Category: Society & Culture

High court judge rules Himandhoo protest was ‘terrorism’ and denies appeal

A high court appeal by three men sentenced to jail for the violent protest at Himandhoo has failed.

Ahmed Ramzee, Ahmed Ali and Adam Mohamed, all from Himandhoo, were originally sentenced for up to 10 years each for their involvement in the protest in October 2007.

The 200 police and army personnel who travelled to the island in search for evidence related to the Sultan Park bombing the previous month were confronted by the islanders, who donned red motorcycle helmets and armed themselves with batons and knives and denied the authorities entry to the Dhar-al-khuir mosque.

In the ensuing skirmish, a policeman was taken captive and another’s hand was severed. Shortly afterwards a video discovered on an Al Qaeda forum was found to contain footage taken inside the Dhar-al-khuir mosque moments before it was raided by police.

Senior High Court Judge Ali Hameed today ruled that the actions of the three men during the protest qualified as ‘terrorism’ under the law of Maldives, and said that the case was not open to appeal. Reading the verdict, Judge Hameed said their actions were “against the public order of the country and weakened the religious unity of the people.”

“The [verdict] of the criminal court cannot be overturned,” he said.

In the appeal, the men claimed their actions against the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) were in “self defence”. Adam Mohamed and Ahmed Ramzy also told the court in previous hearings that their confessions had been extracted under duress.

At the time, Minivan News reported that Mohamed’s account tallied with other reports of abuse to have emerged from the police-run Dhoonidhoo detention centre. On 19 March 2008, he told the court he had been taken out of his cell at night during the investigation, handcuffed with his hands behind his back, and beaten in the football ground area.

Clemency

On 9 February senior members of the Maldivian government met with the 16 people arrested and sentenced for the Himandhoo protest, to inform them that President Mohamed Nasheed had made the decision to lessen their sentences under the forthcoming clemency bill.

“One criteria of the clemency laws is that [the defendant] must have exhausted all other avenues of appeal,” said the President’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair. “They are more eligible [for clemency] as a result of going through the [appeals] process.”

Zuhair said the accusation that the government was ‘releasing terrorists’ was unfair.

“I believe people cannot comment on the actions of the government without knowing the details of the matter,” Zuhair said. “There are complex issues being considered, such as the trial that was conducted under the previous constitution. The president has made it known he will alleviate their sentences.”

“This government came into power saying democracy would extend to religious matters,” Zuhair added.

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Municipality claims land illegally occupied by MDP Haruge

The Male’ Municipality has claimed the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has built a part of its ‘Haruge’ headquarters illegally on the municipality’s land, and informed the party to vacate within 14 days.

President of the Male’ Municipality Adam Manik said the MDP had taken part of the municipality’s land when it built its headquarters.

Adam said that was a part of the land on which the Housing Ministry planned to build flats.

”[MDP Chairperson] Mariya Didi built their office there unauthorised,” Adam claimed.

He said the council had now informed Didi to clear out the site within 14 days.

”It’s not the whole of the MDP Haruge,” he said. ”Its’s the part of the Haruge where they have the administration office.”

Spokesperson for MDP Ahmed Haleem said the party would clear the land within 14 days as requested. He said the land had been given to the MDP by the Maldives National Chamber of Commerce “as a gift.”

”We did not know that a part of the municipality’s land was occupied by us,” he said, adding that the party had not decided where to build its new administration office.

He said the land claimed by the municipality measured around 2000 square feet.

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Himandhoo school board criticised for dropping school song

The Himandhoo School board of North Ari Atoll Himandhoo has decided the school song will no longer be sung during the school assembly as ”it would be more useful to give a speech by school heads and recite the meaning of Quran rather than singing the school song,” according to chairperson Abdulla Jameel.

Jameel said the decision was made after a meeting with Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and the school’s teachers.

He said the decision was not made on religious grounds, and claimed a news report by television station DhiTV was misleading the public by claiming otherwise.

”In our school we sing a song written especially for Himandhoo Madharusa, but there is doubt over whether our school’s name is Himandhoo Madharusa or Himandhoo school,” he explained.

”We asked the education ministry to clarify it, and then we came to know that it was called Himandhoo School.”

Councilor of Himandhoo Ali Naseer said the school song was no longer sung during the assembly because it contained verses saying the school name was Himandhoo Madharusa and the school colors was red, green and white.

”We discovered to know the school’s name was Himandhoo School and the logo was red,” Naseer said, “but we only have the audio recording of the school song we use to sing. We cannot cut out the verses which say Himandhoo Madharusa and says the colours are green, red and white.”

Jameel said the school might sing the song ‘Lhafathuga Ungenema’ (a song sung in every school of Maldives during assembly) instead, but for the time being had decided to give speeches on the meaning of Quran during the assembly.

Deputy Minister for Education Abdulla Nazeer said the ministry’s policy insisted schools must sing the school song during the assembly.

”As per our policy all schools must sing the school song,” Naseer said, warning that ”if any school goes against our policy we will take action against them.”

Jameel said that the school board had sent a letter to the education ministry and ”would decide what to do when they respond.”

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Protesting feminists send underwear to Sheikh

A group of self-styled “underground feminists” calling themselves the ‘Rehendhi’ movement claim to have bombarded Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed with women’s underwear on Valentine’s Day, in protest “against misogyny in Maldivian society.”

A statement from the group was accompanied by pictures of underwear scrawled with statements such as “Make love not war”, “Undies for Fundies”, and “Happy Valentine’s Day Sheikh Fareed”.

The statement condemned the speech ‘With Loved Ones’ given by Sheikh Fareed at the artificial beach in Male’ on 12 January, and stated that “while we do not necessarily promote Valentine’s Day, we will not tolerate messages that [infringe] on our right to celebrate the good things in life like love.”

“We especially will not tolerate the unnecessary framing of women as inherently evil. For example, in his speech Sheikh Fareed criticised men contributing to household chores by ‘running home to buy a fish every time a woman calls’ and implicated them of loving their women more than God.”

The group claimed it wished to remain anonymous “not because we are cowards, but because at the end of the day, we live in a society where the majority is not ready to accept equality between the sexes” and “because we want to be criticised for the issues we take rather than the length of our hijabs.”

undies2The group estimated that between 10-12 women participated in the protest campaign, and said they would continue to “fight the erosion of already scarce liberal attitudes towards women in our society” and “reject overarching and untrue labels such as ‘Americansed’ or ‘Westernised’.”

“We look at our own society and deduce that the suffering of women is directly linked to the strong patriarchal system that breeds harmful prejudices against women, such as their inferiority and servitude to men,” the statement said.

“Sometimes, due to upbringing, formal education and mainstream predominant societal views, women themselves internalise such unfounded and unjustified views of inequality and ‘inherent inferiority’ of women compared to men. We refuse to tolerate any discrimination against women based on Islam and diffuse concepts such as ‘culture.’”

“Our goal is not to negate Quran, Hadith or Islamic principles, but to find women’s rightful place in society in which they can flourish and realise their true potential. We emphasise the fact that many feminists are Muslim women. Working for women’s rights does not mean that one is not a pious and good Muslim.”

Spokesperson for the Islamic Ministry Sheikh Ahmadulla said he would not comment on the issue, as he did not have the authority to give religious advice, but noted that ”according to the law, people have the right to express their opinion.”

undies3President of religious NGO Jamiyyath-al-Salaf, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed Ibrahim, also said he did not wish to comment as he had not heard Fareed’s speech, but emphasised that Muslims were not allowed to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

”Valentine’s Day is celebrated by Christians,” he said. ”It is a day connected to a god of Christians named cupid.”

Sheikh Abdullah Jameel also said he did not want to comment on the issue directly because he had not heard Sheikh Fareed’s speech.

”Women and men are not equal if you look how they are created,” he said. ”[For instance] only a few women go fishing or do construction work.”

He emphasised that celebrating Valentine’s Day is prohibited under Islam “even if some group tries to deny it.”

Sheikh Ilyas Hussein said he had not heard of the group or their press statement, but also explained that ”celebrating Valentine’s Day is not part of Islamic culture.”

“It’s a day Christians celebrate saying it was the birthday of someone named Valentine,” Sheikh Ilyas said.

Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed declined to comment.

Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly attributed comments made by Sheikh Abdullah Jameel to Sheikh Azmath Jameel. Minivan News has rectified the error and apologises for any confusion caused.

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‘State dowry’ for Maldivians who marry foreigners

A new rule requires Maldivians who wish to marry foreigners to seek permission from the Ministry of Immigration and Emmigration, and pay a deposit.

According to the new law, instituted today, the Maldivian would-be spouse must pay the deposit money to the ministry as per existing requirements for work visas.

Prior to that, a specific form designed for mixed marriages has to be completed and submitted to the immigration department for approval.

Resident permits for foreigners married to Maldivians will also be renewed only upon the payment of the deposit, meaning those already married must also pay.

“It’s horrible, it makes me feel like a worker in Maldives and not part of this country,” was the reaction of Sasha, a British woman married to a Maldivian for the past six years.

Tightening regulations

“We are not the ones giving approval, a form has to be filled out and once the family court has approved and stamped it, we will give the go ahead,” says Controller of Immigration, Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim.

Ilyas signed off on the contentious rule, but says it was on the request of the family court.

“Too many Maldivians are getting married to foreigners,” he said, adding that it was mostly done for “bad purposes.”

He cites the case of contract marriages: “Mostly it’s Bangladeshi men who get the girl to marry him, and then she is paid a monthly sum,” he said.

He also says there have been cases of Nigerian men hooking up with Maldivian girls through the internet, then coming to the country and getting married “and after a few months he doesn’t even have enough money to cover his expenses.”

Ilyas said people had been returned to their home countries after a divorce “on the government’s expense.”

The registrar of the family court Ahmed Abdulla agreed with Ilyas, saying too many false marriages were occurring “mostly for visas or other purposes.”

He said the new ruled was intended to protect Maldivian women, as ”men get married here, and just take off without divorcing the woman, or paying her living expenses.”

130 mixed marriages were registered in the Maldives last year, mostly to natives of neighboring countries like India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Ahmed says a few extreme cases also have occurred, where Maldivian kids have been taken abroad by the foreign partner.

“Recently a Maldivian woman was divorced and sent back, while the man kept their kids and to this day she has not been able to get any news of them.”

Abdullah refuses to name the country, saying simply its located “near the Middle East”.

The deposit scheme was not “a total solution” but it was “a necessary step”, he said.

“When bad things happen we have to react.”

The family court has also brought changes to existing criteria for approving mixed marriages.

“Before a foreigner had to earn a monthly minimum of Rf5000 (US$380) to get married. Now the earnings have to be Rf15,000 (US$1150),” he said.

Such criteria were necessary, he said, “as a lot of Bangladeshi men don’t earn enough to take care of their families and this gives rise to social problems.”

Lack of Rights

Sasha’s husband says the new rule “disgusts” him.

“I did not bring her here to work for me,” he says.

Despite his unhappiness with the new rule, he acknowledges that it does offer some protection to foreign women stranded in the Maldives.

“Girls who face abuse and are victimised one way or the other in their marriages; at least they will be able to leave the country if they want to now.”

But, he believes, another way should be found to tackle the issue.

Interestingly enough, the person who implemented the rule, Ilyas, is also married to a foreigner.

“For the rights of the foreign partner one should turn towards the Majlis, there are no regulations that give them any rights on this soil,” he says.

He refers to an existing regulation whereby a foreigner can apply for citizenship after 12 years, if he or she is well versed in Dhivehi, in the religion, and supplies certificates for other criteria.

“But even with all these requirements, it still depends on the mood of the president if a person can be given citizenship.”

Ilyas cites the name of a well known doctor, among the four people who have been granted this privilege by the previous government.

“You can be married for 25 to 60 years and still live here on a resident permit.”

His wife is not eligible for health insurance, and everywhere they go they have to queue separately.

“I can’t even get her registered as a member of my household,” he notes.

However he says this rule would offer her a degree of protection, if they ever divorced.

“It’s not the status of a worker, but that of a foreigner. Here you remain a foreigner forever; the regulations don’t give them even half the rights of a Maldivian.”

Sacha’s resident permit must to be renewed in four years.

“If I remain here forever, the money will remain locked in a deposit in the ministry. Is this a way to generate interest from funds?” she questions.

She says her friends who are in mixed marriages will be furious.

“I have a baby, would I have to pay a 50 per cent deposit for him also since he is half-foreign?”

Her business is also registered in the name of her husband: “I can’t even own anything here, I have no rights and now I have the status of a foreign worker.”

Sasha’s name changed on her request.

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Government to shut down temporary jail at Gan

The government will shut down the temporary jail at the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) base on Gan in Addu atoll.

The Gan jail was set up to accommodate prisoners after inmates at Maafushi jail started a fire and damaged several buildings last year. The arrangement came under criticism following complaints that prisoners were being kept in ‘cages’ and denied human rights, including contact with their families and basic necessities such as soap and clothes. In addition, the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) expressed concern that the jail was using military personnel to handle the civilian prisoners.

Press secretary for the president’s office Mohamed Zuhair said all inmates will be transferred from Gan to jails in Male’ atoll ”within the week”.

He said that some of the inmates would be getting parole while others would get to participate in rehabilitation programs.

”We have decided to shut down the jail for many reasons,” Zuhair said. ”As the government said, it was only a temporary jail.”

However Director General of the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Service (DPRS) Mohamed Rasheed said the department ”has not formally announced the closing of Gan jail” and that it was still operating.

”There are some inmates who have been transferred to Male’ for house arrest,” he said. ”They are people who have reasons, such as medical treatment.”

He refused to divulge further information, stating that “we cannot give full details about the jail and inmates.”

State Minister for Home Affairs Ahmed Adil said the home ministry could not add anything to what the DPRS had said, but noted only 39 inmates were left at the Gan jail.

HRCM spokesman Mohamed Rilwan said the commission had not officially received any information about the jail’s closure, and was not sure of the reasons as to why the government had decided to close it.

The organisation has previously visited the jail and expressed concern that inmates may have been treated “like prisoners of war” rather than civilian prisoners by the jail’s military staff.

“We have no problem with the MNDF guarding the perimeter [of the prison], but direct contact with the inmates should be by civil authorities. MNDF personnel will treat the inmates like prisoners-of-war, not criminals,” said HRCM President Ahmed Saleem at the time.

Saleem added that the prisoners were at the temporary prison because some inmates set fire to the Maafushi jail, and “there wasn’t enough space there. We don’t want to release them, but they need to be treated humanely.”

Brigadier General Ibrahim Mohamed Didi, in charge of the Gan MNDF base, responded to criticism of the jail by acknowledging that “this is a military training base, not a proper jail. We can’t provide facilities to the inmates for things such as family visits. As for matters such as toilets, we are doing the best we can, but they have to remember this is a military base and we can’t give them five star service.”

He noted that “the reason they are here is because they burnt the jail [at Maafushi], and a place was needed to keep them temporarily. This place was chosen,” he said.

A follow-up report on the jail is due to be published by HRCM soon.

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Four children taken to hospital in “very serious” child abuse case

Police and the Ministry of Health and Family have confirmed they are concurrently investigating a “very serious” case of child abuse.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed a number of children had been taken to hospital, but did not divulge further details.

Minivan News understands four children were taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) by ministry workers yesterday to undergo medical examination following allegations.

Inspector Mirufath Faiz, head of the family and child protection unit, said the children had suffered from physical abuse and neglect. She explained authorities were withholding all information for the sake of the investigation.

“There are so many things we need to find out,” she said. “When we have more information that we can share, we will share it.”

Deputy Minister of Health and Family Mariya Ali said all details are being withheld for the protection of the children.

“We have the childrens’ best interest in mind, and that means we cannot give out any information that might put them in danger,” she said.

Mohamed Shihaab of Child Abuse Watch Maldives said he understood the authorities’ fear that evidence would be corrupted, or that the families of the abused children would suffer more if their identities are known.

“There is no need to disclose the identities of the children or their families, but the incident needs to be reported. It’s important that the community knows if something like this is happening,” he said.

Shihaab said he believed people are not reporting incidents for several reasons, one of them being the lack of confidentiality for the victims. The other is the need to provide witnesses so an abuse case is taken seriously.

“People need to know that justice will be carried out,” he says. “If they do not have enough evidence, their case could be dismissed.”

IGMH has not commented on, or confirmed, the case.

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Attackers burn sleeping woman with electric wires

A sleeping woman was badly burned after a group of men broke into her house at night and tied live wires to her feet.

Police said the group entered her house in Laamu atoll on Wednesday night and tied the wires to her toes, then connected it with mains electricity.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the 35 year old woman suffered cuts and burns to her legs.

”They used electric wires and live electricity to create the shock,” he said.

Person in-charge of Laamu Gan Regional Hospital, Ali Faisal, said the shock had badly burned the toes on the woman’s left foot. He added that she had now been discharged.

Haveeru reported that the woman was still unable to walk.

Police are investigating the case but no arrests have been made so far.

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PA claims government was warned about Maafushi protest

The People’s Alliance (PA) has claimed the government was aware of a possible protest in Maafushi jail over prison conditions, but did not take any action.

Last year on 13 October inmates set fire on some of the cells and caused serious damage to the jail. Two staff jail were badly injured during the protest, along with several inmates.

Because of the damage to the jail caused by the inmates parts of the jail were no longer usable, and after the incident some of the inmates were transferred to a makeshift ‘cage’ prison at Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) base at Gan in Addu atoll. The temporary arrangement recently drew criticism for its use of military personnel to handle civilian prisoners.

PA MP Abdul Azeez Jamal Abubakur claimed the government was aware of the situation at Maafushi jail after it was sent a letter by Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM), warning of a possible incident, but chose to ignore it.

”I’m saying this based on a report published by HRCM,” he said, claiming the letter was sent on 30 December following a visit to the jail by the commission.

”We cannot do anything more than inform people about these things,” he said, adding that he was not sure why the government had ignored the warning.

”It seems as though there are people more powerful than the president in this government,” he said.

However press secretary for president’s office Mohamed Zuhair disputed Jamal’s claims.

Zuhair said the government had been watching the jails very closely, and ”if we had received information that such a thing was going to happen, would you believe we would wait without taking any action?” he replied.

”These are just people trying to gain fame in politics,” he said.

Jamal said he does not believe Zuhair, saying “he would not know what he is talking about.”

President of HRCM Ahmed Saleem said Jamal’s claims might be in a report, “but I cannot say whether they are true or not.”

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