday following the return to the country of the convener of the talks Ahmed Mujuthaba.

A coalition of Maldivian NGOs working under the banner ‘Thinvana Adu’ (Third Way) called earlier this week for a renewal of efforts to enhance dialogue between political parties. “It is our belief that a crucial step towards resolving the political crisis in the country…is for all political parties to resume dialogue and commit to a politics of compromise.”

In a press release, the group gave a thinly veiled criticism of Mujthaba’s schedule, which has seen him absent from the country for long periods of time, further slowing the progress of the talks.

“The Party Talks convener must be able to devote adequate time to the matter,” read the statement.

The next meeting is scheduled on May 5, between 2:00pm and 6:00pm. Ghafoor claimed that the convener had wished to devote longer to the talks. He said that Mujuthaba’s desire for an intensive three-day session was blocked by the smaller parties.

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Criminal court employees screened amid tuberculosis scare

Public health workers screened Criminal Court staff for tuberculosis (TB) and conducted awareness sessions about the disease on Thursday after an employee tested positive for the infectious disease.

A court employee told Minivan News today that staff were relieved health officials were now working to put a stop to the potential spread of tuberculosis at the court.  However, the member of staff said their colleagues were  “seriously concerned after one employee was tested positive”.

The employee speculated that the disease may have been transmitted to the court employee from a TB patient, who was brought to the court two months ago for a police custody extension.

Local media has reported that three court employees are thought to have tested positive for the disease so far.  These reports were today dismissed by court workers.

The staff member observed that the local media had picked up on the TB case because of the awareness session being held at the court today, while claiming that reports of multiple confirmed cases was misleading.

“It was just one confirmed but everyone was very scared.  All the employees have been screened now and nobody else was tested positive. But since there was widespread scare, doctors came to the court today and gave us information on TB,” the employee noted on condition of anonymity. “There was some concerns but everything is normal at the court now,” he added.

The potentially serious disease spreads from person-to-person through the air, for example, if someone coughs or sneezes.  It primarily attacks the lungs.

Despite, the TB scare at the Criminal Court, the Maldives has achieved notable success in TB control since the establishment of a National TB control programme (NTP) by the Department of Public Health in 1976. Maldives has an estimated incidence of 47 per 100,000 population of all forms of TB and has sustained the global targets for TB control since 1996, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO’s) communicable disease department for South East Asia.

Tuberculosis, which had a prevalence in the Maldives of 35 cases per thousand people in 1974, had declined in 1996 to about 0.66 per 1000. Childhood TB (under 5 years) is almost nil for the past three years due to the high rate of BCG vaccination, the report added.

The WHO also observed that upon adopting the recommended Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS)  in 1997, the TB patients in the Maldives continues to receive effective treatment.

However, the Health Ministry has recently raised concerns over a growing number of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Maldives. The rate of TB prevalence among the country’s  expatriate population is also reportedly on the rise as well.

“Large migrant workforce from high TB-burden countries,” is identified by the WHO as major challenge for local health bodies. However, the WHO has claimed that “MDR-TB and TB-HIV are not major problems in Maldives.”

Meanwhile, a growing diagnoses of multi drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and treatment sites are being established in the region. In 2010, almost 4000 MDR-TB patients were put on treatment.  There are currently 105,000 MDR-TB cases estimated of affecting the region.  These figures were taken from the WHO annual report on tuberculosis titled “Tuberculosis Control in the South-East Asia Region 2012”.

The South-East Asia Region registered an estimated five million prevalent, and about 3.5 million incident TB cases in 2010.  Though the death rates in the region have declined due to successful implementation of the DOTS (directly observed treatment, short course), the disease still claims about half a million lives a year in the Region, the report read.

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No reason to continue suit against Kulliyya over banning face veil in class, rules High Court

The High Court has ruled that there was no reason to continue a lawsuit filed against the Kulliyathul Dhirasathul Islamiyya school by a student who was instructed to remove her face veil in class, or be expelled.

Rector of Kulliyathul Dhirasathul Islamiyya,Dr Ibrahim Zakariyya Moosa, reportedly told Mehenaz Hussein last year that her face veil should be removed in class or face being expulsion if she refused to do so.

The High Court said the Attorney General (AG) had advised the court that the article banning the face veil in class had now been removed from the regulation and the student, identified by the court as Mehenaz Hussein, was now attending classes wearing the face veil.

After the article banning the face veil was removed Mehenaz was no longer banned from wearing the face veil in class, the High Court ruling said.

The High Court Judges Shuaib Hussein Zakariyya, Abdulla Hameed and Ali Sameer were the presiding judges.

The case was first presented to the Civil Court and the Civil Court also ruled that there was no capacity to continue the case as a suit related to the same case was filed in the High Court at the time.

Dr Zakariyya reportedly told the girl that studying was compulsory under Islam, and that if wearing the face veil obstructed her from studying, she should not wear it even if it was a Sunnah.

Mehenaz told an online religious newspaper at the time that Dr Zakariyya had told her that in different parts of the country terrorists had used the hijab to hide weapons, and that there was “no way to identify the sex of a person wearing the full hijab”.

Speaking in a hearing of the case in February, current Attorney General Aishath Azima Shukoor told the court that up to date Kulliyathul Dhirasathul Islamiyya did not have a specific uniform to wear and that she believed that students should be allowed to attend classes wearing face veil.

At the time, Azima also told the court that the regulations would be amended within a week to allow students to wear the face veil in class.

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MDP President alleges misrepresentation by Maldives Ambassador to EU

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has released a statement from the party’s president, Dr Ibrahim Didi, accusing the Maldives’ Ambassador to the European Union Ali Hussain Didi of misrepresenting his impression of the events of February 7.

“It has come to my attention that yesterday the Maldives’ Ambassador to the European Union, Mr Ali Hussain Didi, made a sworn declaration before members of the European Parliament that contained false information about statements I am purported to have made on the evening of February 7,” said Dr Didi in the statement.

“Ambassador Didi is said to have informed the European Parliament that on the evening in question I said publicly that what happened on that day was not a coup. I believe that considering the importance of the events of February 7, and considering the importance of the hearing before European Parliament members, it is important for me to put the record straight,” he said.

“Ambassador Didi’s claims are incorrect and have no basis in fact. At no point on or after February 7 did I deny, publicly or otherwise, that President Nasheed’s removal from power was anything other than a coup d’etat. Indeed, it was my view then and remains my belief now, that President Nasheed was coerced into resigning by rogue elements of the police and security services working in coordination with senior politicians – politicians who were then in opposition and are now in Government.

“I am deeply disappointed that Ambassador Didi would relay false information to the distinguished members of the European Parliament, and that the regime of Dr  Waheed would be involved in spreading such falsehoods,” he said.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz Ali had no immediate response but said the Ministry would release a statement if warranted.

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