Day: May 17, 2010

Zakir Naik venue “only for football”, says Youth Ministry

The Youth Ministry has denied the Islamic Ministry use of the Maafaanu football ground for the sermons of visiting Islamic scholar Zakir Naik.

Minister for Youth Hassan Latheef said that the ground was a football stadium which was used by many young people every day, ”so it is very difficult to give that land.”

Latheef said that if the ground was given for the sermon then “others” will also start requesting use of the venue.

”That land cannot be given to do anything other than football,” Latheef said. ”If you take a look, you can see people playing everywhere, in the middle, sides and outside also.”

Latheef said that the Youth Ministry was now speaking with the Islamic Ministry to see if they would like to have the ‘Alimas’ Carnival Stage instead.

”We spoke with the Municipality council and they said the carnival stage was possible,” Latheef said, ”but the Islamic ministry said that land was not large enough.”

He said the Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari had telephoned him while he was out of the country, ” and told me the Islamic Ministry was hosting a sermon by Zakir Naik and asked if the football ground was possible,” Latheef said. ”I said yes, let’s see whether it is possible.”

He said the Ministry has now received another request from a religious group requesting the Galolhu national stadium for a religious event.

State minister for Islamic Affairs Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed said that the Youth Ministry had recently told him that the football ground was available, but now denied it.

”Later they said it was a land only for entertainment purposes,” Shaheem said.

He said the Islamic Ministry was now searching for another venue to host the event and would announce it very soon, but he noted that the carnival stage was not big enough for the expected turnout. The Islamic Ministry has previously claimed that Naik’s visit will be the biggest event ever hosted in the Maldives.

”There are many challenges that we face,” Shaheem said, ”from many people and in many ways. I want to tell everyone that by God’s will we will host the event – everyone be patient and don’t commit any violence,” he said.

The Adhaalath party meanwhile expressed anger over the issue on their English language website, noting that the Islamic Ministry “has spent a large amount of money to print posters mentioning the stadium grounds as the venue.”

“The decision of the Youth Ministry not to give the stadium grounds for holding the lecture event will only add to the piles of questions about this government’s loyalty to the religion of this nation,” the party said, in a recent post.

“The pretext given was that they cannot do without the ball for one whole week. The youth who play there may not like it. What about the thousands of Maldivians who want the event to be held in the most spacious and suitable ground available? Don’t their feelings count?”

“The irony is that the majority of the people who will be attending Dr Zakir’s lecture will be youth,” the party said.

“Such blatant acts of obstruction to Islamic activities will only help in further plummeting the popularity of this government. It would appear that this is a ‘tit for tat’ by the secular minded people in the establishment because the Islamic Ministry and many citizens of this country criticised the Akon concert.

“What these people do not realize is that the people of Maldives are watching. Everyday their actions are exposing them for what they are: men who don’t care about the wishes of the vast majority of Maldivians. They continually forget that this is a Muslim country. They have very little, if any, loyalty to Islam and the nation.”

President of Adhaalath Party Sheikh Hussain Rasheed told Minivan News that the land “should be given equally to everyone.”

”The Youth Ministry just don’t like it because it is religious event,” Sheikh Rasheed claimed.

Sheikh Rasheed said that there would also be youths attending the event.

”I just want to thank the youth ministry for raising this as an issue and campaigning like this,” he said. ”Before we were expecting 10,000 people for the event, but now we are expecting 20,000.”

Speaking in a press conference on decentralisation today, President Mohamed Nasheed said the government would endeavour to provide a venue for the event, “and there is no doubt about that.”

“There is freedom of expression in this country and people should be able to express their viewpoints within the basic boundries of our law, so we have to find a venue for them,” he said.

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President dismisses outcry over Gitmo inmate resettlement

President Mohamed Nasheed has dismissed public outcry over the resettlement of a two Guantanamo Bay inmates in the Maldives as “political waves through misty clouds.”

“I don’t really think there is much of an outcry. I first mentioned this sometime last year in December, and this has been public knowledge since then – not a single person has said anything about it all this time,” he said.

The agreement, in which the United States will fund the transfer of two Muslim inmates to the Maldives on humanitarian grounds, has met with consternation from opposition parties who argue the move will make the Maldives look like “a terrorist paradise rather than a tourist paradise.”

“I will say again, they are not terrorists,” Nasheed said during a press conference today. “It was very clear back then that people were arrested [and put] in Guantanamo without proper checks. People were just taken from all over and incarcerated. Today, when the jail is being dismantled, and the Maldives is among the few 100 percent Muslim countries in the world, if we can’t care about them, where is the example we are showing to the international community and other people of the book [Jews and Christians]?”

Nasheed said the Maldives and the US State Department had “looked into who [he] is, and who his relatives are.”

“Just think, these people have been kept in a small cell in handcuffs and chains for six or seven years when they’ve not done anything at all [to deserve it]. Do you know how they kept? We’ve seen the photos. So when we help one of them and people talk about it [negatively], I don’t really want to listen to it at all.”

Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan meanwhile told newspaper Miadhu that “overreacting” to the resettlement of the Guantanamo Bay detainees risked “losing the focus on more realistic issues.”

Parliament’s National Security Committee had arranged a meeting on the issue on Wednesday to identify potential legal problems with the resettlement, however Minivan News understands this has been rescheduled.

Nasheed meanwhile said there were no obstacles in Maldivian law, constitution or customs preventing the Maldives from resettling the inmate.

“I don’t think that the people of this country is against such a humanitarian assistance or deed,” he said.

Speaking to Miadhu, Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed derided opposition criticism of the move as politically motivated, noting that the same party that had led a no confidence motion against him for strengthening the country’s diplomatic relationship with Israel now disproved of the Maldives helping Muslims.

The inmate was a Palestinian man who was arrested and taken to Guantanamo while preaching in Pakistan, Shaheed said.

“According to the information I have, his home was demolished by Israeli troops and that many of his family members are being intimidated by Israel,” Dr Shaheed told Miadhu.

The only Maldivian held in Guantanamo Bay, Ibrahim Fauzee, was flown to Male in May 2005. Fauzee was arrested in May 2002 in Karachi, where he was studying.

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MNJA condemns threats against two journalists covering Addu protest

The newly-formed Maldives National Journalist Association (MNJA) has claimed that two journalists were threatened and attacked while covering a Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP)-led protest in Addu Atoll on Friday night.

The MNJA claimed a journalist from Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) and a journalist from daily newspaper Haveeru were attacked and threatened, and that pictures taken by the journalists were deleted by the protesters.

MNJA expressed regret that DRP Vice President Ibrahim Shareef was leading the protest and took no action against the incident.

However, Vice president of DRP Ibrahim Shareef said he was “not surprised” by the reports.

”MNJA is a organisation containing a majority of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) supporters,” Shareef said, ”so they will say stuff like that about us.”

He condemned the MNJA for “misleading people.”

The Haveeru journalist allegedly attacked that night, Ahmed Arsham, said that the protesters became angry at them because they were taking pictures of the protesters damaging the name board of the Addu province office.

Arsham said that he and a TVM reporter were forced away from the incident.

”They grabbed the camera lense and broke it,” he said.

On March 8 a DhiTv Journalist and cameramen was forced out from a Maldivian Democratic Party rally.

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JSC decision must be investigated by Parliament, urges member

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) decided last week to reappoint all current judges, regardless of whether they hold a previous conviction for a crime or a criminal breach of trust or bribery.

After the decision was made, member of the commission Aishath Velazinee spoke out against it, writing in her blog, “it is indeed a sad state of affairs, and an insult to all those honest judges whose integrity and good name is compromised by today’s decision.”

Today, Velazinee told Minivan News it might seem like “one mad woman screaming,” but insisted “the Majlis has to attend to this and demand a public inquiry. I can only bring it to public attention.”

She said “Parliament has failed to hold the JSC accountable,” and said she still “firmly believes” the composition of the commission presents a conflict of interest, leading to a vote that ultimately contradicting the purpose of the commission.

The JSC was created to reform the judiciary and investigate all judges, “and was asked to evaluate every single sitting judge appointed prior to the 2008 Constitution,” Velazinee said.

According to the Constitution, the nine-member commission must comprise of the speaker of parliament; an MP and a member of the public both appointed by Parliament; three judges, one from the Supreme Court, High Court and the trial courts; a private lawyer elected among licensed lawyers; the Chair of the Civil Service Commission (CSC); a person appointed by the President; and the Attorney General.

“The JSC was not functioning under the law of the Constitution, and not acting in the interest of the public,” said Velazinee, who is the President’s member on the Commission.

She suggested it be made up of a “cross-section of people in this country, who are educated and have an understanding of democracy.”

Last week’s decision was won by majority, with five votes in favour.

“They have decided Article 285 is symbolic,” Velazinee said, “it is a very simplistic view of democracy.”

Article 285 stipulates that the JSC shall determine before August 7, 2010 whether or not judges on the bench posses the qualifications specified by the Constitution.

Currently, there are seven judges found guilty of a criminal breach of trust; five with allegations of a criminal breach of trust; two are being prosecuted for an alleged breach of trust; one is on trial for sexual misconduct; two have been found guilty of sexual misconduct; one was found guilty for an offence which had a prescribed punishment in Islam; and another judge who has been accused of a criminal breach of trust, and found guilty of sexual misconduct.

That is a total of nineteen judges with a criminal history, most of which have not been tried in a court of law.

Velazinee said she was not given an opportunity to discuss or issue alternative proposals, even though she had been trying to bring attention to her argument for months. “Even the Superior Court Justice decided it was not worthy,” she added.

Parliament’s power

Parliament has the power to reverse or alter the JSC’s decision, “but now they’re in recess, too,” Velazinee said, noting probably nothing much can be done until the Majlis reconvenes in mid-June.

Adding to Velazinee’s concern, the JSC has only until 7 August of this year to submit any reforms and all cases on the judges. “And probably not even until the deadline,” she added.

She said although the president “would normally have a say” in this decision, “in the current political context, the president getting involved could do more harm.”

Press Secretary for the President’s Office, Mohamed Zuhair, said “there are legalities to be considered” because “the law does stipulate a clause on limitations,” which says that a judge, or an MP or a citizen, “can be absolved of a crime after five years” of being convicted.

He added “judges should be examples” and new regulations and legislation should be considered.

Zuhair said President Mohamed Nasheed “will adhere to the Constitution,” and there is “nothing to do until Parliament comes back.”

But, he added, a parliamentary committee could look into the issue extraordinarily, just like the National Security Committee is having a sitting this Wednesday.

Judges Abdulla Mohamed and Abdulla Didi did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

Attorney General Husnu Suood did not respond, either.

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MNDF rescues Iranian vessel suspected hijacked

Maldives Coastguard rescued an Iranian fishing vessel in Maldivian territorial waters yesterday, discovering the crew had been deprived of water and food for several days.

Following reports of an Iranian fishing vessel which had drifted into Maldivian waters, the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and coastguard began a search for the ship.

MNDF Major Abdul Raheem said the ship was found at around 4.40pm yesterday on the outskirts of Havadhu Atoll.

“They were having engine problems and drifted to the Maldives,” Major Raheem said. “We wanted to give assistance; they had no food or water.”

The twenty crew members, all of Iranian nationality, were also provided with medical assistance.

Major Raheem noted the crew were still in the Maldives. “Our government and Iran’s government are having negotiations to decide when they will be sent back.”

Of the reports that seven of the men found on the vessel were pirates who had highjacked the ship earlier, he said “we cannot say whether they are pirates. They had no identification on them.”

“We conducted a search and found no weapons in the ship,” he added.

But, Major Raheem noted, the vessel’s captain did say his crew had been taken by pirates six months ago. The ship’s owner, who is in Iran, has not had contact with the ship for six months.

The Major said there was no current investigation by the MNDF regarding the case.

MNDF Lieutenant Abdulla Ali said civil aviation craft were used for the search. He said the men were “still in that boat,” but the MNDF is providing them with food and water.

He said the negotiations with Iran were underway to send them back.

Lieutenant Ali added “we can’t say” whether seven of the men took over the ship, but confirmed that the captain of the vessel had said they were highjacked six months ago and the pirates were currently on board the ship.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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Coastguard rescues stranded Iranian vessel

Maldives Coastguard rescued an Iranian fishing vessel in Maldivian waters, reports Miadhu.

Coastguards had heard reports of an Iranian fishing vessel which drifted into Maldivian waters. Island Aviation air crafts were also used in the search.

The vessel was located 75 miles off the coast of Havadu Atoll and was found without food or water.

There were twenty crew-members on board, seven of them had previously high-jacked the boat.

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) confirmed there were no weapons found on board, and negotiations are underway to send the vessel back to Iran.

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President Nasheed sends condolences after Tripoli plane crash

President Mohamed Nasheed sent his condolences to Libyan leader Muammar Al-Qadhafi and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands following the plane crash in Tripoli last Sunday.

The Afriqiyah Ariways flight, on route to Libya from South Africa, crashed near the Libyan capital and was carrying mostly Dutch tourists.

The only survivor was a nine year-old Dutch boy.

President Nasheed sent his sympathies to all the families who lost loved ones in the crash as well as the two countries.

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President meets Maldives Honourary Consul in Italy

President Mohamed Nasheed met with the Honourary Consul of Maldives in Italy, Dr Luca Fiormonte, yesterday afternoon.

The meeting focused on strengthening trade, health and education between the two countries.

Dr Fiormonte studied law in Rome and also works at LUMSA University in Rome and State University in Milan.

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Pakistan to assist Maldives in police training

Concluding his official visit to Pakistan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Ahmed Shaheed said Pakistani assistance to the Maldives will be renewed, reports Miadhu.

Dr Shaheed said Pakistan would assist the Maldives mainly in training police officers, adding that a fully funded training visit for 25 Maldivian police officers is being planned.

Pakistan will also send senior police officers to Maldives to help in police training.

They will also assist with cyber-crimes and money laundering, Dr Shaheed said.

This is the first bilateral visit the Maldives has made to Pakistan in 20 years.

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