Category: Society & Culture

Atoll councilors entered the office by force, allege police

Police have accused Kaafu Atoll councilors of entering the Thulusdho island office without the permission of police, after the Thulusdho island court ordered police to hand over the keys. Police did not comply.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that ”police are still watching over the building. When the councilors entered using force, we did not try to stop them.”

Shiyam said that police have not yet given the keys to the councilors.

”I don’t think anyone gave them the key, so police are active in the area to watch over the assets and valuables inside the building,” he said.

Local media today reported this morning the police were “laying siege” to the Atoll Office in Thulusdho and blocking the entrance, but said later that the building was handed over to the atoll councilors after minor confrontations between police and citizens of Thulusdhoo.

On Saturday, in a council meeting held in the Kaafu Atoll Office in Maafushi, the newly elected Kaafu Atoll councilors decided to move the current Atoll office in Maafushi to its former premises based in Kaafu Atoll, Thulusdhoo.

However, after the decision was made, police confiscated the keys of the former Kaafu Atoll office in Thulushoo and councilors were not allowed to enter. Councilors then requested the island court order police to hand over the keys.

The Court yesterday ordered the police to hand over the keys to the atoll councilors, and also court ordered the police not to obstruct the work of Atoll Councilors.

In a meeting with the press today, Home Minister Hassan Afeef said that the councilors did not have the authority to decide where the council’s office should be located.

”The passed the resolution not after discussing with us,” SunFM quoted Afeef saying. ”There will be no law that gives authority to the council to decide where there office will be located.”

Meanwhile the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has expressed concern over the violence occurred in Thulusdhoo.

HRCM said that the commission was observing the commotion since yesterday and noted that it was “worsening day by day.”

”We call on all the concerned authorities to solve the issue by negotiating,” said the HRCM. ”And we all call on everyone to keep their actions within the law.”

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Adhaalath claims tourists openly drinking alcohol, wearing bikinis on Hulhumale’ beach

The Adhaalath Party has complained that tourists have been wearing improper clothing and consuming alcohol on Hulhumale’ beach in public, and that the area was becoming “a place where Maldivian families cannot visit.”

The sale and consumption of alcohol is banned on inhabited islands. Resorts – and the airport hotel at Hulhule’ – are classified as ‘uninhabited’. As a result, the hedonistic concept of Western resort tourism has been able to peacefully coexist with the more conservative Islamic population on local islands. But the promotion of mid-market ‘guest house’ tourism on inhabited islands such as Hulhumale’ blurs the separation between the two.

“People who own beach front houses have developed guest houses in the area, and as a result tourists coming to the guest houses have started to use the Hulhumale’ beach they would aresort beach,’’ said the Adhaalath Party in statement. “They have been in the beach wearing clothes that do not properly cover their body, and are swimming likewise.’’

The Adhaalath Party cited “a reliable source” as claiming that tourists have been “putting up umbrellas and consuming alcohol under them on Hulhumale’ beach.”

The Party said that such things “should not occur on any of the inhabited islands of the Maldives.”

“It is not permissible under the law, religion or on social grounds,’’ said the party. ‘’It violates many rights of the Maldivians who visits the beach, when they see nudity and alcohol consumption.”

The party also said that it was “a serious issue” and that the concerned authorities should try and resolve.

Secretary General of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), ‘Sim’ Mohamed Ibrahim, acknowledged that such occurrences would be a challenge for mid-market tourism in the Maldives.

“The way it is currently structured is that alcohol is banned and there is a dress code for inhabited islands. Unless the regulations are changed – and I’m not saying they should be relaxed – tourist areas will need to be separated from local areas. In Male’ people cannot drink alcohol openly and nobody wears bikinis – it isn’t a problem.”

Ibrahim suggested that unless there were demarcated tourist areas, “there will always be these kinds of issues. It’s not an Adhaalath party issue or necessarily a religious issue – Western tourist dress is very different from traditional Maldivian dress.”

Separate tourist areas on inhabited islands would also be for the benefit of tourists’ privacy, he suggested. “They should be able to have a holiday in the Maldives, but they need privacy.”

Tourists, he agreed, should also be made more aware of Maldivian cultural traditions.

A UK national who lived in Hulhumale’ for a year until recently said she had not heard of foreigners living in Hulhumale’ using the beach in such a manner. But there were many new boutique hotel and guest house developments being constructed along the beach and there had been, she said, one instance of police being called after several tourists were seeing wearing bikinis “on a quiet corner of the beach.”

“Two foreign girls were also reported to police for wearing bikinis on the beach, but when police arrived they were wearing boardshorts and shirts,” she said.

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Haveeru editor questions motivation of police press probe

Police questioning of two journalists over sources said to have seen indecent images used in the alleged bribery of high profile legal and political figures has raised suspicions that the conduct of law enforcement towards the media may be politically motivated, the editor of Haveeru has claimed.

Amidst ongoing investigations into a blackmail ring that allegedly used fake profiles of a young blonde woman on the Facebook website to obtain indecent and graphic images of a large swathe of Maldivian society, police last week obtained a court order to search the computers of some Haveeru staff.

Police officials said they ultimately opted not to conduct a search on Haveeru’s premises, but that the questioning of the journalists involved was important to an ongoing investigations into the suspected blackmail ring that has already seen a number of suspects arrested, including minors.

However, the questioning has been condemned by media groups such as the Maldives Journalist Association (MJA) as a step to suppress rights to a free media outlined under Article 28 of the constitution passed in 2008.

Haveeru Journalists Ahmed Hamdhoon and Ismail Naseer volunteered to take part in police questioning about an article published by Haveeru on February 22 concerning the content of images acquired through Facebook. The paper maintains it does not have any of the files in question.

Haveeru Editor Moosa Latheef told Minivan News that although police had acted politely and without aggression in requesting the identity of the sources said to have viewed the indecent images – a request he said was denied just as politely – the case could have serious ramifications for the national media in the future. Latheef stressed particular concern that should police repeat their conduct of looking to question journalists about their sources or stories.

“We are very much enjoying the press freedom in the Maldives right now. But I’m afraid that if the police or other institutions try to interfere with our [press] freedom then they will create an atmosphere where we are unable to fulfil our responsibilities,” he said. “If this repeats then we could have journalists who are afraid to write about issues. No one wants to go to the courts to defend himself or herself [over stories].”

Latheef said that in general, it could become very easy to begin such a case by accusing a journalist – or anyone – of having illegal content such as pornographic images on their computer. Yet on a wider level, the editor was wary about police being able to gain access to the computer files of the country’s journalists and their contents that could include confidential sources vital to break stories.

While the paper’s editor accepted that there were situations such as national security issues that could warrant a court to request the identity of a journalist’s source against commonly held industry ethics, he claimed such requests should remain very rare cases.

Latheef said that the Facebook bribery allegations were a story not about an issue of national security, but one concerning prominent members of the government, parliament and the judiciary, which paled in consequence to some of the stories he said Haveeru has previously published.

“Why are the police coming after us? We have written much more serious things about national issues like about corruption in the government, the opposition and the judiciary. This is not so serious news,” he said. “It will not damage any group as much as individual politicians, so if they have done something against their ethics, they can resign. They can submit their resignation to the president, or to the concerned parties or the judiciary. It is not like the national issues we have seen last August during the constitutional crisis.”

Latheef claimed that although he was not happy with the current government and opposition, he added that there had not been any interference with Haveeru’s output from either side of the national political spectrum in recent years.

“They didn’t interfere in anything like this. This why I’m considering why this time are police trying to get these sources? I suspect that the in some way perhaps the president or even an opposition leader may have tried to save someone close to them,” he said. “I am not sure, but maybe, the political influence may be behind this police action. Otherwise I don’t think police would take this kind of thing very seriously.”

Haveeru’s editor added that his suspicions were also raised by the nature of the police submissions to the Criminal Court for a warrant to investigate the paper’s office, which he said mentioned only that the investigation included members of the judiciary as opposed to other branches of state like parliament and the government.

“They did not mention the actual writing of our news report. We included that government officials, those in executive power, citizens and members of the judiciary may also be involved in these videos.  They mentioned in their submission to the court of only the judiciary [being included in the article].”

The editor claimed that he believed the submission was made to specifically ensure a court order against the paper’s staff, conduct which he derided in a Haveeru press release that was published yesterday.

Latheef claimed that no one at Haveeru had any of the alleged indecent images or to his knowledge seen the content; with reports by Hamdhoon and Naseer based on the accounts of “trusted” sources that included political insiders. However, he said it was accepted that police were also required to do their duty.

“They [police] suspected Haveeru had the porn [images and video files alleged to have been collected through the false Facebook sites] that they are investigating. That would be a criminal offense so it is police duty to investigate these kind of things,” added Latheef.

The Maldives Police Service has denied any allegations that its decision to seek a warrant from the country’s criminal court to search the computers of two Haveeru journalists – which was not carried out in the end – was a politically-driven attack on press freedom.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that in light of the ongoing serious cyber crimes investigation into the Facebook profiles, attempts were made to to obtain further information from the sources used in Haveeru’s article.

“For that we needed more cooperation from Haveeru so we sought a court order to go ahead with this,” he said.

Shiyam claimed that the questioning was not therefore a ‘political attack’ on media freedom but a means to see what help the people mentioned in the article would be to the police investigation.

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Thulusdhoo court orders police to give councilors keys to former atoll office

The Island Court of Thulusdhoo has ordered police to hand over the keys of the former Atoll office in Thulusdhoo to councilors immediately.

Yesterday, in a council meeting held in Kaafu Atoll Office in Maafushi, the newly elected Kaafu Atoll councilors decided to move the current Atoll office to its former premises based in Kaafu Atoll, Thulusdhoo.

However, after the decision was made, police confiscated the keys of the former Kaafu Atoll office in Thulushoo and councilors were not allowed to enter. Councilors then requested the island court order police to hand over the keys.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News that the atoll office building in Thulusdhoo “is an asset of the government, so the councilors will have to come to a common understanding with the government if they want to enter the building.”

Shiyam said that police had taken the keys due to a conflict between the government and the newly appointed local council over officially handing over the building.

“The building in question belongs to the government, which therefore has to agree to officially hand it over to the council,” he said. “The situation requires some form of agreement between the two parties and this is what the police have tried to [negotiate].”

Shiyam said that it was waiting for the government and council representatives to come to “some sort of understanding” in order to solve the dispute.

He said he could not comment on whether the police would be obeying the island court order.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that councilors do not have the authority to decide where the atoll office would be located.

”When this government came in to administration, the atoll office of Kaafu Atoll was located in Thulushdoo, once when the Province state minister visited Thulusdhoo, islanders forced him to leave the island,” Zuhair explained.

”So by presidential decree, President Nasheed moved the atoll office to Maafushi, to locate the atoll office on an island where province state minister could visit.”

Zuhair said that the decision of the Kaafu Atoll councilors “harms the sovereignty of the state.”

”It’s not within their legal power to decide whether they will have the atoll office on an uninhabited island or inside president’s office, only the president has that authority,” he said, adding that ”the atoll councilors will have to report to the atoll office wherever it is located”.

the dispute led to a confrontation between police and citizens of Thulusdhoo, according to the local media, in which both police and islanders were said to have been injured.

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Trade Ministry to require English or Dhivehi food labels by June

The Trade Ministry has said that all food items manufactured or imported to the Maldives from June for the purpose of trade should contain information about a product in Dhivehi or English on its packaging.

The new requirements will call for information concerning the ingredients used, the weight or measurements of the finished product, the country and date of origin, shelf-life and instructions on usage to be included on any goods being sold.

”The deadline set for labelling of food items already imported to the Maldives in accordance with the above requirements is 31 May 2011,” said the Trade Ministry in a press release.

The ministry said this announcement was made under Article 12 of Act number 1/96 (Consumer Protection Act) and any business found by officials of violating the ruling will see its owner fined Rf100,000 (US$7843).

”If an imported food item does not include the above information, it should be labelled in English or Dhivehi prior to the trading of the item in any inhabited island of Maldives,” the statement said.

“If any food items are not labelled according to these requirements after 1 June 2011, the owner of the business will be fined up to the amount of Rf100,000.”

The Trade Ministry was unable to comment further on the decision at the time of going to press.

Correction: An earlier headline for this story stated that labels would be required to be dual language. This has been clarified as English or Dhivehi.

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Police questioning of Haveeru journalists an attack on free media, claims MJA

The questioning of two Haveeru journalists by police over a report on the alleged blackmail of MPs and other high profile figures through indecent images has been criticised by the Maldives Journalist Association (MJA) as a step to suppress free media in the country.

MJA President Ahmed ‘Hiriga’ Zahir said that the action taken by police in questioning Haveeru’s Ahmed Hamdhoon and Ismail Naseer was unprecedented under the current constitution.

The questioning represented a serious challenge in the country to investigative journalism and a denial of rights outlined under Article 28 of the constitution relating to freedom of the press.

Police confirmed that Hamdhoon and Naseer were questioned in relation to reports they had written on the police investigation into the use of false Facebook accounts to coerce hundreds of Maldivians into recording nude videos and pictures of themselves – material that would later be used to blackmail them.

The case has already led to the arrest of 14 people across the country. Hundreds of photos and videos claimed to be taken from a number of fake Facebook profiles were said to have been found by law enforcement officials on hard drives and laptops of the arrested suspects that were then alleged to have been used to blackmail figures from across Maldivian society, including government officials, MPs and senior businessmen.

It was these files and the case surrounding them that formed the basis of an article that Haveeru published on February 22 regarding the possible identity of those involved, which police have said was the basis for the questioning of the two journalists.

A media officer for the Maldives Police Service said they were unable to confirm what sort of questions the journalists were asked and if they may be called in for further questioning at a later date.

However, Ahmed Zahir at the MJA questioned why the police needed to summon the journalists about a story and images already thought to be in the public domain.

“I don’t think this was simply a case of police asking journalists to help them with an enquiry,” he said. “I personally believe it is an attempt to censor and suppress the Maldives media, which has been free.”

Minivan News this week reported that police have said that they would potentially prosecute any figures found to be genuinely featured in the material accrued through the Facebook profiles if they contravened laws.

Police say they have already arrested 14 persons including a minor – reportedly a 17 year old girl – for alleged involvement in acquiring the nude pictures and videos through profiles thought to have used the same image of a young blonde woman wearing sunglasses.

The false profiles – the front for an alleged blackmailing ring that netted incriminating photos of those who signed up – had netted a combined 2500 ‘friends’, most of them Maldivian, making the scope of the blackmail operation potentially massive.

The ring is expected to pose a “security risk” for politicians in the Maldives, according to Deputy Speaker of the People’s Majlis Ahmed Nazim told Minivan News, but was unlikely to lead to parliamentary censorship in the future on how the internet was used.

Police have not yet confirmed whether any figures thought to be featured in or affected by the Facebook scam may be serving MPs or government figures.

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Police integrity commission calls for revised procedures after clearing police of suspect’s death

The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) has ruled that the Maldives Police Service was not culpable for the death of 20 year old Abdulla Basith Zubair whilst in their custody, although it has called for revised safety procedures when holding suspects.

Head of the PIC Shahindha Ismail told Minivan News that a five member independent panel ruled after reviewing evidence, which included medical reports, that police were not accountable for Zubair’s death after he was taken into custody last month for alleged drug offences. The five members of the PIC panel that rule on cases are initially nominated by the president before being put before the Majlis for approval and do not contain any serving police members, according to Ismail.

Zubair was reportedly found dead on the morning of January 14 after he was taken into custody where police said he had tested positive for the presence of illegal drugs in his system.

His death was confirmed after he later was taken to hospital after being discovered by officers who the police service had claimed thought he had been asleep.

Ismail confirmed that although the police were not being held accountable or found to have treated Zubair inappropriately, the case had served to highlight a lack of familiarity and training among officers in dealing with potential addicts or drug offenders when they were held in custody.

“One thing we have noted with some other cases as well, is that special processes are required regarding the handling of drug users in custody,” she said. “We think these suspects need to be hospitalised and not left alone in a cell. Also, at present some officers may not be familiar how to handle such cases.”

According to Ismail and the PIC, the problem represents a wider issue regarding police procedure for holding suspects in custody, as well as ensuring the protection of its officers as outlined under article 19 of the Police Act.

In an attempt to try and ensure officers are better trained and prepared for the challenges posed by holding suspects, the PIC has announced it will be hosting a two day workshop to try and outline minimum standards for holding suspects at police stations and custodial centres from 27 – 28 February.

Along with measures for handling possible drug addicts and users, Ismail claimed the workshop would attempt to outline procedures for a wide array of custodial issues including the administrative requirements of officers on duty.

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Gaddafi is “a wicked, cruel, evil man”: Former State Islamic Minister

Former State Islamic Minister and member of the Adhaalath Party Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has called on the international community to help stop the “violent inhumane actions” of Muammar-al-Gaddafi.

”Gaddafi is wicked evil man whose cruelty has reached to an extreme level,” said Sheikh Shaheem in a statement. ”He has used excessive force over the citizens of Libya.”

Sheikh Shaheem said that today all the Muslims should pray for the citizens of Libya, ”and should pray that he gets destroyed by his own evil actions.”

Prominent scholars in Palestine, Sudan, Egypt and other religious councils have consistently condemned the actions of Gaddafi, said Sheikh Shaheem.

”Some scholars have permitted [to have] his blood due to his evil actions,” he said. ”And I would like to take this opportunity to assure the citizens of Libya that we are with them.”

He called on the international community on behalf of the Adhaalath Party to help the citizens of Libya.

Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed yesterday also called on the international community to “strengthen measures to realise the aspirations of the Libyan people to fundamental rights and freedoms.”

“The right not to be tortured, the freedom to speak your mind, the ability to choose your own government… these liberties are not the preserve of Western nations but universal values to which everyone aspires,” Nasheed said. “These are the forces that are being played out on the streets of Libya and other countries of the Middle East.”

The Foreign Ministry has lost contact with six Maldivians in Libya, although it has not received reports of any injuries.

“We were checking on their condition until yesterday when we were unable to contact them via phone. Their phones would not ring, either,” a Foreign Ministry official told newspaper Haveeru.

“We are trying to contact them and are looking into any possible way that we could contact them through Dhiraagu. We are also trying to contact the Maldivians through an embassy in Libya of a friendly nation.”

The Libyan President yesterday vowed on national television that he will not step down from the country’s leadership, and was ready “to die a martyr.”

Speaking in the third person, Gaddafi said “I am not going to leave this land. I shall remain, defiant. Muammar is leader of the revolution until the end of time.”

US President Barack Obama has meanwhile broken his silence over the Libyan situation and outright condemned Gaddafi’s tactic of using violence against the demonstrators. The US President has sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Europe to attend a meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous and it is unacceptable. So are threats and orders to shoot peaceful protesters and further punish the people of Libya. These actions violate international norms and every standard of common decency. This violence must stop,” said President Obama said.

Minivan News has meanwhile obtained a copy of Gaddafi’s ‘Little Green Book’, entitled “The Solution of the Problem of Democracy”, copies of which were reportedly gifted to a generation of Maldivian school students under former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

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Police decline to reveal identities of political figures involved in Facebook nude photo blackmail case

Police have declined to reveal the identities of political figures and government officials involved in the nude photography obtained by Facebook blackmailers.

The blackmailers used a Facebook account pretending to be an attractive blonde woman, and reportedly coerced hundreds of Maldivians to record their nude videos and pictures through their webcam and send it to them. After receiving the pictures and videos, they used them to blackmail the persons involved – many of them believed to be national politicians and senior government officials.

Police discovered explicit videos and pictures of hundreds of Maldivians on the hard drives and laptops of 14 people arrested in connection with the crime earlier this week.

”We are still investigating the case, but so far we cannot reveal the identities of any of those involved,” said a police spokesperson. ”We cannot confirm any names, just not yet. We will be revealing more information later.”

Daily newspaper Haveeru interviewed a person who claimed to have seen some of the material, who said that MPs belonging to both the opposition and the ruling party had fallen for the scam, as well as prominent businessmen and “national figures”.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that none of the events reportedly depict “would have taken place inside the President’s office.”

”We don’t have Facebook, MSN or any other social networks on any computer of the President’s Office,” Zuhair said. ”It is nothing to do with the government or the president.”

Zuhair added that “for instance there might be torturers among people who build streets, but that does not mean all the street builders are torturers.”

Meanwhile, the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) has sent a letter to the President’s Office, calling the president to remove government officials involved in the case from their posts ”or if you do not remove them from their posts it will be taken as meaning that you are supporting such activities.”

The DQP called on the government to take action against those involved “as soon as possible.”

Several blogs have speculated on the names of those caught up in the scandal, but police would not confirm the identities of those compromised.

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