Category: Society & Culture

Police arrest, charge two men for eating during Ramadan fasting hours

Police have arrested and charged two men who were caught eating during fasting hours.

Police identified the pair as Mohamed Saeed, 42 of Henveiru Happy Villa and Ibrahim Ali, 18 of Violet house in Maafaru, Noonu Atoll. Both names were sent to the Prosecutor General (PG)’s office for prosecution.

In a statement, police said the pair were discovered eating behind the Alimas Carnival Stage at 2:00pm on July 12, 2013. The investigation was concluded by July 24, and sent for prosecution.

Police Chief Inspector Hassan Haneef said eating during fasting hours was a crime under the Maldivian penal code.

‘’I think, although I am not entirely sure, it is a crime punishable by a sentence of up to one year in jail,’’ he explained.

Fasting hours during the month of Ramadan are from dawn to sunset. In the Maldives the dawn prayer is normally called at 4:40am and sunset at 6:23 pm.

During Ramadan in 2010, four men were arrested after they were caught eating in daylight hours. Two of those arrest were also made near the Alimas Carnival stage.

During the same Ramadan, another group of people were arrested while they were eating behind a construction site on the land behind the Dharubaaruge convention centre.

In 2009 a man was arrested for eating in daytime during Ramadan and was sent to the Criminal Court. The Criminal Court fined him MVR 500 (US$32) and ordered him to reinstate that day’s fast.

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Belgian group “conditionally awarded” Hulhumale’ second phase reclamation contract

The Housing Development Corporation (HDC) said it has “conditionally awarded” a contract to Belgium-based company Dredging International to undertake the second phase of reclamation work on the island of Hulhumale’.

HDC Deputy Managing Director Mohamed Shahid today told Minivan News that financing on the contract was still in the process of being finalised at present on the project, with the bid price “more or less” anticipated to be about US$59 million.

Shahid added that a total cost of the project could not be given until certain technical requirements related to the expansion project were finalised.

Local media has previously reported that the HDC project to reclaim 230 hectares of land on Hulhumale’ suitable for residential use would cost an estimated US$60 million, with six foreign parties reportedly expressing interest earlier this year. The development is anticipated to be the largest project of its kind in the Maldives.

Shahid said that with most of the housing planned for the first stage of the development on Hulhumale’ now complete, a second stage would begin soon to reclaim land for the further development of residential and commercial properties that would be managed by the HDC.

A source with knowledge of the project today confirmed that representatives for Dredging International were expected to arrive in the country in the next two to three weeks to begin inspections of the project area before work could commence.

Local newspaper Haveeru meanwhile reported that the second reclamation phase was expected to take about one and a half years to complete.  The work will include reclaiming land presently used for the Club Faru resort, an island property sharing the Hulhumale lagoon closed earlier this year in anticipation of the project.

The Maldives government earlier this month announced it was nearing an agreement to move ahead with the second phase of reclamation work, despite claiming weeks earlier that the project could face continued delays due to limited financing.

The claims were made as the government also this month entered into discussions with Saudi Arabia over securing a US$300 million credit facility for several purposes including “budget support”.

Despite the state’s financial concerns, President’s Office Media Secretary Masood Imad said the agreement would see work commence on a second phase of land reclamation in Hulhumale’ “as soon as possible”.

The development of Hulhumale’ near Male as a residential area was originally intended to reduce congestion in Male – one of the most crowded cities in the world, with an estimated 55,000-60,000 people per square kilometre.

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Four arrested in connection with Dharavandhoo power house robbery

Police have arrested four people from the island of Dharavandhoo in Baa Atoll in connection with the theft of MVR 75,000 (US$5000) was stolen from the island’s power house.

In a statement issued today police said the four men, aged between 21 and 27, were arrested yesterday at about 2:00pm after police obtained a court warrant. One of those arrested was a staff member at the power house.

Police alleged two islanders aged 16 and 23 tried to obstruct the arrests, and were also arrested.

Both the charges of robbery and obstruction of police duty have been filed at Dharavandhoo police station.

Baa Atoll online newspaper Eydhafushi Times reported Island Council President of Dharavandhoo Ibrahim Rashid as saying the power house was robbed after the staff allegedly left the power house to eat.

According to the paper, the staff learned about the robbery when they returned to duty at dawn.

Local media reported that the MVR 75,000 was stored inside a safe, which the thieves destroyed.

The Island Council Secretariat had not responded to calls at time of press.

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Five arrested in connection with rape case of 17 year-old girl in Milandhoo Island

Police have arrested four men and one minor in connection with the gang rape of a 17 year-old girl on the island of Milandhoo in Shaviyani Atoll.

In a statement police said that five arrested were aged between 17 and 21.

Police did not provide further details of the case but stated that the victim was 17 years-old and the incident occurred on Monday night at around 10:00pm.

Island Council President Mohamed Yasir told Minivan News he received information about the incident shortly after it occurred.

‘’Upon hearing the news I went to the girl’s house and she was with her mother sitting down and crying, her clothes were torn and there were lots of signs she’d been attacked on her body and clothes,’’ he said.

‘’She told us that the group of people appeared from nowhere and snatched her while she was walking home from tuition class last night,’’ he said. ‘’She said all the men in the group were covering their faces but she could identify some of them by their height, voice and other characteristics.’’

Yasir said the victim had scratches and bruises on her body and said ‘’the group not only sexually assaulted her, she was physically abused. She told us it was a huge group and almost everyone there took photos and videoed her and threatened to leak it on Facebook if she told anyone about it.’’

Yasir said the girl was taken to the island’s beach where the group tore off her clothes and gang-raped her.

According to Yasir, the girl said she had recently received threats from several people in the group.

A local islander alleged a group of men grabbed the victim and covered her face using a T-shirt before abducting her: “There were scratches on her face,” he said.

“She knew some of the people in the group that snatched her and she the police their names. They have been arrested,’’ he said.

The girl was admitted to the island health centre after the incident.

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Comment: This is not a dictatorship

This article was first published on Dhivehi Sitee. Republished with permission.

Since the 7 February 2012 coup that was not a coup, a disconcerting dissonance between what people witness with their own eyes and what they are officially told they see has become a regular part of life.

Last week, thousands of voting Maldivians watched the X-Rated video of Supreme Court Judge Ali Hameed having sex with three prostitutes at a high-end hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It was not just his clothes that Hameed shed in front of the people but also his dignity along with the ethical and legal right to sit on the bench. Ethical, because he so carelessly flouted the values of his profession, and legal because the Maldives defines unmarried sex between consenting adults as the crime of fornication.

Yet the official reaction has been like a ticker-tape running across the entire length of Hameed’s sexual marathon saying, ‘This is not sex. This is not zinah. This is not Hameed.’

Gasim Ibrahim, the presidential candidate for Jumhoree Party, has been one of the most vocal defenders of the judge. He asks us to ponder the infinite possibilities of why it was not Hameed in the video: “Anyone can dye their hair red.”

No one can argue with that – not in these days of L’Oréal.

Adhaalath, the self-appointed ‘religious leaders ’ – and the last Maldivian political institution one would expect to favour an informed decision over an ignorant one – has announced it cannot say “Hameed is fornicating” or “Hameed is not fornicating” unless the Judicial Service Commission says “This is Hameed” or “This is not Hameed”.

Until then Adhaalath — or any other government entity — will not see what it sees, nor must we believe our own eyes.

In November last year, 38 MPs in the Majlis agreed that President of the Civil Service Commission, Mohamed Fahmy, was more likely than not to have sexually harassed a female servant as she alleged. They voted to have him removed from the CSC.

Fahmy, though, is still there in the CSC, accompanied by a subliminal government-issue caption designed to appear under every image of Fahmy we come across: “This is not a sexual harasser” or “Sexual harassment is not a crime.”

Back in April this year, pictures emerged of Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim and Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb hob-nobbing with the Artur Brothers – Armenian gangsters who were chased out of Kenya in 2006 for heroin trafficking and involvement in the country’s troubled political scene.

Initially the official line was to say it was neither Nazim nor Adeeb hanging with the gangsters. Then came a very Gasim-esque defence: “It is possible that the Ministers and the Brothers were in the same place at the same time. That doesn’t mean they were together as in together together.”

Soon after, pictures emerged of the Brothers at the gala event organised by Nazim and Adheeb to re-open Olympus theatre. This was followed by evidence that one of them was staying in Farukolhufushi, a resort under direct control of Adheeb at the time. Still, the official line was: “This is not happening.”

It was the same with the leaked draft Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with the United States. Nazim and others denied they saw the leaked version on ‘social media’, but were able to confirm “this is not the SOFA”.

So it was not.

A similar story with the PISCES system gifted by the United States: “This is a border control system” said both governments, and so it is; even though controlling borders is the least of PISCES’ concerns.

Then there were reports of the forged ‘extension’ of the agreement to extend the lease of Farukolhufushi resort, a copy of which was shown on Raajje TV. The authorities have stuck the “This did not happen” label on the incident, so it hasn’t.

Latest in these series of events occurred yesterday, the day marked on the calendar as ‘The Independence Day’. Two events were held to confirm this: one at the museum and one at the Republic Square.

The event at the museum was a reception hosted by Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik and his wife Ilham Hussein for local and foreign dignitaries. It was held in the hall usually reserved for the most precious of national heritage artifacts. Their storage requires specific conditions, their care and handling needs highly trained hands. This is the expert opinion.

The official line, however, is different. In direct contradiction of results of years of study, the President’s Office put out a statement saying: having the party at the museum, or having untrained labourers move the priceless artifacts would not damage them. So it won’t.

Male’ watched as Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was given the highest national award of respect. For 30 years, Gayoom ruled the Maldives without respect for either human freedoms, dignity or the rule of law. It was a dictatorship that stalled economic, social, cultural and intellectual development for an entire generation.

But, the national honour, the shining thing around his neck, screams “This is not a dictator”. So he must not be.

This is a democracy.

Dr Azra Naseem has a PhD in international relations

All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]

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“We will not follow unconstitutional orders, even if a new president is installed tomorrow”: Police Commissioner Riyaz

Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz has said his institution will continue to refuse any orders it decides are “unconstitutional”, while expressing concerns over leaked proposals allegedly devised by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to reform the country’s security forces.

In an interview on the Maldives Police Service (MPS) website, Commissioner Riyaz expressed concern at a leaked policy paper that he alleged sought to dismantle and undermine law enforcement, calling for the opposition MDP to clarify if the policies were genuinely part of the party’s election policy.

“I don’t want to say anything specifically about something that has been prepared politically or for a political purpose, but we do have a constitution and the MPS is an institution formed by the constitution,” he said, speaking just over a month ahead of the 2013 presidential election.

Proposals in the paper – leaked on social media earlier this month – include transferring the police to the authority of city councils, similar to the system in the US, while providing salaries and allowances of officers through the Local Government Authority (LGA).

The MDP last week questioned the legitimacy of the leaked reform proposals, claiming the party had no knowledge of such a document, despite backing the idea of a ”transitional arrangement” to reform the country’s security forces after last year’s controversial transfer of power.

The opposition party continues to maintain that former President Mohamed Nasheed was deposed in a “coup d’etat” after being forced to resign from office following a mutiny by sections of the police and military.

The allegations were later rejected by a Commonwealth-backed Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI) that ruled that there had been “no coup, no duress and no mutiny”, while also calling for action taken against unlawful acts committed by the country’s security forces following the transfer.

“Dismantle” fears

Commissioner Riyaz, who took office immediately after the power transfer, said proposals in the leaked documents could not be implemented within regulations outlined under the Police Act.

The commissioner also rejected the professional capacity of individuals behind the reforms, which he claimed sought to “dismantle” and undermine the large role security services play in the country.

“I’d like to tell the MDP that they should clarify whether it is their policy or not. If it is their policy, it is of great concern. This [police] institution will be very concerned,” he said. “Politicians should not try to play with this institution. Help this institution develop. Work to make this institution more responsible. To make it operationally accountable. Don’t use political influence to carry out political objectives through this institution.”

Riyaz alleged that certain senior government figures over the last three years had attempted to limit or weaken police in the country through the use of political influence that led to officers “straying from their path”.

He insinuated that police would not allow a similar event to happen again.

With an estimated 3,500 individuals employed within the MPS, including a large number of families, Riyaz questioned whether any political leader would seek to “discredit” the institution.

“I don’t believe that someone who is working to become the leader of this country will do this because of these reasons.  This country will do this because of these reasons,” he said. “To maintain law and order in the country, firstly no one can govern, unless they are able to maintain law and order.”

Commissioner Riyaz added that the mandate of the police was set out in the constitution, adding that any reforms to the institution’s work could only be enacted by a two-thirds majority in parliament.

“We remain firm. We will not follow any unconstitutional orders, even if a new president is instated tomorrow,” he said during the interview. “Even if I’m not here, the rest will also not follow these orders. Maldivian politicians should know this. I believe they do.”

“Whichever individual becomes President tomorrow can no longer just change the constitution, the existing law. That individual, holding the presidency,  can only bring such big changes with a parliamentary majority.”

When contacted to clarify the comments within the interview, Commissioner Riyaz today forwarded inquiries to Police Spokesperson Chief Inspector Hassan Haneef.

Chief Inspector Haneef defined an unconstitutional order for the police as something that contradicted Maldivian law.

“Operationally we are independent. We do not follow political orders, but we follow the country’s law,” Haneef said.

He added that officers would refuse to follow orders “outside the law” whether they were issued by a president, or a superior officer.

Asked who was responsible for determining whether a particular order was unconstitutional, Haneef said the decision would be made in accordance with regulations outlined in the Police Act, as well as official codes and procedures outlined by the MPS itself.

“It is very clear within the Police Act [as to how a constitutional order] is defined,” he said. “Every person must be accountable for the orders they give.”

At times of press, Minivan News was awaiting a response from the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) over the correct procedure for reforms and the definition of an “unconstitutional order”.

Reform mandate

Speaking last week, MDP MP and Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor personally dismissed having knowledge of the leaked paper on police reforms, despite claiming that the opposition party had considered the need for a “transitional agreement” for reforms of the country’s security forces based on recommendations raised in last year’s CoNI report.

With the CoNI process concluded, Ghafoor accused the Commonwealth and the wider international community of failing to ensure reforms to strengthen democratic institutions called for in the report’s findings were met.

He alleged that the MPS had failed to fully be transferred from a militarised to civil institution dating back to the administration of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s before the country’s first multi-party democratic election in 2008.

“Gayoom had moved to separate the military and police into different bodies. In the end, he failed to do this adequately,” Ghafoor said.

Despite pledging to reform the police and military, the MDP said it was not planning a “witch-hunt”.

According to Ghafoor, the MDP was instead focused on trying to secure a “huge election majority” in order to carry out reforms with the mandate of the public.

“This will help solve everything,” he said at the time.

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Police to charge MDP activist for planning civic disruption on March 19, 2012

Police have charged 43 year-old Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) activist Shiyan ‘Shiyalhey’ Shafeeq for disrupting public order, creating instability, planning arson attacks and assaulting security services during a city-wide protest on March 19, 2012.

Police alleged Shiyan not only planned the attacks but also was involved in committing these crimes. The case was forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s Office on July 14, police said.

Shiyalhey has been arrested several times previously on charges of disrupting public order and creating violence during political demonstrations.

The MDP held the March 19 protest to disrupt President Mohamed Waheed’ s attempt to give the opening address to parliament. Waheed had been sworn in just over a month earlier, following the controversial resignation of President Mohamed Nasheed

A group of 200 anti-government protesters replete with MDP and Maldivian national flags staged a sit down demonstration outside Majeediyya school near the parliament in protest over the President delivering his address, while inside the parliament chamber MDP MP’s barricaded the door to prevent the new president from entering.

The charges followed the high court’s recent upholding of a seven year prison term for eight men accused of throwing stones at the government-aligned VTV station on the day of the protests.

Appealing the sentence, Hameed argued that it was extraordinary practice for the court to impose the maximum possible sentence on a first time offender with no criminal record.

However the High Court, noting that the sentence was three to seven years, deferred to the discretion of the Criminal Court judge.

VTV is owned by MP Gasim Ibrahim, a resort tycoon, presidential candidate and member of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) tasked with disciplining the judiciary.

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Civil Court issues injunction against termination of Palm Beach Resort and Spa management agreement

The Civil Court has issued an injunction temporarily blocking a decision by the head leaseholder of the Palm Beach Resort and Spa to terminate a sub-lease agreement with the property’s current management.

The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture has confirmed that the resort, based in Lhaviyani Atoll, is to remain under the management of Sun Sporting Holidays Limited until the conclusion of a court case to determine the legality of terminating the companty’s sub-lease agreement.

“Sun Sporting Holidays filed a case against the leaseholder and the court issued an order stating that the termination notice should be suspended until the court decided whether the termination is lawful of not,” Tourism Ministry Senior Legal Officer Faseeh Zahir explained to Minivan News.

“So, the ministry accordingly extended the temporary permit for resort operation to Sun Sporting Holidays,” he said.

No date has yet been set for the next hearing in the case, according to the ministry.

In a document (part 1, part 2, part 3) dated July 15, 2013,  Leaseholder Ibrahim Ali Maniku issued a notice of termination for the agreement between himself and Sun Sporting Holidays Limited to operate the Palm Beach Island Resort and Spa.

He wrote that the decision was based over concerns the company, as sub lessee, had failed to meet a number of safety standards and mandatory requirements set out by the Tourism Ministry and other local authorities.

Citing a Tourism Ministry report from April 11, 2013 – Number: 88­QAR/PRIV/2013/604 – the notice alleges that of 97 observations and violations noted by authorities at the time, 61 were considered serious and in need of immediate rectification.

According to the leaseholder, a maximum period of no more than three weeks from the publication of the report were provided for any short comings or violations raised by the ministry to be dealt with by management on the site.  The notice does not clarify if the required changes were made within the deadline.

The leaseholder however alleged that 14 “major violations” of the General Regulation for Food Establishment and Service of Maldives (2007/182/FSI) raised by the Tourism Ministry had not been corrected during a further inspection held a month later.

The notice claimed that Sun Sporting Holidays had also failed to register the property’s desalination plant with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as well as ensuring the resort’s power system was approved by the Maldives Energy Authority (MEA).

Concerns were also raised in the document over the EPA’s conclusions concerning the impact of severe erosion on the island’s coastline, which is claimed to have led to serious damage to the site’s ‘‘A la Carte’ restaurant as well as the loss of 17,953 square metres of land since the sub-lease agreement had come into force.

The notice claimed the sub lessee had additionally failed to comply with the EPA’s recommendations of relocating the resort’s reverse osmosis desalination) intake away from “the site where sewage is discharged”.

Sun Sporting Holidays was also accused by the leaseholder of failing to address recommendations by the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) to repair the resort’s fire alarm and fire hydrant systems that had previously been found to be out of order, while also failing to prepare and practice drills as part of an emergency fire plan.

When contacted by Minivan News this week, Sun Sporting Holidays said Palm Beach Resort and Spa remained under its management and was being operated as normal.

However, the company declined to comment further on the termination notice sent by the island’s leaseholder while legal action into the matter was ongoing.

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Three years ago, the JSC colluded to reappoint Gayoom’s judges: Aishath Velezinee

On this day three years ago, on July 27, 2010, I cried in public, standing on the road, outside Maldives Police Headquarters.

I had gone to the police to report that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) was sitting at work, on a public holiday, in a hastily called, irregular, unlawful sitting, putting the final stamp on a long-drawn conspiracy to hijack the judiciary.

It was, I now believe, the first major takeover in the coup that brought down the Maldives’ first democratically-elected President on Feb 7, 2012.

The station was on holiday mode and there was no one available to hear my complaint. The junior officers at the counter tried calling superiors but it appeared they had all been busy with the Independence Day, the day before, and were “off”.

There was none to speak to. I told the officers on duty that the Judicial Service Commission was sitting, at work, and that given two hours, they would bring down the state, and walked out. They stood, in silence.

I had tried all other avenues before, and had tried to reach President Nasheed through his office. The President was out of reach, out of Male’ on official ceremony with the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), on their territory, outside Male’ where he was Commander in Chief with the MNDF alone.

I was helpless to stop it, and I was convinced the state was collapsing. The Judicial Service Commission was at that moment sitting, colluding, to reappoint Gayoom’s judges en masse and approving them name by name, without check or inquiry.

No one else in the country appeared to know. The media found it all too fantastic. It appeared a Hollywood script, too unreal to be taken seriously.

I stood outside the Police Headquarters, frantic, tears streaming down my face from behind my big black sunglasses, trying to think what to do next, when Colonel Zubair came out of MNDF Headquarters saw me and came up. He saw me crying as I couldn’t stop the tears, though I pretended I wasn’t crying, and it just started pouring and poured more as I spoke. I explained my predicament to Zubair, who called up a police chief.

To cut short, it was explained to me that they understood my case but the police could not act to prevent the Judicial Service Commission from breaching the constitution, acting against the state, hijacking the courts, or robbing the people of the independent judiciary guaranteed by the constitution. These were the crimes I was reporting in my non-legal mind.

I walked back slowly, and went to Maanel, my haven, where I ran to breathe whenever the JSC stifled me, and where I went to vent and collect myself before running back when the JSC taunted, threatened, and attacked me as it often did in those days, in 2010. The JSC was just down the street.

I went to Maanel, left safe the documents I’d taken out from JSC that morning safe, and telling Wimla and Huchen what was going on, I left Maanel and walked back to JSC with only a water bottle, my phone and JSC keycard.

I was on my way to my first ever protest, having only been an observer, a reporter, in the years protesting had begun.

All along, I had been calling up media and contacts, telling people what was going on, and there was some public activity. A small crowd was already gathered outside the JSC when I went back.

I had gone that morning at 10:00am to find the Speaker, Abdulla Shahid, sitting at his place in the Commission, to the right of then Commission Chair, interim Supreme Court Justice Mujthaaz Fahmy, ready to complete the elaborate pretence of executing Constitution Article 285.

Until then, I had kept hope Abdulla Shahid was outside the matter, and despite all evidence to the contrary had kept my trust in him, and appealed to him, to bring an end to this awful charade that was about to kill the Constitution. I knew Abdulla Shahid understood constitution and democratic principles and standards like no other.

Seeing Shahid, I realised this was far bigger a conspiracy than I had wanted to believe.

I protested, inside the conference hall where the JSC continued with its treason despite my live commentary via my phone to a loudspeaker speaker outside. I protested until early evening when it finally ended.

By then there were MPs and a few lawyers speaking on the media, and the media was covering the protests outside JSC.

The people protested. And the JSC pretended to hear. After the protesters left, they returned the next day, and quietly carried out the crimes that haunt us today.

I stayed away on July 28, 2010, having informed the Commission that I would not be participating in any unconstitutional sittings or activities in the JSC.

It was Sheikh Shuaib Abdul Rahman, member appointed to the JSC from the Public by the Majlis, who protested on July 27, 2010, against the JSC’s breach of trust.

Sheikh Shuaib walked out in protest over the JSC approving the appointment of Chief Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed, despite the commission having evidence Abdulla Mohamed did not possess the qualifications of a judge required under Islamic Sharia.

Sheikh Shuaib then spoke tothe  media and informed the public what had happened in the JSC that day, July 27, 2010.

I spoke with JJ Robinson of Minivan News a few days later about what I was seeing.

The rest is history, to be written and rewritten, as it comes.

Velezinee protests the reappointments in 2010:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDiTN72684s

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