Category: Society & Culture

Civil Court orders police to return all seized assets of accused drug lord

The Civil Court has ordered police to return all the assets seized from Adam Naseer that were confiscated during an investigation of his activities in 2010.

After the Criminal Court acquitted Naseer, the Civil Court ruled that there were no legal grounds for police to withhold the assets and ordered them returned in one month.

The Civil Court ordered police to return all the cash, three HSBC gold visa card, one HSCB silver card, one mobile phone SIM card, two HP laptops, a paper with the HSBC card’s pin code written on it, one CD, three papers containing information about Dhiraagu, a prepaid SIM card’s guide book, one Fujitsu laptop, his passport, one car and motorbike registration,  one speedboat registration and two cheque books.

Police searched Naseer’s home in Addu Atoll on June 30, 2009, where they found over MVR 6 million (US$461,500) in cash and a tin containing drugs outside his house. Police subsequently alleged that he was one of the top six drug lords in the Maldives.

However the Criminal Court acquitted Naseer on the grounds that the state had not been able to convince it that the money found inside his house was earned through drug trafficking, or that the tin containing money outside his house belonged to him. The state appealed the case at the High Court, which upheld the lower court’s verdict.

In May 2010 Naseer sued police seeking the return of the money.

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Sentencing children to death is alarming: Amnesty International

Amnesty International has condemned the sentencing of two 18 year-olds to death for a murder committed while they were minors, and called on Maldivian government authorities to commute the sentence.

The Juvenile Court issued the death sentence to two 18 year-olds found guilty of the February 18, 2012 murder of Abdul Muheeth. Muheeth was stabbed at 1:45am near the Finance Ministry building in the capital Male’ and later died during treatment.

Following the sentencing Amnesty International issued a statement urging Maldivian authorities to commute the death sentence and stop the potential execution of the pair, who were sentenced to death after being found guilty of a murder committed when they were under 18.

“The Maldives is entering new and dangerous territory – imposing death sentences for crimes allegedly committed by children is alarming,” said Polly Truscott, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia-Pacific Director.

“The Maldives authorities are flouting international law – anyone convicted of a crime committed when they were under 18 is exempt from the death penalty.

“The authorities must immediately reverse these death sentences, and the prosecution must not try to uphold the death sentences in any appeals,” Truscott added.

Amnesty International also called for the sentences of other prisoners on death row to be commuted, the establishment of an official moratorium on executions, as well as the abolition of the death penalty.

“Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception. There is no convincing evidence that the death penalty works as a special deterrent against crime,” said Truscott.

On December 30, 2012 the Juvenile Court finished taking statements from the heirs of Abdul Muheeth, where all approved passing the death sentence against the trial’s defendants should they be found guilty.

In March, Police Inspector Abdulla Satheeh said Muheeth was mistakenly killed by a gang and that he was not the intended target.

Police previously announced that Muheeth was not a member of any gangs, adding that he had also held a responsible job at the time of his death.

Death penalty controversy

Article 88[d] of the Maldives Penal Code states that murders should be dealt with according to Islamic Sharia and that persons found guilty of murder “shall be executed” if no heir of the victim objects, according to Islamic Sharia.

Although the Maldives Penal Code allows for the death sentence, it has traditionally been commuted to 25 years in prison.

In October 2012, the government announced its intention to introduce a bill to the People’s Majlis in order to guide and govern the implementation of the death penalty in the country.

In December 2012, the Attorney General’s Office completed drafting a bill outlining how the death sentence should be executed in the Maldives, with lethal injection being identified as the state’s preferred method of capital punishment.

However, earlier this year religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf has called on Shukoor to amend the government’s draft bill on the implementation of death penalty, urging that convicts be beheaded or shot instead of given lethal injection.

The bill is currently pending approval by parliament, and has given rise to dissenting opinions on the matter.

This April, the Maldivian state sought a High Court ruling on the President’s discretion to commute death sentences to life imprisonment.

During a hearing on April 22, in a case filed by five citizens seeking to annul laws granting the President discretionary powers of clemency, the state attorney said the government would prefer the court itself provided a decision on the matter in accordance with Islamic Sharia.

The state attorney insisted that the decision be made by the court, despite the High Court Judges Bench emphasising that the state must provide an answer since the case concerned a constitutional matter.

The last person to be judicially executed in the Maldives was Hakim Didi, who was executed by firing squad in 1953 after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder using black magic.

Statistics show that from January 2001 to December 2010, a total of 14 people were sentenced to death by Maldivian courts.

However in all cases the sitting president has commuted such verdicts to life sentences.

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Tourism worker union threatens voter boycott if workers’ rights not protected

The Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM) has announced a list demands targeted at government authorities and have threatened to boycott the upcoming presidential elections if workers rights are not protected.

TEAM and the Maldives Port Workers Union (MPWU) organized a joint concert event near the tsunami monument in Male’ to celebrate International Labour Day (May 1) – also referred to as ‘May Day’ – and show support for workers’ human rights.

During the event, which featured three Maldivian rock bands and a bodu beru (traditional drumming) group, TEAM highlighted four demands for tourism industry employees working at resorts and on safari boats:

1) receive 99 percent “equal and fair distribution of service charges with transparency”;
2) have Maldivians fill 80 percent of the industry’s jobs;
3) have the Freedom of Assembly Act amended to remove clause 24(7)b which bans certain gatherings, effectively making strikes illegal;
4) receive a minimum wage of US$600 for tourism sector employees.

“There is no reason for us to work if our human rights are not protected,” TEAM Secretary General Mauroof Zakir told Minivan News today (May 2).

“The government has not taken any responsibility, they don’t care what happens [to workers]. It’s all about power for them,” he added.

“There are 15,000 Maldivian employees in the tourism sector and they are the breadwinners for their families. As family leaders, they will listen to what we have to say, so if we call for a voter boycott that’s about 75,000 votes we can control,” claimed Zakir.

“Current legislation mandates 99 percent of service charges be distributed among employees, however many companies are not following the law,” he stated.

“The majority of workers only receive about 500 MVR (US$32) to 1000 MVR (US$65) in service charge tips. It’s totally rubbish,” he added.

Zakir explained that foreign migrant workers hold 70 percent of tourism industry jobs (the legal maximum is approximately 50 percent but is widely unenforced), while over 30 percent of young people are unemployed – approximately 40,000 people.

“The Maldives is in a deep recession. The current government policy requiring 45 percent of tourism jobs be reserved for Maldivians is totally wrong,” Zakir declared.

“Cheap labourers don’t demand their rights be upheld. They are willing to work 14 to 16 hour days. These are slavery style operations,” he said.

Zakir explained that management in the tourism industry often cultivated frustration between Maldivian workers and foreign workers as a divide and conquer strategy.

“TEAM is not only for locals, we support migrant workers’ rights as well,” he added.

Regarding TEAM’s third demand, Zakir also spoke about the strike ban preventing groups of more than one person from gathering at resorts, on safari boats, or on industrial islands.

“This is a clear violation of human rights,” he declared.

The call for the minimum wage to be increased is another fundamental issue affecting quality of life, with the average salary actually being between US$152 and US$350, according to Zakir.

“This is not enough to live given the high cost of goods, rent, and inflation,” he said.

He claimed the government’s average figure of US$400 was “totally wrong”, while TEAM had at members at all resorts with access to actual salary information.

Although some resorts pay a higher minimum wage and percentage of service charges, workers’ financial security is still at risk if occupancy drops or anything unexpected happens at the resort that would affect the service charge amount, explained Zakir.

A petition with the list of TEAM demands is being circulated to all the resorts in the Maldives and will then be submitted to the relevant government authorities – President’s Office, Speaker of Parliament, and the Tourism Ministry. The next step will be to establish a timeframe to conduct negotiations.

“We will make them listen and talk,” Zakir stated.

“The government needs to legally implement the [International Labour Organisation (ILO)] international conventions, they’ve agreed to uphold,” he added.

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World Bank approves US$10 million education grant to halt decline in higher secondary enrollment

The World Bank has approved a US$10 million grant to the Maldivian government to expand and strengthen the education system.

In a statement, the World Bank noted that the country’s education system faced key challenges including a “sharp drop” in enrollment at higher secondary level.

“The higher secondary education net enrollment rate is a mere 19 percent, with boys’ net enrollment at 20 percent and girls’ net enrollment at 19 percent,” the World Bank stated.

“It is important that the education development program also addresses the quality of education through several strategic initiatives. In this regard, the project will support the development of a system of regular National Assessments of Learning Outcomes, which can inform policy formulation and program development” said World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Diarietou Gaye.

The US$10 million project will include professional development for teachers and a quality assurance program at school level.

“School-based management activities and the annual school feedback form (ASFF) program will be also implemented at the school level,” the statement read.

“The school heads and senior management teams will be responsible for the organisation and management of these activities. The principals and senior management teams will lead the internal self-evaluations of the quality assurance process. They will also lead the needs assessments of teacher skills and competencies in relation to the school development plans, and organise the professional development programs required. The school heads and senior management teams will also be responsible for implementing the ASFF program,” the World Bank stated.

The Maldives has 220 public schools spread across the country’s 200 inhabited islands, with 6000 teachers serving a 62,000 students. Approximately 1700 students attend private schools.

In a statement. President Mohamed Waheed meanwhile observed that many schools in the Maldives had very small student populations, “an issue of great concern for the nation.”

Speaking during a visit to Maduvvari on Meemu Atoll, Waheed said the average number of students per classroom was 3-4, and that in some schools the entire student body consisted of no more than eight.

Given the state of these schools, “a lot of very urgent reform measures are needed to improve teaching techniques and obtain better results,” the statement read.

System in crisis

The O’Level pass rate in the Maldives has steadily increased from 27 percent in 2008 to 37 percent in 2011. Beyond a general claim that the O’Level pass rate for 2012 was the “highest on record”, the Education Ministry has so far withheld the figures for 2012, citing “difficulties in analysis”.

Education leaders have repeatedly highlighted as one of the country’s greatest social challenges that fact that two-thirds of students leave the education system at age 16, with little possibility of employment until they reach 18,

Outside the rare apprenticeship program offered by the resort industry – such as one run for more than 10 years by the Four Seasons group – the Maldives has little in the way of vocational training programs.

With the large trade and construction sectors dominated by a massive and poorly-paid imported workforce, options for young Maldivians are extremely limited, especially if isolated on an island in a remote part of the country.

Young Maldivian women face further challenges, as they are largely excluded from the country’s largest employer – the fishing industry – and despite the opportunities, few work in the resort industry due to persistent social stigma.

In a 2011 report on the issue, one father told Minivan News: “If my daughter would not have the possibility of going home every night, I would not let her work in the resort, it is not safe […] if a woman will not come home at night after work, and she would maybe have a relationship with a man in the resort, which could result in a pregnancy… this would have very bad impact on the family and would not be tolerated.”

More recently, Four Seasons Resorts Maldives Regional Vice President and General Manager, Armando Kraenzlin told Minivan News that the number of females in the company’s apprenticeship program had declined over the last 10 years, to just two in the 2014 intake.

“We never had many [female] participants – five to seven per batch – but it used to be easier [to recruit women] about 10 years ago. Unfortunately, numbers have dropped,” he said, at the program’s class of 2013 graduation.

Education Minister Dr Asim Ahmed said the prospect of their female children living and working on a resort was a difficult concept for parents.

“The culture here is for children to grow up and grow old in same house. In the Maldives, you go to work [at a resort] and live there. It’s a very difficult thing to get your head around,” he said.

Ahmed explained the need for women and parents to be more aware about the conditions of female employees working at resorts, particularly in terms of accommodation arrangements.

“It is important parents buy into this and believe resort work is beneficial and reliable [for their daughters]. The other challenge is we have to provide child care and other facilities that will release the women to go and work,” he added.

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All murder cases filed last year investigated and sent to PG, claim police

Police Head of Serious and Organised Crime Mohamed Chief Inspector Dhaud has announced that police have concluded investigations into all murder cases filed last year and  forwarded the cases to the Prosecutor General’s office.

In a video interview on the police website Dhaudh said many people were murdered last year, and that police had been able to determine the suspects in these cases. Some cases were in court while other trials had been concluded.

He expressed concern that although some cases were thoroughly investigated and sent to the courts, the cases were interrupted when witnesses were influenced and changed their statements.

Dhaud said police were giving high priority to identifying people intimidating witnesses and prosecuting them.

He also said that police took murder cases very seriously would use all available resources to investigate these cases.

In the video, Dhaud highlights some of the deaths that occurred last year and the suspects who were charged in the cases.

The video interview comes the day before the ‘National Movement’ coalition of NGOs and the Adhaalath Party have declared they will hold a protest on behalf of murder victims because ‘’murder victims have been deprived from their right to have justice.’’

On April 24, speaking to local media at Nalahiya Hotel in Male’, Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Imran Abdulla said the main purpose of the gathering was to call for justice for murder victims and encourage the authorities to ensure that “such inhumane acts” were not repeated in the future.

Imran also suggested that murders were being ignored, criticising media for forgetting cases after covering them for 10 days or even a month.

He also referred to the brutal murder of MP Dr Afrasheem Ali in October 2012, noting that neither the ongoing trial nor the investigation of his murder had been concluded.

State Home Minister Abdulla Mohamed, spokesperson of the ‘National Movement’, said at the time that 13 Maldivians were reported murdered last year.  He added that compensation for these deaths was also not being received by relatives of the victims.

He called on everyone against murder to participate in the event.

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Juvenile Court sentences two 18 year-olds to death for murder of Abdul Muheeth

The Juvenile Court has issued the death sentence to two 18 year-olds found guilty of the February 18, 2012 murder of Abdul Muheeth of Galolhu Veyru House.

Three minors were charged in the case, and one was acquitted by the court. The two sentenced to death are both 18 years-old, although both were underage and minors at the time of the murder, according to local media.

A Juvenile Court spokesperson told the local media three male witnesses told the court they witnessed one of the minors attacking Muheeth.

The two minors were seen at ADK hospital the same night with some other suspects in the case.

All Muheeth’s heirs had approved the death sentence if the courts found the suspects guilty of murdering him.

Last year Police Inspector Abdulla Satheeh told the press that the investigation into Muheeth’s death showed that he was not attacked for any involvement in gang related crimes, and that he had no police record.

He also noted that Muheeth was not a member of any gang, and was working in a responsible job at the time.

Muheeth was rushed to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) after he was stabbed at 1:45am near the Finance Ministry building. He later died during treatment.

The three suspects were identified at the time as Muhujath Ahmed Naasih of Abulagee Ge on Gahdhoo in Gaaf Dhaal Atoll, Mohamed Maimoon of Zaithoonige, on Naifaru of Lhaviyani Atoll and Ali Mushahfau of Sultan Villa on Maradhoo in Seenu Atoll.

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HRCM to investigate Immigration Department’s promise of mass repatriation

The Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) has expressed concern over a pledge by immigration authorities to repatriate 10,000 “illegal” expatriates on the back of wider reservations at the treatment of foreign workers potentially trafficked into the country.

HRCM member Jeehan Mahmoud has told Minivan News that the commission was concerned not just over plans to repatriate a predetermined number of unregistered workers, but also whether they were being punished for the actions of employers or agents acting outside the law.

The concerns were raised as the Department of Immigration and Emigration announced yesterday (April 30) that 1,748 foreigners found to be working illegally in the country had been repatriated – the majority by their own request – during the year so far.

Immigration officials also announced commitments to send a further 10,000 unregistered workers back to their home nations during the remainder of 2013.

Immigration Controller Dr Mohamed Ali said that the repatriated workers had either come to the Maldives with sufficient funding to afford transportation back to their home countries, or that their fares were covered through previously paid “deposits”.

Dr Ali did not however elaborate as to how the immigration department had devised the figure targeting the return of 10,000 unregistered workers to their respective countries.

He stressed that his department would be investigating and punishing employers and agencies responsible for bringing the now unregistered workers to the country if they had acted illegally.

“[The immigration department] will do that with vigour now,” he said.

Dr Ali was reported in local media as adding that 146 foreigners alleged to have involvement in criminal cases were deported this year so far, with 85 illegal workers also sent back to their respective home nations.

“More foreigners come to us voluntarily as we toughen our approach towards them. Everything will be arranged for those who come to us voluntarily. Island Aviation now has direct flights to Dhaka,” he told Sun Online, referring to the large number of Bangladesh nationals working in the country.

Dr Ali told Minivan News last week that while almost all foreign workers coming to the Maldives arrived under registered companies, some were finding themselves “illegally used” by employers due to “systematic abuse” of the visa system once here.

HRCM investigation

Responding to the immigration controller’s pledge this week, HRCM member Jeehan said that the commission itself had not been consulted by the Immigration Department over its proposed crack down on unregistered workers.

From the perspective of the HRCM, Jeehan said there was particular concern about the safety and vulnerability of the foreign workers set to be returned by authorities, particularly in the case of expatriates who were heavily in debt as a result of paying companies or agents to come to the country to find work.

“If they are working or staying here undocumented, how safe are they to be returned home,” she said. “We must consider how vulnerable some of these people are, it is different for those who request repatriation or course.”

The HRCM is now set to investigate the conditions by which these foreign workers are being repatriated, especially in regards to concerns that unregistered expatriates may have been detained as a result of the actions of agents or employers in the country.

According to Jeehan, issues also needed to be addressed over how the Immigration Department had decided to set a predetermined number of foreign workers that it would look to repatriate.

“How has the state arrived at this number? Whether it is the result of a baseline study or some other research we need to know,” she said. “Also, how is the state identifying the 10,000 workers that need to go back home and are they sure they are undocumented? Questions also need to be asked of what the state is doing with these expatriates before they are sent home. It is unfair if they are being detained as a result of the faults of others.”

Jeehan added that before any undocumented foreign workers were being repatriated, it was also important to ensure that employers had paid the salaries of all staff and were honoring their obligations to workers.

“These employees should be provided with their due wages and compensation, it is for the state to guarantee this,” she added.

Jeehan said that the HRCM was presently seeking to consult the Labour Relations Authority (LRA) over a number of issues that it said would include how unregistered workers were being sent out of the country.

“We will look to meet with the LRA first, as they are the state authority outlining employment practices, s we can see what role they may have had in outlining these policies,” she said.

Jeehan added that if the LRA has not had a role in the outlining this repatriation policy, than the HRCM might “have an issue” with the process.

When contacted by Minivan News today, LRA Assistant Director Aishath Nafa Ahmed said the body had no involvement in outlining policies on the repatriation of foreign workers since last year.

She added that although the LRA was involved in a steering committee that focused on issues surrounding the country’s foreign workforce, the authority had not had any discussions over plans to repatriate 10,000 workers this year.

Human trafficking

The Maldives has appeared on the US State Department’s Tier Two Watch List for Human Trafficking for three consecutive years. Should the Maldives drop to tier three – the worst category – then the country is expected to face significant reductions in aid and potential travel restrictions on its citizens.

Despite the government last year launching a special state program to try and draw awareness to the problems beyond human trafficking, concerns have continued to be raised by various NGOs and authorities at the scale of human trafficking in the country amidst fears of widespread corruption within the visa system.

Just last month, a source working within the immigration department alleged that companies across the Maldives were freely abusing visa regulations by generating fictitious labour demand to directly profit from trafficking foreign workers into the Maldives.

The source told Minivan News that almost no human verification was being undertaken by authorities to ensure workers were genuinely employed once a business or construction project was approved in the country.

In theory, a Maldivian company could submit design plans for an existing structure such as Manchester United’s 75,811 seat Old Trafford Stadium – and then be assigned a computer-generated quota of foreign workers, the same source claimed.

One former Bangladesh High Commissioner in the Maldives alleged back in 2010 that the exploitation of foreign workers in the country rivalled fishing as the most profitable sector in the national economy after tourism.

Addressing the current scope of unregistered foreign labour, Maldives Association of Construction Industry (MACI) former President Mohamed Ali Janah said earlier this year that an estimated 40 percent of the foreign employees in the sector were thought not to be legally registered.

Considering these numbers, Janah said he could not rule out the involvement of organised crime in certain employment agencies, which supply a large amount of foreign labour to building sites in the Maldives.

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Drug Court sending addicts to jail after detox centres reach capacity

With government detox facilities at capacity the Drug Court is sending addicts to jail in the interim, prompting the Maldives’ National Drug Agency to call on private businesses and NGOs to fill the gap.

Twenty-four men have been sent to prison for 90 days, or until space becomes available for treatment, in accordance with the Drug Act which states the court has the authority to do so if “rehabilitation centers are unable to facilitate treatment”, according to local media.

All emergency medical detox centers are full nationwide – the Himmafushi Island, Villingili Island, Fuvamulah and Addu, National Drug Agency (NDA) Chairperson and State Health Minister Lubna Mohamed Zahir Hussain confirmed to Minivan News today (May 1).

“Rehab is not full, however detox is full for the next 14 days. Demand is so high that clients are waiting in prison,” said Zahir.

“The Drug Court is sentencing too many people every day. There are so many – too many – cases. The court doesn’t want to delay sentencing, so people eligible for rehab must wait in prison – for a maximum of three months,” she added.

Zahir stated that 24 men currently in jail – awaiting the first phase of rehab, which is detoxification – will be moved to the drug rehabilitation center on Himmafushi island within two weeks. No women are awaiting detox, claimed Zahir.

“We are calling for help”

Zahir emphasised that current government regulations allow for the privatisation of rehabilitation centers and the NDA has requested bids for private companies in the government gazette, however no applications have been submitted thus far.

“We are looking forward to receiving applications. It’s time the government opened international bidding to do so,” declared Zahir.

“[The NDA] is open for discussions about opening a rehabilitation resort. A similar program to cabins in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which is a really good program.

“For example, foreigners can come to the island destination [for drug rehabilitation], the profits of which could be used to subsidise treatment for Maldivians,” Zahir explained.

The private rehabilitation centers would be supplementary to the national treatment center for men and women, which is required by law, according to Zahir.

She also highlighted the need to strengthen aftercare programs in partnership with local communities. This is a particular challenge for NGOs who are working with drug addicts.

“Communities fail to understand the work NGOs are doing with drop-in clients. Awareness and education are needed, because NGOs are running into lots of problems with communities,” said Zahir.

Political polarisation and the focus on the upcoming presidential elections seems to be preventing this work from occurring, claims Zahir.

“It is easy [for NGOs] to apply for and get community [drug] rehab licences to conduct relapse prevention. And we are really calling for help,” she implored.

NDA has also issued requests for qualified people to apply for councillor positions with NDA to support their outpatient community rehabilitation programs.

There are between 200 and 400 clients, but very few councilors, Zahir explained.

Facilities lacking

The limited space within the Himmafushi rehabilitation center becomes available on a revolving basis – as clients complete their treatment – however capacity to conduct the three day emergency medical detoxification is extremely restricted.

The Himmafushi center has space to detox about 20 people at any given time, however it only has the capacity to manage about 10 individuals. The center is able to conduct drug rehabilitation for 150 men and 12 women maximum. Additionally, 12 detox spaces are available on each of the islands of Villingili, Fuvamulah and Addu.

“Two years ago we used a detox dorm for women on Himmafushi, however they were shifted to the female specific unit established on Villingili June 26, 2011,” explained Zahir.

“The NDA and Gender Department – under the Health Ministry – ran the rehabilitation center for women on Villingili. But it was closed in 2012 when the Gender Department became the Gender Ministry and took over the building.

“We requested from [former Gender, Family and Human Rights Minister] Diyana Saeed to keep center. Demand is high, we need a unit always,” she added.

Subsequently, women in need of drug treatment did not have a center for seven months until the original female dorm located on Himmafushi was reopened.

The NDA is planning to add three additional units to the Himmafushi drug treatment center and had requested government funds for the project, according to Zahir.

“NDA lacks implementation capacity”

“Drug abuse is too much money for the government to bear, because the problem is so wide-spread and the cost is so high,” an expert in holistic drug prevention, treatment, and aftercare told Minivan News today.

“The government is doing almost nothing for drug prevention, which then puts a huge burden on the government, including the public health sector. There is also a dire need for early intervention,” claims the source.

“NDA lacks the capacity and staff to do everything. They are not able to handle prevention, inpatient or outpatient treatment. Currently, they do not even have a CEO and are operating outside of the law,” the source continued.

“NDA should act as a governing body and watchdog only. Otherwise they cannot handle the demand,” added the source. “There is only one rehabilitation centre and it’s always full because there are so many people in need.”

The source suggested that the state-run detox and treatment centers should be outsourced to private or civil society institutions, leaving room for the NDA to oversee and regulate. Additionally, building NGO capacity to address drug abuse would “benefit the entire nation”.

“There is no one to monitor and make them responsible if NDA is the implementing body,” said the source.

A “clear cut” country strategy – similar to the recently released 2013-2020 European Union drug strategy – needs to be developed in the Maldives, the source believes. The entire sector in Maldives works at cross-purposes and is not aiming for one particular prevention, treatment, or aftercare goal.

“Addiction is a lifelong chronic, relapsing brain disease. A person will relapse six to eight times or more before they completely stop using and live a sober life,” explained the source.

“Relapse is not failure, rather it’s due to the treatment program or person lacking some kind of support. Addiction is a very complex disease and affects each person differently.

“Often addiction is accompanied by another disease, such as depression or other mental health issue, but treatment in the Maldives does not address this. Thus, people relapse easily, which adds to the stigma surrounding drug users.

“This concept needs to be internalized in the Maldives and a continuum of care must be provided. This includes environment based intervention, evidence based and client focused treatments, as well as continuing guidance, education and support programs,” said the source.

The source further recommended referring to the US National Institute on Drug Abuse to structure these programs.

“The government spends so much money and this is such a small place, they should be able to do something,” concluded the source.

Nationwide drug abuse controversy

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and NDA published a survey in February, claiming there are 7496 drug users in the Maldives.

Informed sources who participated in the survey process previously expressed serious concerns about the “flawed methodology” of the data collection process, which they claimed had produced a final report that inaccurately and grossly underestimates drug use in the Maldives. Key populations such as those in jail, women, and users of ‘party drugs’ were left out of the survey.

The NDA subsequently refuted criticisms over the drug report’s methodology in a letter sent to Minivan News.

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MDP condemns use of Islam as “political weapon to sow discord”

The former ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has strongly condemned “irresponsible and misleading” political rhetoric against former President Mohamed Nasheed over his remarks on Islamic radicalism during an address to the Danish parliament.

“Misleading” statements were made in the media by political parties and “those wearing the hat of sheikhs to use religion as a weapon,” the MDP said in a press release yesterday (April 30).

“The party believes that this is done to sow discord, unrest and chaos in this peaceful Maldivian land,” the opposition party said.

The condemnation follows a statement by the religious conservative Adhaalath Party (AP) earlier this week accusing the MDP presidential candidate of labeling Muslims as “extremists,” insulting Islam and allegedly portraying himself as “a warrior engaged in a mighty effort against Islam, to please the people of false religions.”

The government-aligned religious party had reiterated its claim that former President Nasheed was pursuing “a secular agenda” with support and encouragement from “missionaries of false religions.”

The self-titled ‘National Movement’ led by the Adhaalath Party meanwhile protested on the streets of Male’ on Monday night (April 29) calling for Nasheed to be “hanged” for apostasy.

The movement was born out of the unofficial December 23, 2011 coalition of eight political parties – now part of the coalition government of President Dr Mohamed Waheed –  and an alliance of NGOs that rallied at a mass gathering to “defend Islam” from Nasheed’s allegedly liberal policies.

On the same night as the national movement’s protest, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom contended that Maldivians faced a choice between a secular, anti-national ideology and an Islamic-nationalistic ideology best represented by his Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

In a thinly-veiled reference to the MDP, Gayoom accused the former ruling party of trying to impose Western secularism on the Maldives to “put the country in control of an anti-Islamic organisation.”

The government-aligned PPM also claimed that Nasheed “shamed the nation” with his allegedly anti-Islamic remarks.

“A former president of a 100 percent Islamic nation speaking in such a fashion, insulting the religion of Islam and mocking Prophet Muhammed is a derogatory act that brings disgrace to the country in front of other Islamic nations,” the largest party in the ruling coalition said in a statement.

“Reformation”

At a question and answer session following his lecture at the Denmark parliament last month, former President Nasheed said that the spread of radical Islam or Wahhabism throughout the Middle East and East Asia was “very worrying.”

“This is not Islam necessarily but more a Hejaz or Saudi thinking – their culture. And it is an idea to impose that culture upon all Islamic societies. And I’m afraid that the spread of that thinking is very, very rapid, partly because we haven’t stood up and given an alternative narrative,” Nasheed explained in response to a question asking for his viewpoint on the struggle between “progressives and reactionaries” within Islam.

Nasheed added that moderates have not offered “a proper narrative that can counter the radical Islamic viewpoint.”

“Now, what the radicals are doing, they have an answer for everything, anything. You can ring up in the middle of the night and say, ‘Sheikh, I’m not able to sleep.’ And then the Sheikh would give you a hadith (Prophet’s sayings) and a revelation on what the Prophet did and what God has prescribed on sleeping in the middle of the night and then you go back to sleep,” Nasheed had said, prompting the allegations this week that the remarks constituted a mockery of Islam or the Prophet Mohamed (pbuh).

“We don’t a helpline. We don’t have an alternative narrative,” he said, adding that moderate Muslims should propagate “the actual version of Islam.”

Nasheed suggested that Islam needed “a reformation” similar to the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

“Because Maldives is a very Islamic country, apparently, it is able to play a very important role in the spread of these religious ideas. And similarly, I believe that with proper democracy in the Maldives we can play a very important role as a counter to the reformation, or rather the Jesuits have to come up quickly,” he said.

Pro-government broadcaster DhiTV however reported the remarks as Nasheed calling for “a Christian missionary-like organisation to come out against the Islamic extremist ideology spreading fast in the Maldives.”

“Haram”

The MDP meanwhile said in its statement that it was “regrettable” that local sheikhs were “providing misleading and false information” to the public for “short-term” political purposes, which was leading to loss of respect for religious scholars in Maldivian society.

Former President Nasheed called on moderate Muslims to stand up against extremism, the press release stressed.

The MDP noted that accusing a fellow Muslim of apostasy was forbidden in Islam.

Former President of the Adhaalath Party Sheikh Hussain Rasheed Ahmed, who recently joined the MDP, was quoted in the party’s statement as saying that the sheikhs were more deserving of the “laadheenee” (irreligious or secular) label as the alleged coup d’etat they orchestrated was also haram (prohibited) in Islam.

The MDP statement called on all parties to be more “responsible” while making statements concerning religion.

As Islam was a “moderate” religion based on peace and fraternity, the party appealed for politics to be kept out of religious debates.

Meanwhile, speaking at a campaign rally on the island of Meedhoo in Dhaalu Atoll on Monday night, Nasheed said that the laadheenee (secular) label was used by the then-opposition as a false pretext to topple the government.

The allegation was “saddening” and “worrying” as the members of MDP were also brought up as Muslims and taught Islam just as any other Maldivian, Nasheed said.

The belief that the “only path for salvation in this life” was following the principles of Islam was deeply-rooted “in the bottom of our hearts,” he added.

“God willing, we will remain upon that belief and no policy will be formulated or implemented in the Maldives any other way,” he said.

In a speech the previous night in Faafu Bilehdhoo, Nasheed said Adhaalath Party scholars “sold out Islam” to bring about a coup d’etat on Febraury 7, 2012.

Islamist-backed coup

In his lecture in Denmark, Nasheed argued that “the Islamists were never a credible electoral threat.”

“The Islamic extremists also didn’t like the Maldives’ new democracy because they were unpopular. They failed to win the Presidential elections in 2008, they failed to win local government elections – in 2011 they won less that four percent of the vote. But now, after the coup, extremists have been rewarded with three cabinet positions in government, and in many ways set the tone of government communications. They are busy trying to indoctrinate people with a misguided version of Islam,” Nasheed said.

In its statement, the Adhaalath Party objected to Nasheed implying that the party had “no influence or power,” insisting that the former president “feared” the religious conservative party.

The party accused Nasheed of “placing idols” in Maldivian lands – a reference to the SAARC monuments gifted to the country by other South Asian nations during the 2011 SAARC Summit hosted in Addu Atoll – and of “giving our assets to foreigners” – a reference to the concession agreement to manage and upgrade the international airport granted to Indian firm GMR.

Nasheed meanwhile pledged to “remove the Islamist rhetoric from the official discourse” for the Maldives to become a more tolerant, liberal society.

He went on to accuse the former dictatorship of organising the alleged coup d’etat on February 7, 2012 “because they could see the edifice of their economic and political power crumbling.”

“It was crumbling because Maldivians had rejected authoritarianism, rejected feudalism and largely rejected Islamic extremism,” Nasheed said.

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