Month: August 2010

Parliament cancelled during debate over retrials

Speaker of the Parliament Abdulla Shahid cancelled last night’s hearing on the Court’s Bill when the debate heated up between ruling and opposition party MPs, during the last sitting of the second session of parliament for 2010.

A statement issued by the parliament this morning said that the parliament had ceased for recess and would resume in October.

During last night’s session, ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs expressed disapproval amendments proposed by Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MPs, however all the amendments presented by the opposition were passed.

The amendment that triggered uproar was a proposal to prevent the courts from conducting trials related to activities of the former government. The amendment also obstructs the retrial of controversial cases.

MDP Parliamentary Group leader Moosa ‘Reeko’ Manik claimed that last night’s sitting was to be cancelled “because DRP MPs tried to take hold the judiciary in their fists more than they already do.”

‘’We had to protest against the way parliament’s session was conducted when DRP MPs forwarded their self-interest,’’ said Moosa. ‘’DRP presented an amendment that disables courts hold trials of ‘recent cases’.’’

He said the “friendly environment” in parliament established after conclusion of the constitutional deadline “has now vanished because of the DRP MPs.”

DRP MP Abdulla Mausoom said last night’s session “was ruined” by MDP MPs when the session “was not going the way MDP MPs wanted.’’

“We have the right to propose amendments; all the things they are saying are excuses,’’ said Mausoom. “MDP MPs just do not like following the due procedure of the parliament.’’

Mausoom said MDP MPs had previously boycotted parliament sessions when matters did not go the way they wanted, and suggested it would have been better “if they also did so this time”.

‘’Our amendments were proposed to broaden the bill and to frame it in such a way that the courts can perform their work best,’’ he said. ‘’All the amendments were presented after discussion with [DRP’s] parliamentary group.”

The Bill on Courts was presented to the parliament by the government.

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Five children and one man arrested for eating during fasting hours

Police have arrested three persons for allegedly eating during fasting hours of Ramadan, and another three people accompanying them.

Police Sergeant Abdul Muhsin said the three arrested for eating in fasting hours were under-aged males, who were released after giving a statement “and receiving advice.”

According to a person familiar with the matter, the three other persons arrested and taken to the police station included an under-age male and female, and a man over the age of 18.

The source claimed said the second three were not discovered eating, but were arrested by police as they were accompanying people who were eating in the public.

“The group were arrested while they were allegedly eating behind a construction site on the land behind Dharubaaruge,’’ said the source. ‘’They were arrested that afternoon and five of them were released later that afternoon.’’

He added that one of the under-aged males was caught with a packet suspected to contain illegal narcotics, and was now in Dhoonidhoo custodial.

A further four men were arrested last week for eating, including two who were caught near the Alimas Carnival stage and a second pair who reportedly confessed to eating in the toilets of Giyasuddeen school.  They have since been released.

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DQP submits bill on industrial action: two days notice required for strikes

The Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) has submitted a bill to parliament regulating industrial action conducted by employees in the Maldives.

If passed, the bill requires employees to give 48 hours notice to employers before protesting, and restricts the timing of strikes to between 8:00am and 4:00pm.

“The employees can only boycott their work for a specified duration. For instance, for 24 or 48 hours,” DQP Deputy Leader and MP Riyaz Rasheed explained to newspaper Miadhu.

The bill comes a week after strike action at Kurumba Maldives led to the evacuation of guests and the arrest of 19 staff by police for intimidation and vandalism.

A statement by the resort’s parent company, Universal Enterprises, deplored the action and alleged strike organisers “sent employees armed with makeshift weapons to blockade the main kitchen and physically threaten staff serving meals to guests”.

The Kurumba strike was the most recent of several resort strikes this year. In April staff at the Shangri-La Villingili Resort went on strike after four workers were dismissed for allegedly playing on a PlayStation in a vacant villa, while in February staff at the Centara Grand Island Resort in North Ari Atoll held a strike complaining they were not receiving the service charges agreed to them by management.

Shangri-La Villingili eventually dismissed the 10 strike leaders and invited the remaining staff to return to work, while  Centara Grand increased the service charge allocated to staff after a representative from Ministry of Human Resources visited the island.

As most resorts operate on privately-owned islands, the nature of the sector makes the legality of industrial action contentious – while the Constitution provides the right to strike, workers cannot simply picket outside the factory gates and invariably protest on resort property, running into further conflict with management conscious of image in a highly service-oriented industry.

“MATI believes employees should not strike on resort [property] – this is the shop floor,” said Mohamed Ibrahim ‘Sim’ from the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI). “It has to be somewhere else. People do not understand that resort islands are standalone communities that must produce their own water and other amenities. A hotel in the city of Male’ does not face such disruption to essential services.”

Sim questioned the practicality of restricting  the hours of strike action, but acknowledged the bill’s objective of requiring notice for any stop-work action “and only after following established grievance procedures.”

Maldives Resort Workers (MRW), an active community of resort workers campaigning for fair treatment in the tourism industry, condemned the DQP bill as “effectively relegating protesting and demonstrations against working conditions in resorts to the era [of the former government].”

The introduction of a notice period would give employers “ample time to serve warning letters, suspensions, dismissals or anything to prevent a strike,” MRW claimed.

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Police recover Rf500,000 stolen from Galaxy Enterprises

The Maldives Police Service has recovered more than Rf500,000 (US$39,000) suspected stolen from Galaxy Enterprises, report police.

Police said two men were arrested with the money, believed to have been stolen from Galaxy Enterprises. Police said they discovered money, bank cheques and a destroyed safe near where the men were arrested.

The police property and commercial crime department is investigating the case.

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US expresses commitment to cooperation with MNDF

The United States is committed to continued cooperation with the Maldivian military to promote safety and security in the Indian Ocean region, stated the US Army’s Command Sergeant Major Iuniasolua Savusa addressing graduates of the Maldives’ inaugural Warrant Officer/Sergeants Major course.

The Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF) held the graduation ceremony at the newly-constructed Non-Commissioned Officers’ Academy.

Cmd Sgt Maj Savusa is the senior enlisted soldier in the United States Pacific Command.

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Bollywood film island “just a concept”: Thoyyib

Reports that Bollywood has been invited to establish a film studio in the Maldives were erroneous, according to Minister of State for Tourism Arts and Culture Thoyyib Waheed, “as the idea is just a concept.”

Newspaper Miadhu reported Thoyyib as claiming during a press conference that the Maldives had “already proposed that one of the islands could be turned into a studio to shoot movies”, and that Bollywood industry could be solicited in the Maldives – “hopefully, it will materialise by next year.”

The prolific Mumbai-based Hindi-film studios eclipse Hollywood in terms of box-office receipts, churning out productions with budgets of up to US$20 million. The films are a strong cultural influence in the Maldives and visiting film stars like Salman Khan are given state receptions.

Speaking to Minivan News today, Thoyyib said he was referring to a call for expressions of interest (EOI) by Invest Maldives and the 100 percent government-owned Maldives Entertainment Company (MEC) in February, to develop the country’s entertainment infrastructure.

“It was a development concept – 6-7 parties put forward proposals but none were successful,” Thoyyib said.

According to the EOI statement, proposals sought by the government included entertainment complexes, “a theme park/amusement island”, multiplex cinema complexes, musical facilities and “a film-friendly island, dedicated to film shoots providing resources, state of the art equipment, resort style accommodation and other amenities for production teams, cast and crews producing feature films, documentaries, telemovies, mini-series, TV series, commercials, and music videos.”

The EOI statement predicted that “this new concept in full spectrum shoots will have strong appeal to Hollywood, Bollywood and beyond.”

Thoyyib commented that if a collaboration with Bollywood was achieved, the currently fledgling Indian sector of the Maldives tourism market “will definitely increase.”

Despite the proximity of the Maldives, Bollywood producers were shooting in Mauritius and the Seychelles “because we just don’t have the infrastructure in Maldives. We would need to provide an island with both low budget accommodation for the crew and upmarket accommodation blocks or villas [for the stars].”

No island had yet been earmarked for such an endeavor, he said.

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Case of former apostate Nazim sent to Prosecutor General

Police have completed investigating the case of Mohamed Nazim and have submitted the matter to the Prosecutor General’s office.

Nazim publicly claimed he was “Maldivian and not a Muslim” during a question-and-answer session with Islamic speaker Zakir NaikNaik in March, angering many in the 11,000-strong crowd and forcing police and Islamic Ministry officials to escort him from the venue for his own protection.

After two days of religious counselling while in police custody, Nazim appeared before television cameras at an Islamic Ministry press conference and gave Shahada – the Muslim testimony of belief – and apologised for causing “agony for the Maldivian people” and requested that the community accept him back into society.

Deputy Prosecutor General Hussein Shameen confirmed the PG’s office had received the case from police, but had not yet taken the decision to submit it to the Criminal Court.

According to the Maldivian constitution all citizens are required to be Muslim, and the country is always described as a ‘100 percent’ Muslim country.

Minister for Islamic Affairs Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari told Minivan News at the time that he was unsure if Maldivian law had a penalty for apostasy. Where the country’s laws do not cover such a case, Maldivian courts default to sharia law.

Apostasy is considered a grave sin under Islam, although scholarly opinion varies as to its punishment: in response to Nazim’s question, Dr Naik clarified that the penalty was only death “if the person becomes a non-Muslim and propagates his faith and speaks against Islam. Just because a person who is a Muslim becomes a non-Muslim, death penalty is not the ruling.”

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Boy denies charges of terrorism, robbery, assault, kidnapping and possession of pornography

A male aged under 18 has denied charges in the Juvenile Court of robbery, assault and battery, kidnapping, administering illegal drugs, and possessing a pornographic picture in his mobile phone.

Evidence presented to the Juvenile Court by the Prosecutor General’s office included a medical report of the alleged torture and seven witnesses who claimed to have seen the victim with the defendant and a group of people from different areas of Male’.

The defendant, who represented himself, denied the charges against him and requested the prosecution lawyer present evidence proving he had committed the crimes.

The prosecution lawyer presented a medical report of the victim to the court, however the defendant denied the charges saying that the medical report did not state who had carried out the torture.

The Chief Judge of the Juvenile Court Shuaib Hussain Zakariyya fined the boy Rf 666 (US$51.82) for possessing a pornographic picture in his mobile phone, and concluded the hearing saying he would declare a verdict for the case during the next hearing.

The Criminal Court this week also sentenced two other males to 10 years jail in connection with the same case.

Police arrested the underage male along with a group of men in October last year. Police alleged the group kept their victim hostage, robbed his wallet, used his cash card, and tortured him. He reportedly suffered bruises and cigarette burns to his skin.

During a police press conference regarding the case last October, police claimed the kidnappers kept the victim hostage before releasing him for Rf 25,000 (US$1950).

Police alleged the group called the victim’s father and demanded he pay the money for his son’s release.

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