Religious NGO Jamiyyathulsalaf is offering youth the opportunity of a two day ‘Hijra’ to distance themselves from sin and form closer relations with religion.
‘Hijra’, a religious camping retreat on the island of Thinadhoo in Vaavu Atoll from November 18-20 where, for the price of Rf300 (US$32), participants can ‘move away from sin’.
Salaf said priority will be given to those who are at ‘beginner’s level’ in their religious education and, or, are experiencing doubts about their belief.
Successful applicants will be instructed in religious teachings by scholar Skeikh Adam Shameem Ibrahim and will also be encouraged to form close friendships and foster a spirit of brotherhood.
‘’As the camp will be held for two days, having fun and playing different games will also be a part of it”. The fun and games will be organised according to religious teachings, Salaf said.
Participants will also have the opportunity to take part in some serious religious education through lessons and sermons.
“Moving away from sin”, is the slogan of the camp. Hijra refers to the migration of Prophet Mohamed from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE to escape persecution and found the first Islamic state.
Close to two hundred arrests have been made by police this year alone on allegations of child abuse.
The latest such arrest was on Wednesday, when a father was charged with sexually abusing his own daughter.
A total of 198 arrests were made for child abuse cases from the beginning of the year to the end of September 2010.
Though the charges are all of crimes against children, the type of abuse varied greatly. Children had been kidnapped, falsely imprisoned, sexually abused, abandoned and assaulted. One had been killed.
The most common among all types of crimes against children is that of sexual abuse. 131 of the 198 arrests made by police this year for crimes against children were for sexual offences.
A Gender Ministry report on women’s health and well-being, an academically rigorous and groundbreaking countrywide survey of Maldivian women produced in 2007, revealed that over 12 percent of Maldivian women between the age of 15 and 49 are sexually abused as a child.
Almost ten percent of women’s first sexual experience is either forced or coerced, the report shows. The younger the woman is, according to the report, the more likely that her first sexual experience is forced on her or that she is coerced into it.
The crime of child abuse is most common in Male’. More than 16 percent of girls in Male’ under the age of fifteen are sexually abused, four percent higher than the national average.
The national average stands at 12 percent – of every 100 Maldivian girls under the age of fifteen, twelve are sexually abused.
For almost two-thirds of these girls, 60 percent, the experience is not a one off, but repetitive and prolonged. Most perpetrators of the crime, according to the report, are male family members of the children.
The second most common perpetrators are male acquaintances of the family, neighbours, teachers or religious leaders.
In August this year, renowned Qary Hussein Thaufeeq, a leader of Friday prayers and a teacher of Qur’an to children on national television, was arrested on multiple charges of child sex abuse. He has since been transferred to house arrest.
24 percent of girls under the age of 15 who were sexually abused were victims of strangers while for eight percent of the girls, the perpetrators were their fathers or stepfathers.
The Gender Ministry report also shows that a quarter of Maldivian women become sexually active between the ages of 15 and 17, before the legal adult age.
Six percent of female Maldivians are under the age of 15 when they have their first sexual experience. For many of them, the experience is forced or coerced.
From comparisons with similar research done by the WHO on 11 other countries, the Gender Ministry report also reveals that only two other countries – Namibia and Peru – have areas with higher rates of child sexual abuse than Male’.
The density of the island’s population, which forces girls into sharing sleeping space with a large number of people, especially older males, is one of the main factors the report identifies as contributing to the frequency of the crime in Male’, the report says.
Girls who are forced to travel to Male’ to study and have to board with relatives, friends and strangers are also identified in the report as being particularly vulnerable.
The fact that the most common type of child sex offender is a male family member may contribute to its high rates in Male’, the report says.
“Perhaps in Male’, where extended families live together, often in crowded conditions, young women and girls are more at risk from their male family members that they live with”, it says.
International research into the impact of child sexual abuse has shown that victims of child sex abuse are likely to become afflicted by a large number of behavioural and psychological problems including negative impact on reproductive health, relationship problems, sexual dysfunction, depression, thoughts of suicide, deliberate self-harm as well as substance abuse and sexual risk taking.
The penalty for child sex abuse, according to the Child Sex Abuse (Special Provisions) Act, is 10-14 years but can be extended to 15-18 years if the accused was in a position of trust with the children he allegedly abused. The new Act is not retroactive, and its sentencing does not apply to child abuse crimes committed before it was implemented.
The following is an English-language translation of a press release press release issued by the Maldives National Journalists Association (MNJA) on October 28 2010, in response to our coverage of the Vilu Reef ‘wedding’ video.
The verbatim translation of the filthy language used by a ‘celebrant’ in a symbolic wedding ceremony conducted on a Maldivian resort published by Minivan News is not the type of journalism that should be practised by a responsible newspaper. The publication of filthy language by anyone, in whatever language, falls outside the standards of professional journalism.
This organisation condemns the use of unacceptable language of low standards in any newspaper or website that can be read or accessed by children, adults and families. We would also like to take this opportunity to note that the translation published in Minivan News will damage Maldivian tourism and business.
SIM Ibrahim Mohamed
President of the Maldives National Journalist Association
Minivan News responds:
Minivan News heartily agrees that the Maldives National Journalists Association (MNJA) should be concerned about the filthy language used by a Vilu Reef staff member in the leaked video, in which paying tourists seeking to renew their wedding vows are mocked and degraded by up to 15 complicit resort staff.
However Minivan News feels such concern would be better voiced by the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), easily done as the two organisations are headed by the same individual, Sim Mohamed Ibrahim.
Minivan News is in fact surprised that MATI has yet to comment on an incident which has sparked worldwide concern about the humiliating and degrading treatment of guests on a resort, and hopes it has not adopted a head-in-the-sand approach to an issue of such national importance.
Furthermore, Minivan News believes that the duty of a ‘responsible’ news publication is to bring such sensitive issues to light, without fear or prejudice, holding big business to account when its behavior damages the Maldives’ cherished reputation for tourism excellence.
We sincerely hope that MNJA/MATI stops ‘shooting the messenger’ and uses its respect and political clout to ensure that such shameful behaviour does not happen again in the future.
The Maldives has been ranked 143 in Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perception Index, equal with Pakistan and below Zimbabwe.
The ranking represents a fall of 15 places since the 2009 Index, which itself fell 15 places from the 2008 Index.
The Maldives is now ranked well below regional neighbours, including India (87), Sri Lanka (91) and Bangladesh (134). Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore ranked first, while Somalia ranked last at 178, below Burma and Afghanistan.
The Maldivian index was calculated using three different sources, explained Executive Director of Transparency Maldives, Ilham Mohamed. These were the Asian Development Bank’s Country Performance Index 2009, Global Insight’s Country Risk Report 2010, and the World Bank’s Country Policy and Institutional Assessment 2009.
“I think [the decline] reflects changes we are going through as a democracy – political instability is also considered when calculating the index,” Ilham said. “But this reflects the fact that the international community considers us more corrupt since 2008.”
Despite having a new constitution the Maldives does not have “the enabling legislation” in place to combat corruption, Ilham said. “We don’t even have a criminal code.”
She hesitated to say whether corruption was “a cultural problem”, because this was “a common justification in many Asian countries.”
“Nepotism is nepotism no matter where it happens,” Ilham said. “Howver it could be that the index reflects that practices such as patronage and gift-giving – which weren’t perceived as corrupt – are now beginning to be recognised as such.”
Corruption has maintained a high profile in the Maldives throughout 2010, most dramatically in July when recordings of phone conversations between MPs were leaked to the press. MPs were heard discussing plans to derail the taxation bill, implement no-confidence motions against ministers, buy someone called “Rose”, the Anti-Corruption Commission, and the exchange of “millions”.
People’s Alliances party (PA) leader Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom told Minivan News at the time that while a voice in the sound clips might have been his, the conversations were ”not to borrow money to bribe MPs… [rather] as friends, we might help each other,” he said.
Meanwhile, “I need cash”, a recorded comment from Independent MP Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed to an individual believed to be Jumhoree Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim, quickly became something of a meme in the Maldives, with islanders in his constituency of Kulhudhufushi setting up a collections box on the beach.
However the debate quickly turned one of telecommunications legalities, with the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) issuing a statement condemning the recording of private phone calls.
Shortly afterwards parliament levelled a no-confidence motion at Education Minister Dr Mustafa Luthfy, the entire cabinet resigned in protest against the “scorched earth” tactics of the opposition majority parliament. The former ministers accused parliament of outright corruption and police arrested MPs Yameen and Gasim and charged them with treason and vote buying, for “attempting to topple the government illegally.”
Both were released when the Supreme Court overruled a decision by the High Court to hold the pair under house arrest for 15 days.
Police later that month arrested Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim, also of the PA, and ruling Maldivian Democratic Party MP Mohamed Musthafa on suspicion of bribing MPs and a civil court judge.
The Criminal Court ordered their release and several senior police lawyers giving evidence were suspended from court “on ethical grounds”.
Senior officers at the time expressed concern that investigations into “high-profile corruption cases” were compromised at “a very preliminary stage”, noting that the court had refused to even issue arrest warrants for a case involving more than a kilogram of heroin.
Police lodged that complaint with the Judicial Services Commission (JSC), which has yet to review any of the nearly 120 complaints it has received this year.
Earlier in the year Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem was also dismissed in a no-confidence motion by parliament shortly after demanding a financial audit of all ministers, past and present, including former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) found Naeem guilty of buying a tie and boat transport with government money, and he was summarily dismissed.
British comedian Russell Brand and pop star wife Katy Perry were last night rumoured to be hopping around resorts in the Maldives trying to evade paparazzi disguised as hotel guests.
The celebrity couple arrived at Male’ International Airport late Monday night on a private jet, according to Minivan News sources. Senior Airport staff are reported to have met the couple on their arrival.
Minivan News understands the couple first transferred to Four Seasons Kuda Hura in North Male’ Atoll, before surreptitiously transferring to Four Seasons Landagiraavaru after supposed media intrusion. The couple have now reportedly departed for yet another resort.
An Indian entertainment website meanwhile reported today that the Brands’ honeymoon might soon be over as the prospect of a major lawsuit arising from their wedding looms on the horizon.
An Indian activist, Akhshay Sharma, according to OneIndia, has filed a criminal complaint against the couple and two others for allegedly violating the green laws during their Hindu wedding ceremony on October 23 in India’s Ranthambore National Park, which involved a man-eating tiger.
“You are swine” and “the children that you bear from this marriage will all be bastard swine,” a tourist couple renewing their marriage vows in the Maldives were told in a ‘traditional Maldivian’ ceremony conducted in Dhivehi at Vilu Reef Beach and Spa Resort.
“Your marriage is not a valid one. You are not the kind of people who can have a valid marriage. One of you is an infidel. The other, too, is an infidel – and we have reason to believe –an atheist, who does not even believe in an infidel religion,” the ‘celebrant’ tells the couple, who appear completely unaware of the humiliation they are being subjected to.
A 15-minute video of the ceremony was uploaded on YouTube on October 24 2010 by a member of staff. Vilu Reef Manager Mohamed Rasheed told Minivan News that the staff member who uploaded the video did it as “a joke”, without “realising the seriousness of the potential consequences”.
Vilu Reef Beach and Spa Resort advertises itself as a place where couples can renew their wedding vows “hand in hand against a golden sunset backdrop” and where their “everlasting love” can be sealed by a “kaleidoscope of romantic hues” that covers the sky during the sunset.
In the video the ‘celebrant’ briefs the couple in English, prior to the ceremony, that it will be conducted according to “not only Maldivian” but also “Arabic and Islamic” norms.
Two wedding rings inside an open coconut, which appears to be lined with mother of pearl, are in front of the couple along with two fresh coconuts. The couple seem dressed for the ceremony, the woman in white as favoured by Western brides.
“Don’t look at her chest”, a man – possibly the videographer – is heard saying as the woman leans over to take a sip from the coconut. She adjusts her neckline.
Men, about ten or more, surround the area both outside and inside the palm fronds, which appears to be a make-shift wedding venue.
The celebrant twirls his thumbs over a piece of paper that he appears to be studying with deep concentration. A male voice asks him if the document is “something new”. He replies that it is “the seventh Article of the Penal Code”.
The document, of which there is a brief close-up in the video, has absolutely no relation to marriage laws in the Maldives. Words that are legible on the document refer to “staff employment”, suggesting that it is a document relating to employment regulations.
Asking the couple and other ‘officials’ to raise their hands as is customary for Muslim prayers, the ‘celebrant’ begins his marriage vows.
“Fornication has been legalised according to Article six, 1.11 of the Penal Code”, he chants in a tone favoured by religious scholars. “That is, frequent fornication by homosexuals. Most fornication is by males,” he continues.
“Research has shown that men have a higher sex drive than women,” he says. “According to Article 8 to 6 of the Penal Code, converting to Islam, or circumcision, is not desirable under any circumstances.
“Germs of anger and hatred will breed and drip from the tips of your penises,” he says.
The ‘celebrant’ then switches from his improvised “Islamic and Maldivian marriage laws” to reading aloud from the document in front of him in the same ‘religious’ tone. This time, what he chants to the couple is to do with terms of employment.
When he returns to the ‘marriage vows’, he refers to certain Articles of the Constitution and combines ‘Section e” and “Section f” to create the word “balhu”, which in Dhivehi means “swine”. ‘E’ in Dhivehi is the letter ‘baa’ and ‘F’ the letter ‘lhaviyani’.
The ‘celebrant’ mixes the two letters to make the word ‘balhu’, the full version of which, as used by the ‘celebrant’, is ‘nagoo balhu’. The literal translation of the term is ‘crooked tail’, believed to refer to a pig’s tail, and is considered to be one of the worst insults in the Dhivehi language.
“You are swine according to the Constitution,” he declares, solemnly.
He then asks the couple to stand up and hold hands. The ‘officials’, too, stand up and place their hands on the couples’. They form a séance-like circle and the ‘celebrant’ begins chanting.
“Aleelaan, baleelaan…”, he begins. What he is chanting is not a verse from the Qur’an, or marriage vows in Dhivehi, but are the words of a popular Dhivehi children’s game.
Words of the game, too, are changed to say “black swine” instead of what is contained in the original.
“Before buggering a chicken, check if the hole is clean. That is because the people of the countries that you are from are familiar with the taste of the ****holes of chicken,” he chants, still with hands held over the couples’.
“Do not treat with kindness people against whom violence is being committed. Commit more violence against victims of violence. You are not people who have been sent to this world to commit violence.”
He then returns to the matter of staff salaries, which he continues to chant in the same tone as he had done the insults. “Do not complain too much about salaries, or matters regarding salaries. That is against the Penal Code. This is not something I am saying for your benefit – it is a law that we have made.”
He begins to chant loudly about “black swine”, stringing insult after insult and delivering it in the same rather ominous tone that Maldivian religious figures choose to deliver their sermons in.
“You fornicate and make a lot of children. You drink and you eat pork. Most of the children that you have are marked with spots and blemishes… these children that you have are bastards,” he continues solemnly.
Someone else is heard at this point to tell the ‘celebrant’ to “say a little bit more, and then quit.”
The concluding chant is delivered in a gentler, softer voice: “Keep fornicating frequently, and keep spreading hatred among people. The children you will have from this marriage will all be bastard swine.”
While the couple are putting rings on each other’s fingers, someone is heard saying that the recording should stop. “Don’t you worry about it,” says someone else, and the recording continues.
“Aren’t they going to suck mouth?” someone is heard asking. “Make them suck mouth”, it is urged. ‘Sucking mouth’ is a term used by Maldivians to denigrate the act of kissing.
“So now, in Maldivian law, in Islam, you are already married”, says the ‘celebrant’, returning to English. The hapless couple are then told to relax and enjoy the celebrations that are to follow, by the end of which a certificate of their nuptials will be ready for them.
Image from Vilu's website, advertising the ceremony
Once the ceremony is concluded, the celebrant, who is dressed in a shirt and tie – with the shirt left to hang loose over a traditional Maldivian sarong – swaggers out of the makeshift wedding venue – tugging at his tie and proclaiming himself “President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed.”
The celebrant, Vilu Reef Manager Rasheed told Minivan News, is an assistant Food and Beverage Manager named Hussein Didi. As he leaves the wedding venue having concluded his job, someone announces his presence, as “Ghaazee Hussein Didi”.
A Ghaazee is the Arabic name for a judge or magistrate, also adopted to mean the same in Dhivehi.
People clap loudly as the couple, whose marriage vows have just been mocked in some of the filthiest language known to Dhivehi, are videoed making their way to the next part of their ceremony – the planting of a coconut tree to mark the occasion.
Various types of insults about the woman and the man, their clothing and demeanour, are being spoken throughout in the form of a running commentary in a sports video.
As the bride bends down to plant the coconut tree, a man is heard is exclaiming, “Can see her breasts!” The ‘commentator’ observes, “She is wearing something”, he knows, he says, “because my beard has gone grey watching those things… I have seen so many of them now that I don’t even want to look any more when I see them.”
The groom, who is watering the new coconut tree which they have just planted, is totally unaware of the manner in which his wife and her breasts are being discussed by the group of Maldivian men ‘officiating’ at the renewal of their wedding vows.
‘Celebrant’ Didi tells the couple they should return soon to check on the progress of their plant, testament to what had taken place on the island that day.
The video concludes with the ‘commentator’ repeatedly urging the ‘celebrant’ to make the couple ‘suck mouths, suck mouths’.
The resort’s Manager Rasheed was unable to tell Minivan News how much the occasion had cost the couple or where they were from.
Asked if the couple had been made aware of the nature of the ‘wedding vows’ they had taken, Rasheed said they had been sent pictures but not the video.
“Our package includes sending them pictures on the CD the very same night”, he said. Rasheed added that the resort does not have a written ‘khuthuba’ or sermon from which to read, nor is the role of the celebrant undertaken by a designated person.
“It is done on a rotating basis. We have been doing it for ten years now, and from a very small start, it has grown into a very successful part of what we offer at Vilu,” he said.
Rasheed said he had become aware of the nature of the ceremony conducted by Didi shortly after it happened. He had banned Didi from performing any more ceremonies, but did not feel it was necessary to take any further action, until the video appeared on YouTube.
The staff member who uploaded the video, Ali Shareef, a shop assistant, is not being disciplined or investigated further, Rasheed said. He complied with the request by the management to remove the video from YouTube.
The ‘celebrant’, Didi, however is currently under investigation by the Head Office in Male’, Sun Travel and Tours.
Minivan News has learned that the ‘wedding package’ offered by Vilu Reef Resort lasts an hour, costs US$1300 which includes the services of a ‘celebrant’, a sailing trip and Maldivian music and dancing.
The happy couple can obtain photographs of their beautiful ceremony in the Maldivian sunset on Vilu Reef Resort for an additional US$440.
CEO of Sun Travel Ahmed Shakir was unavailable for comment.
The Civil Court ruling on whether or not the Judicial Service Commission is guilty of neglecting its Constitutional responsibilities has been delayed indefinitely because the court lacks an official seal with which to stamp the decision.
The Civil Court has been shut for business since President Mohamed Nasheed ratified the Judicature Act on Thursday due to a change in the Court’s name from Arabic to English. A Dhivehi word is not in use to refer to it.
Until President Nasheed signed the Judicature Act into law, the official name of the court had been Madhanee Court – ‘madhanee’ being the Arabic word for ‘civil’.
The Judicature Act, passed by the Majlis on 4 October, uses the English word ‘civil’ instead of the Arabic word ‘madhanee’ to refer to the court.
The Civil Court stopped its work once the Judicature Act came into force as it does not have an official seal bearing its new name with which to stamp its hearings and other official documents.
The Family Court and the Criminal Court, too, are suffering the same plight of being unable to rubber stamp their decisions after the name change.
A period of seventeen days was available between the Majlis passing the Judicature Act and President Nasheed ratifying it in which the seals could have been made.
Treasure Island Ltd is suing the JSC for professional negligence, alleging that it failed to investigate complaints of misconduct against two judges, one of whom is the former head of JSC and former Surpreme Court Justice Mujthaz Fahmy.
The JSC is an independent body Constitutionally mandated to oversee the judiciary and maintain its ethical and disciplinary standards.
Judge Mariyam Nihayath of the Civil Court, who on October 19 refused to admit additional infromation offered by potential JSC whistleblower, President’s member Aishath Velezinee, was set to hold a further hearing on the case today.
It is not known when the courts will have the necessary tools with which to resume justice.
A man has been arrested in Noonu Atoll for alleged sexual abuse of his 15 year-old daughter.
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that a man was arrested in Noonu Atoll on charges of sexual abuse.
He said that further information could not be provided at the moment.
However, a person familiar with the matter told Minivan News that the case had been reported and the girl was being examined by police. He claimed the arrested person was the girl’s father, and that he had been charged with molestation.
The source claimed the girl’s boyfriend had secretly “gathered evidence” that the abuse was occurring before presenting it to her and assisting her in reporting it to the police.
The abuse had been occurring for some time, the source claimed.
A Maldivian woman went in to labour mid-air on a flight with her husband from Trivandrum to Abu Dhabi. The couple were heading to Minsk in Belarus
Head of International Media Relations of Etihad Airways, Holly Williams, confirmed to Minivan News that a passenger went into labour on October 24 on flight EY273, traveling from Trivandrum to Abu Dhabi.
‘’The flight was immediately diverted to Muscat in Oman, however the passenger delivered a healthy baby boy 20 minutes before the flight landed, with the assistance of Etihad cabin crew,’’ said Williams.
‘’Medical staff and an ambulance met the aircraft on arrival and the mother, her husband and the newborn baby were transferred to the nearest hospital, accompanied by Etihad Airways staff.’’
According to Gulf News, the couple were on their way to Minsk to attend medical college.
The newspaper identified the woman as Aiminath Raushan Khaleel, 24. Her husband, who was identified as Abdulla Shahid, told the newspaper that “my wife was due next month around the 20th, and we had to report before October 30 to complete our transfer from a Russian medical college to the college in Minsk, Belarus.”
“There was a trained nurse on board as a passenger and she helped in delivering the boy,” Abdulla told Gulf News.
Gulf News reported that the baby was a boy and that the baby’s condition was healthy.
(0)Dislikes
(0)