Month: June 2010

Family of man who self-immolated in custody decide to bury body

The family of the man who died in police custody have decided to bury his body after keeping him for four days for investigation.

The man set himself ablaze after pouring petrol onto his body from a bottle stored in the police station, suffering severe burns. He was transferred to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) but died during treatment on Saturday. However, a member of his family claimed he was tortured in police custody.

Today a family member of the man told Minivan News that the body was buried today Asru prayers.

”We decided not to do the postmortem examination of the body, and besides it’s not very good to keep a dead body without burying,” she said. ”We have not received further information on the case.”

She said that the police were fully cooperating with the family to investigate the case and find out if there was any irresponsibility on behalf of the police.

”We will know further information after the police finish the investigation,” she added.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that police were investigating the incident and would reveal details after the investigation.

”The police are ready to provide any assistance that the family requires from police,” Shiyam said. ”They requested police investigate.”

He said that if the family requested police would offer the family postmortem but they wanted to bury them today.

Shahindha Ismail from the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) said that a team from the commission had arrived at Gahdhu Police station [where the incident took place] to investigate the case.

Shahindha said that the details of the case would only be given after the conclusion of the investigation.

”After finishing the investigation we will issue a press statement to give details of the case,” she said.

She assured that action would be taken against police if they were found to have been negligent.

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Rogue recruitment agencies juggling labour quotas to illegally traffic workers

Rogue recruitment agencies in countries like Bangladesh are bringing workers into the Maldives on the labour quotas of one company before ‘reselling’ them to another party on their arrival in the country, the Immigration department has revealed.

In some cases the workers will even arrive in the Maldives having been told they will be working in a country like Malaysia, Chief Immigration Officer Hassan Khaleel told Minivan News.

“For example, in one case some waiters were recruited and told work they would be working in a resort, but were made to work in a restaurant in Male’,” he said, explaining that many trafficked workers were “uneducated and illiterate” and did not understand their contract or letter of appointment.

It was quite difficult for immigration to determine if someone had been trafficked on their arrival “because be don’t have a Bangladeshi speaker”, he noted.

“After they work a for while and gain a grasp of Dhivehi it is sometimes possible to interview them on their departure,” he said.

Local agencies were not always aware the trafficking had taken place, Khaleel explained, as they had just requested the employee from the overseas counterpart.

There were also reports of Bangladeshi workers arriving at the airport and not being met by anyone, in which case they would travel to Male’ where they would meet other labourers, and simply start working.

Controller of Immigration Illyas Hussain told Miadhu yesterday that workers were sometimes forced to work for no pay until they were sold on to another party. The practice was rife in the fisheries and shipping sectors, he noted, calling on recruitment agencies to respect the rights of the workers they imported.

The immigration department would cease issuing visas to expatriate workers without work permits and employment contracts, he added.

The Human Resources Ministry and the Maldives Police Service have meanwhile launched an operation to find and deport illegal workers in the atolls. The ministry estimates there may be 16,000 illegal workers across the country.

Deputy Minister Hussein Ismail told Haveeru earlier this week that the ministry had already received a list of 30 illegal workers in Addu Atoll.

In April a report on the Maldives in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) review of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking of Women and Children for Prostitution has highlighted the Maldives as a destination country for human trafficking, “where the primary form of trafficking is forced labour.”

The SAARC report, funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and produced by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), suggested that human trafficking in the Maldives “is presumably is associated with the country’s socio-economic status as the most developed South Asian country, and its reliance on the migration of foreign workers to support sectors such as tourism and construction.”

President of the Human Rights Commission for the Maldives (HRCM), Ahmed Saleem, said at the time that human trafficking was “a modern form of slavery”, and that while the government had acknowledge the existence of the crime “overall efforts to [confront] it are insignificant.”

“The commission is convinced that this is a major human rights issue and that is why we have begun a comprehensive study we hope to complete as soon as possible,” he said.

HRCM said today that the report was several months away from completion, “and had decided to get the facts right before saying anything.”

Speaking yesterday at a seminar organised by the High Commission of Bangladesh in the Maldives, Special Envoy of the President Ibrahim Hussain Zaki said the government needed to strengthen labour laws and protect the rights of expatriate workers in the Maldives, both in and outside the workplace.

He also noted the contributions made by the Bangladesh to the development of the Maldives, and the large number of Bangladeshi workers in the Maldives who were playing “a vital role” in delivering the government’s pledges.

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MP Nasheed proposes resolution to determine ‘laws inconsistent with the constitution’

Independent MP Mohamed Nasheed yesterday proposed a resolution in parliament to determine existing laws “inconsistent” with the country’s constitution.

Proposing the bill, Nasheed said that according to the constitution it was a duty of the executive to assemble a list of articles of the constitution inconsistent with the laws within 30 days of commencement of the constitution, and that it was a duty of MPs to amend those laws within 90 days after the inconsistent articles were presented.

MP Nasheed said the government had done its duty and presented a list of laws inconsistent with the constitution and that he regretted the duty of the MPs was still incomplete.

The constitution was established in August 7, 2008.

”After two months, it will be two years from the date we authenticated the constitution,” MP Nasheed said, ”so there is a duty of the parliament unfulfilled, and that’s why I presented this resolution – to complete one of these duties.”

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Hamza said he supported the resolution presented by MP Nasheed.

”The parliament is the place where have to bow our heads to laws the most,” MP Hamza said, ”therefore, we would have to compete the duties assigned to us under article 299 [of the constitution],”

MP Hamza said that there were many difficulties faced because parliamentarians had failed to complete this task.

”There are some ongoing court trails charged against this constitution,” MP Hamza said. ”Former president [Maumoon Abdul Gayum] has charged some people of my area [Bilehdhoo] over protesting against him during the last presidential elections campaign.”

MP Hamza said that although the parliament had not revoked the laws contradicting articles in the constitution, they would still be void.

”I would like to tell the Police, Prosecutor General’s office, the courts and Anti Corruption Commission that the powers given to them by former laws which are inconsistent with the constitution are all void,” he said.

People’s Alliance (PA) MP Abdul Azeez Jamaal Abubakuru also said he supported the resolution presented by MP Nasheed.

”This resolution should not be debated for long, and all the MPs should accept that this is our duty,” said Jamaal.

”I would like to thank MP Nasheed for presenting this as a resolution and would like to repeat that it is an important issue and should hasten to complete it soon.”

MDP MP and leader of MDP parliamentary group ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik also said he supported the resolution.

”It is not the responsibility of MDP or the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party [DRP] to make laws for the country,” Moosa said. ”It is the responsibility of the parliament.”

”We handed this first to a person called the speaker of the parliament – not to run the whole parliament, but to operate and supervise the administrative duties of the parliament,” Moosa said. ”We never thought that this matter would be raised by the former information minister, instead we feel the speaker and deputy speaker of the parliament should have brought this to our attention.”

He suggested that the MPs should work every day until midnight until the duties mentioned in article 299 were completed.

DRP deputy leader and MP Ali Waheed said that his party would “fully co-operate” with the work.

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Transport ministry denies ACC findings over Dhoogas Guest House

The Transport Ministry has denied findings by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) that the Dhoogas Guest House in Addu Atoll was awarded to MVK for 50 years in violation of the government’s financial regulations and tourism laws.

A statement issued by the Ministry today denies any wrongdoing or corruption in the awarding of Dhoogas as part of the agreement to establish a transport network in the South Province.

It adds that nationwide connectivity was an important policy of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and President Nasheed was closely monitoring the process of establishing integrated regional transport networks.

“Therefore, we do not believe that there has been any violation of the financial regulations in this project,” it reads.

Moreover, as the contracts were awarded following transparent bidding processes, the tourism law did not preclude granting plots of land in return for providing ferry services.

ACC findings

However, a press release by the ACC on Sunday states that islands or plots of land could only be awarded for island hotels by the Tourism Ministry for a maximum of 25 years.

The awarding of Dhoogas therefore violated articles two, four, five and nine of the Tourism Law as well as article 250 of the constitution and clause seven of the financial regulations.

The ACC statement reads that the law was clear that provisions on tourist resorts would also apply to city hotels.

Moreover, land could only be leased for 50 years to public companies that fulfilled specified conditions.
It adds the Transport Ministry was informed on June 3 that the guesthouse could not be awarded to MVK.

The ACC investigation into the awarding of the contract to MVK, prompted by a complaint lodged at the commission, is still underway.

The ACC notes that five months elapsed after the signing of the contract with MVK before the President’s Office transferred the land to the Tourism Ministry.

“Campaign contributor”

Less than a week after the contract was signed in October last year, the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) alleged corruption in the bidding process, claiming that the company was a financial contributor to the MDP presidential campaign.

DQP called on the government to annul the contract and initiate a second bidding process as more companies would have competed if it was known that the incentive was the 86-bed Dhoogas Guesthouse, which was “ready for immediate financial benefit,” instead of plots of land as previously announced.

The party argued that there was reason to suspect corruption as MVK won “a lucrative contract” in competition with companies with more experience despite having no history of providing ferry services.

However, at the time, State Minister for Transport ‘Maizan’ Adam Manik denied the allegations to Minivan News.

Manik said companies had the choice of either selecting the government’s standard bid document or providing an alternative bid proposal.

MVK chose the latter, he explained, suggesting Dhoogas as part of their bid.

Moreover, all bids were forwarded to a bid evaluation committee at the ministry of finance and then to the privatisation committee before the final decision was made.

Mohamed Zuhair, president’s office press secretary, added proposals were finally sent to the attorney general to confirm the bidding process was above board.

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Syrian president meets Maldives foreign minister

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has met Maldives Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed, reports ISIRA.

Shaheed expressed his country’s desire to develop relations with Syria, hailing the important role Syria is playing for realizing peace and stability in the region.

Shaheed discussed with Minister of religious Endowments (Awqaf) Mohammad Abdelsattar al-Said cooperation prospects between the two countries, particularly in the fields of religious affairs and teaching Arabic.

Shaheed, speaking to SANA, said his meeting with President al-Assad was fruitful and constructive, and that it dealt with means of boosting cooperation between the two countries in all fields.

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Wataniya launches World Cup fantasy league

Mobile provider Wataniya has announced it would launch a fantasy league named ”Wataniya World Cup Fantasy League” for Wataniya customers.

Prizes will be given for winners who participate in the league, which starts on next Friday.

For further information about the Wataniya worldcup fantasy league, customers can either visit Wataniya’s website or dial 929 for Wataniya’s customer helpline.

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Copenhagen a call for third-world reparations: New American

Copenhagen had little to do with climate change and everything to do with money, writes Ed Hiserodt in the New American.

Last December, as even every cloistered monk and Third World inhabitant probably knows, there was an International Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen, attended by government functionaries from around the world. The pampered delegates, who evidently weren’t worried about their own carbon footprints, caused a Scandinavia-wide shortage of black stretch limousines.

The conference actually had very little to do with climate change, ignoring almost out-of-hand the prominent news at the time: the Climategate scandal — the release of the e-mails indicating top global-warming scientists were skewing temperature data and engaged in a smear campaign against climate-change skeptics.

But the conference had much to do with money. So-called Third World countries demanded reparations for damage done to their satrapies by CO2 emissions from industrial nations, totally ignoring the fact that but for those nations said delegates would be sleeping in huts instead of five-star hotels. Certainly there was little room for science or the consequences of turning the economies of the world on their heads through instituting carbon-emission limits.

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