Day: March 11, 2010

Maldivian journalist threatened with beheading

Death threats calling for the beheading of controversial Maldivian journalist and blogger Ismail Khilath ‘Hilath’ Rasheed have been published on Muraasil.com, a popular publishing platform that allows anyone to publish content in Dhivehi.

Rasheed, a journalist of 10 years experience, is known for being highly critical of Islamic fundamentalism in the Maldives.

The threats, which Rasheed translated from Dhivehi on his blog, called the journalist an “animal who has blasphemed” and said he “had no right to live”.

“Let it be made known to this guy that Maldivians are an Islam-loving and Islamic Sharia law-loving people. Become a terrorist in the name of religion,” demanded the author, identified only as ‘Jihad’.

“I am of the opinion that even if you kill him, you are all innocent. Cut off his head,” said the article’s author, identified only as ‘Jihad’.

The piece was quickly removed from Muraasil following complaints.

Muraasil’s founder Nasrulla Adnan explained that while anyone is able to create an account and publish articles on the site, new authors had to abided by a code of conduct and were carefully moderated. Only regular and approved contributors were able to post content without it being reviewed, he explained.

“Obviously that [content] was posted by someone who has published for a long time,” Nasrulla said. “We took it down and revoked their [publishing] rights.”

Rasheed said he felt the threats were “quite awful” and he was “now afraid some fanatic is going to attack me.”

“The situation with free speech in the country is very precarious,” he said. “We have all these institutions and laws, but extremists are using the umbrella of Islam to to incite violence against women, children and bloggers. I don’t think that Maldivan people should be silent about this.”

President of the Maldivian Journalists’ Association (MJA) Ahmed ‘Hiriga’ Zahir said such threats against the media were not common but were occasionally made by “some fanatical people, particularly when [a journalist] reports on religious matters.”

“One of my colleagues has had threats made against them before by certain groups,” he noted, observing that “much of the media is silent about fundamentalism and religious extremism – even the president is very silent on religious issues.”

“I think most journalists are aware that according to the Constitution there are certain limitations on press freedom, such as not being able to write anything against the basic principles of Islam,” Hiriga explained.

“I think the media needs to be much more open towards covering these issues and not be silent, [even] if they face threats. We are a moderate country and we can’t tolerate this kind of fundamentalism. It does not reflect the views of most people and I don’t think many people in this country are fanatics.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Attacker may have been released on rehabilitation program

One of the men charged with attacking the manager of Habib Bank, Mohamed Anjul Jameel, was previously imprisoned but may have recently been transferred to house arrest under the rehabilitation programme, according to reports today.

The 56 year-old was stabbed when four men broke into his apartment on the sixth floor of Machangolhi Uraha in Male’. On his release from hospital, Jameel said he was leaving the Maldives, and vowed never to return.

Daily newspaper Haveeru cited an official from the Department for Penitentiary and Rehabilitaion Service (DPRS) as claiming that 20 year-old Abdulla Aseel, of Galolhu Coralsea, had been released on the 27th of February.

The newspaper reported that Aseel had been sentenced for possession of three grams of drugs, while a person in authority familiar with the matter confirmed to Minivan News that Aseel had been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

However State Minister for Home Affairs Ahmed Adil said the claims made in Haveeru were yet to be confirmed.

Mohamed Zuhair, Press Secretary for the President’s Office, also said the government had yet to verify the claims.

Managing Director of the DPRS, Mohamed Rasheed, responded to enquiries from Minivan News but said he would only answer questions during office hours.

Zuhair acknowledged that the government had transferred many prisoners to house arrest.

”In the first round we transferred 200 inmates, and in the second round 119 inmates,” he said, explaining that ”it would be unfair for the people to think that everyone transferred to house arrest will be engaging in crimes.”

He explained that ”if a woman commits a crime, that doesn’t mean you can think that women will commit crimes.”

Another of the three men arrested for the stabbing of the bank manager, Ali Shuaib, was also arrested last year in connection with a murder case last year. Shuaib was investigated over the killing of a Bangladeshi man by hitting him with a three-foot long log, but he was acquitted.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Parliament stalled by contradicting proposals to amend Armed Forces Act

Two contradicting amendments to the Armed Forces Act of Maldives were proposed at the People’s Majlis yesterday.

In May last year, Kulhudhufushi South MP Mohamed Nasheed submitted two bills to amend the Armed Forces Act and Police Act, respectively.

If passed, the president would need approval from the parliamentary committee on security services before appointing or dismissing the heads of both the army and police.

During the final reading of the bill yesterday, Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP for Hanimaadhoo Ahmed Mujthaz proposed an amendment which would require parliamentary approval for the appointment of the army chief.

Currently, only President Mohamed Nasheed has the power to appoint or dismiss high-ranking military officials.

If the bill is passed with the amendment, a Majlis committee will review the president’s nominee, and he or she will be approved by a majority vote on the floor. If the president wants to dismiss the army chief, the same committee will evaluate the reasons and present a report to the floor before a vote.

After the vote on the amendment was tied at 35 on each side, Speaker Abdullah Shahid cast the tie-breaking vote, siding with DRP’s proposal to make parliamentary approval mandatory.

Another amendment to the bill was proposed by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mariya Didi which would counteract the DRP amendment.

Didi proposed that the power to appoint and dismiss the army chief should remain solely under the president’s discretion. This amendment passed at 35-33 votes.

Press Secretary for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said “the president should have the discretion to choose the army chief”, adding that the bill was only passed because “the speaker took their side—he belongs to DRP.”

He said the president’s point of view was that “it is dangerous to politicise the defense forces,” and he hoped the “Majlis will come around to that [same] view.”

Zuhair noted that in a “worst-case scenario, the President will send [the bill] back for reconsideration.”

State Minister of Defense, Muiz Adnan, said “the president is the Commander-in-Chief and according to the Constitution he should have the power to make decisions.”

When asked why this amendment had been proposed in the first place, DRP MP Rozaina Adam said “if the president was treating everybody fairly, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

She said it became an issue “because we don’t trust the government to protect everyone’s rights.”

MDP MP Sameer said his party is not making any comments since the amendments are still being considered by the speaker. But in his own opinion, “the president should have the power.”

He said the speaker is “supporting the parliament having the power”, support he called “a conflict of interest” because “we know he is picking sides when he is meant to be impartial.”

The sitting was stopped when numerous MPs raised points of order after the conflicting amendments were passed.

Parliament will renew the issues on Monday, when the speaker will decide if there will be another vote or if he has made a decision on the issue.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Local surfers launch documentary at Male’ event

The Maldives Surfing Association (MSA) held a barbecue and screened a local surfing documentary earlier this week in an effort to promote the sport in the Maldives.

The MSA’s Chairperson, Mohamed Shiuneel, says such events are necessary to promote the sport because surfing’s development in the Maldives has largely been restricted to the resort industry, which in some cases he says have even claimed ownership of surf breaks.

“Maybe it’s because tourism is growing so fast – even safari boats are now [claiming] surf breaks,” he says.

Local surfers have competed very successfully in countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka, Shiuneel notes.

“The government can help us – we need to protect the surf point areas,” he says. “There are many environmental issues that can affect them. For example, when the artificial beach was reclaimed it really affected the Male’ surf break.”

Pro surfing was famously introduced to the Maldives in 1973 by an Australian surfer called Tony Hinde, who was shipwrecked in North Male’ Atoll during a voyage from Sri Lanka to Africa. Hinde named many of the country’s most popular surf breaks, giving them names like Sultans, Jails and Honkeys, before falling in love with the country and deciding to stay.

He converted to Islam, changed his named to Tony Hussein Hinde, married a local woman, opened his own surf tourism agency, and died of a heart attack after riding a wave in 2008.

Shiuneel explains that while Hinde introduced pro surfing and introduced short boards, “Maldivians have been here since the second century. Many people like my grandfather talk about Maldivians surfing on a plank of wood.”

In recent years the Maldives has begun to attract an increasing number of professional surfers, drawn for the same reasons as Hinde. Accessing many of the breaks remains a challenge however, with many restricted to those with either local knowledge or those who stay in a nearby resort.

“A lot of people don’t know how to access some of the breaks, and beginners can struggle to get access to surfboards,” Shiuneel says, acknowledging that sport is not as easy to take up as it should be.

“I think we live on a small island and have a very defensive mentality. It’s a geographical problem as much as anything. And While the Surf Association tries its best to run development programmes, we do struggle for funding.”

Surf politics and issues of funding matter little to many of the clubs members. Asim ‘Chin Chon’, who describes himself as “a local legend”, says surfing “is the best sport for the Maldives. You shouldn’t be driving around the island in a sports car – instead, every house should have a surfboard. This should be normal for an island city.”

“Look at it, it’s God’s gift,” he says, sweeping his arm at the waves breaking on the nearby seawall.

“It’s relaxed; there’s no jet skis, just paddling out on a board – that’s nature.”

The surf documentary will be available from the Sea Sports store in Male’ and the Maldives Surfing Association in a week’s time.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

President sends condolences after passing of Sheikh Tantawi in Egypt

Hearing of the passing of the Grand Imam of the al-Azhar Mosque and head of the al-Azhar University in Cairo, President Mohamed Nasheed sent a message of condolence to Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak.

The president said he was deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, 81, who was “a strong voice for the universal Islamic values of peace and tolerance.”

President Nasheed said Tantawi’s death was a great loss to “all those moderate voices in Islam.”

He sent sincere sympathies on the behalf of the people and government of the Maldives to the president, government and people of Egypt, as well as Sheikh Tantawi’s family.

Sheikh Tantawi passed away in Riyadh on Wednesday 10 March. He was buried in Madinah at Jannatul Baqee cemetery after funeral prayers at the Prophet’s Mosque.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Maldivian fishing depends on British appetite for fish, claims Telegraph

Britain is “essential” to the Maldivian economy, claims an article on the country’s fishing industry published in the Telegraph.

Following a day in the life of a Maldivian fishing vessel, the article does not refer to the government’s recent deliberations over whether to permit environmentally damaging long-line fishing methods in order to make the industry more competitive.

“The appetite for fresh tuna in Western countries has encouraged fishermen to hunt using hi-tech methods that are not permitted in the Maldives,” the article notes.

Journalist Rose Prince travelled to the Maldives with Paul Willgoss, the technical director of UK retailer Marks & Spencer.

“The Maldives have an opportunity to become iconic in the way they manage their fishing,” Willgoss told Prince. “It is up to us to help them increase their returns and take the earnings back to the people of these islands.”

Marks & Spencer imports 700 tons of yellow fin from the Maldives each year, all of it stamped ‘pole-and-line’.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

President asks German scholars to help interpret Sharia law for the Maldives

President Nasheed has asked German scholars with expertise in Sharia law to help apply it to certain fields in the Maldives, during his visit to Berlin.

“I have done my homework and I am quite aware of the amount of German discourse in Islamic jurisprudence”, President Nasheed said, according to German news site deutschenachrichten.

Nasheed told the German press that Maldivian law was based on Sharia, but warned them about “jumping to the wrong conclusions.”

“We are a tolerant and free country, and we want to keep it that way,” he said.

Press S for the President’s Office Mohamed Zuhair said that Germany was a country where a large number of experienced and professional scholars live.

”In the 20th century, the highest standard of Islamic universities was also in Germany,” Zuhair said.

Zuhair said the government had discussed the request for German assistance with the Islamic Ministry, which had expressed its approval.

However spokesperson for the Islamic Ministry Sheikh Ahmadullah said he had no information about the matter and did not want to comment.

Zuhair explained that “many Islamic books also were preserved in Germany” and believed that “German religious scholars would be more experienced than Maldivian scholars.”

”The origins of Sharia code would not be changed,” Zuhair said. ”They will only help in some areas like taxation.”

He said the president had received very positive answers in response to his interest.

State Minister for Islamic Affairs Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed said if good advice was given “it should always be heard and acted upon.”

Shaheem said people should realise “that there are Islamic scholars all around the world, and not only in Arabic countries.”

“The are good scholars in many countries,” Shaheem said, “even in those where Islamic people are in a minority.”

”Even a scholar like Sheikh Bukhari (a famous scholar of the Hadiths) was not from an Arabic country,” Shaheem explained.

“If a scholar in another country can give the right information on Sharia law, we have to accept it. But if anyone gives the wrong information, we have scholars here who can tell us the right way to implement Sharia.”

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

President Nasheed attends opening ceremony of ITB

President Mohamed Nasheed attended the official opening ceremony for the International Tourism Bourse (ITB) 2010 travel fair in Berlin on Tuesday night.

The ITB is the world’s leading travel trade show, with as many as 11,127 exhibitors gathering for this year’s show. Travel destinations, tour operators, booking systems, carriers, hotels and other service providers and suppliers were represented at the fair.

The Maldives Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB) and other tourism operators from the Maldives participated at the ITB.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

President Nasheed meets with German Minister of State

President Mohamed Nasheed met yesterday with German Minister of State Dr Wener Hoyer.

The meeting was held at the Federal Foreign Office on 9 March. The president and the minister discussed the importance of a binding global climate treaty.

President Nasheed said the Maldives is communicating with other countries, including members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) to ensure a common understanding is reached before COP16 climate summit in Mexico later this year.

Dr Hoyer said Germany is also working with other EU members to reach an understanding on climate change.

President Nasheed discussed other areas of possible cooperation between the two nations, mainly the strengthening of the Maldivian legal and judicial sectors. He sought German assistance to improve the institutional capacity of these sectors.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)