Month: February 2011

Letter on airport cronyism

When I arrived today (February 16, 2011) at the GRM Male’ International Airport on flight IC 966, I saw Mr Hareef wearing a ‘Customer Service’ uniform and it was the first time I saw such a high level staff at the apron to welcome the arrivals. I took it as a positive sign and as a proof of GMR’s commitment to improve customer service at the airport.

From the flight we went direct to the Immigration Counter. When the Immigration Officer signaled for our turn, Mr Hareef intervened and handed over five Maldivian passports to him. He instructed not to take our passports but to process passports of his friends who were behind the queue. Those friends included Mr Ilyas Ibrahim, a man who has squeezed Maldivian blood for 30 years.

When the airport was handed over to the GMR, we celebrated it with great pride because it was the day airport got ‘freedom’ from the cronies and thugs of the 30-year dictatorship. As you may be aware, Mr Ilyas is the brother in-law of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, one of the world’s most brutal dictators and Ilyas’s influence at the airport is a proof that our beloved airport is still not free from the cronies of the dictator.

Ilyas’ close ally Hareef is an official who played a key role in deals at the Male’ international airport during Gayoom’s 30-year rule. It is a shame on GMR to employ such thugs and destroy the reputation of our international airport.

As a customer I expect you to take appropriate action against Hareef because discrimination is a crime in our constitution and he continues to practice his power similar to the years of the dictator.

-GMR Customer

All letters are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write a letter, please submit it to [email protected]

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Former senior US officials admit Iraqi WMD source was unreliable

Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell has lashed out at the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Pentagon’s Defence Intelliegence Agency, for failing to inform him that a key source behind the decision to go to war in Iraq was unreliable.

Iraqi defector Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, known as ‘Curveball’ to his western handlers, has admitted fabricating evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, al-Janabi said he saw the fabricated evidence as a chance to get rid of Saddam Hussein.

“I wanted to get rid of him and now I had this chance,” he said. “I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime. I and my sons are proud of that.”

“Saddam did not (allow) freedom in our land. There are no other political parties. You have to believe what Saddam says, and do what Saddam wants. And I don’t accept that. I have to do something for my country. So I did this and I am satisfied, because there is no dictator in Iraq any more.”

Powell told British media this week that it had been known for several years that al-Janabi was unreliable.

“The question should be put to the CIA and the DIA as to why this wasn’t known before the false information was put into the NIE sent to Congress, the president’s state of the union address and my February 5 presentation to the UN,” he said.

Former Head of the CIA, George Tenet, put out a statement on his website acknowledging that “the handling of this matter is certainly a textbook case of how not to deal with defector provided material. But the latest reporting of the subject repeats and amplifies a great deal of misinformation.”

Tenet claims he only became aware of al-Janabi two years after the invasion, and by then it was “too late to do a damn thing about it.”

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Government opens office in Addu

President Mohamed Nasheed yesterday inaugurated the government’s South Province Office in Addu City.

During the ceremony to open the office, which will be the government’s administrative and representative office in the atoll, Nasheed said that the government expected to complete all development projects already planned for the city by the end of its term.

He also said the government would seek to increase the GDP of the new city from Rf 2 billion (US$135 million) to Rf 4 billion (US$270 million).

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Maldives to host Asian football tournament qualifiers

The Maldives is to begin hosting qualifying matches for the AFC challenge Cup 2012 football tournament as of next month that will see teams from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Macau and Cambodia compete in the country for a spot in the 2015 Asian Cup.

Ali Azim, president of the Football Association of Maldives (FAM) told Haveeru that the country had been chosen to host the group C matches between itself, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and the victor of a playoff contested between Macau and Cambodia.

The paper reported that the Maldives has previously hosted similar qualifying matches back in 2009, ahead of the 2010 challenge cup.

However, the country finished in second place behind Turkmenistan during qualifying; losing out to Bangladesh, which qualified to the tournament as the group runner up with the highest goal difference.

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International Commission of Jurists raises courts concerns ahead of Maldives report launch

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has told Minivan News that it has serious concerns over the structure and operations of the Maldives judiciary, which are set to be outlined in the findings of a “comprehensive” new report to be released next week.

Roger Normand, director of the ICJ’s Asia Pacific operations said that although he could not reveal specific details of the report ahead of its publication on Monday, a number issues will be raised by the NGO concerning the independence of the Maldives judiciary, as well as the conduct of the government during last year’s constitutional “crisis” over the legitimacy of judges in the country.

The comments were made as institutions such as the country’s High Court are said to effectively be on “hiatus” due to ongoing legal disputes involving the appointment of a bench to oversee its cases – a trial that is currently awaiting a final decision by the country’s Supreme Court .

The appointments issue was initially raised in Civil Court by Criminal Court Judge Abdul Baary over claims that the appointment procedures of the local watchdog body, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), were unjust.

Eventually the Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Court did not have the mandate to rule on appointments of a higher authority such as the High Court and that it should therefore have the final say on such a constitutional matter.

In this environment of judicial uncertainty, High Court Chief Judge Abdul Ghani Mohamed told Miadhu today that the issue of completing the bench was a huge challenge for the institution.

However, he claimed that various parties were working on a solution to ensure human rights were not being lost out on due to concerns that the court was “now almost on hiatus” due to the ongoing appointments case.

Forward looking report

Although not wishing to discuss any specifics ahead of the publication of the ICJ report, Normand said that the findings could be expected to detail a number of issues claimed to be specifically at odds with judicial structure and general practice designed to ensure greater transparency in line with the independence of certain courts in Europe and Asia.

“[The findings] are going to be part of a forward looking report for the country, given that you can’t have democracy without strong judiciary,” he said. “It’s essential for all political parties to work towards strengthening an independent judiciary under the framework of the Supreme Court.”

The report’s findings could prove hugely significant for groups such as the JSC that has faced criticism in recent months over their transparency.

The attacks are perhaps more significant in that they come from one of the JSC’s own members in the form of Aishath Velezinee, who now faces internal disciplinary action for her work in leaking details of their operations.

Velezinee, an outspoken critic of the JSC’s refusal to adopt a Standards of Procedure as required by the Constitution, earlier this month accused several fellow members of corruption and treason.

She has published a large cache of JSC documents, including audio recordings of Commission meetings, on her personal website as evidence, she says, to support her accusations.

The JSC last month appointed a special three-member team to decide on the best course of action against JSC member Aishath Velezinee for removing official documents from the Commission’s premises.

The JSC, which is yet to adopt a Standards of Procedure a year after the 26 January 2010 deadline, earlier this month, passed new secrecy regulations that make it an offence for members to reveal any Commission business to the public without prior authorisation.

A number of JSC members contacted by Minivan News were not available for a response at the time of going to press.

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DQP and DRP unveils coalition councillors training programmes

The Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) led by Dr Hassan Saeed has said that it will work with the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), led by MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to establish an action plan after a coalition agreement was signed between both parties.

The DQP said it hopes to initially target training schemes for both its own and DRP councillors elected during local council elections held earlier this month on how to conduct their roles.

”The objective of these activities is to make councillors capable and talented persons who can be examples in how to serve their fellow citizens,” said the DQP in a statement.

”Activities targeted on training the councillors will commence very soon.”

The party said it will also try to teach councillors on how to make the government more accountable.
“During the activities they [councillors] will be taught the role of Local Councils and Decentralization,” said the DQP. ”They will be trained to learn what citizens needs and how to work according to the pulse of the [public].”

The DQP claimed that experienced politicians from the DRP will also provide lectures during these activities.

On 8 February, the DRP held a council meeting – with party members reportedly belonging to factions supporting dismissed Deputy Leader Umar Naseer allegdly absent – where they decided to sign a coalition agreement with the DQP. The agreement sae both parties pledging cooperation to each other during the 2013 presidential election as well as parliamentary and local council elections scheduled to be held in 2014.

During this month’s local council elections, a majority seats of island seats were won by the DRP, although the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) claimed most of the seats in municipal areas such as Addu and Male’.

MDP has raised concerns that there were serious issues related to polling reports received by the party and has requested the Elections Commission to hold the elections in some areas for a second time. The governing party has also alleged that the Elections Commission were one sided in their conduct and that the council elections were unfair.

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Further protests likely in Iran following death of student

A funeral in Iran for a student shot and killed in protests on Monday has become a catalyst for anti-government demonstrations in the country’s capital.

The 26 year old student at Tehran University was killed during a rally of thousands of opposition members, sparked by the wave of civil discontent spreading across the Middle East in the wake of the Egyptian revolution.

A report on Iran’s state-run media claimed that supporters of “sedition” clashed with the pro-government supporters during the funeral, while the BBC reported that police had blocked all roads around the university.

“Students and the people attending the funeral ceremony of the martyred student Sanee Zhaleh have clashed with a limited number of people apparently linked to the sedition movement and forced them out by chanting slogans of death to hypocrites,” the media outlet stated, while opposition groups claimed 1500 people had been detained.

The government has claimed that Zhaleh, a Sunni Kurd and fine arts student, was a member of the volunteer Islamist Basij militia – a claim disputed by the opposition, who accuse the government of pressuring his family to say Zhaleh was pro government.

The protest is the first since an uprising in February 2010 was suppressed by the government, however rising discontent directed at the region’s more unpopular leaders makes Iran a likely candidate for further civil strife.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has meanwhile embraced the Egyptian revolution and departure of President Hosni Mubarak as the dawning of a “new Middle East” – drawing parallels with his own country’s 1979 revolution.

Ahmadinejad reportedly told crowds in Tehran that Mubarak’s departure was likely to bring major changes to global politics.

“In spite of all the (West’s) complicated and satanic designs … a new Middle East is emerging without the Zionist regime and US interference, a place where the arrogant powers will have no place,” he said.

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MNDF website hacked by unknown assailant

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has confirmed that its website was hacked last night by an unknown attacker.

Major Abdul Raheem today confirmed that the MNDF was made aware of an attack this morning after checking its website.

”Currently our website is down, and we are trying to fix it,” he said. ”so far, he have not been able to identify any person related to the case but we are investigating.”

Cyber Crime has become a growing concern to Maldivian authorities of late; especially in terms of the number of minors thought to be involved in practices like hacking.

Earlier this year, Dhiraagu become the latest high profile victim of Maldivian cyber crime after facing continued attacks on its servers.

The Maldives Police Service arrested four individuals suspected of involvement with the January attacks after conducting special operations at addresses both in Male’ and Addu Atoll.

Three of the suspects then arrested were confirmed to be under 18 years of age.

Police said at the time that the country has undergone a number of attacks on both its own and government websites in the last twelve months, which has led to specially trained officers focusing on trying to prevent criminal activity online.

“In previous cases [of cyber crime] we have found it is young people and teenagers that have been involved,” Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam recently told Minivan News. “They often do not demand any reward or payment for the crime, but commit them out of their own interest and amusement.

”It is challenging, because we are treating cyber crime very seriously,” he added. “We are hoping that new regulations will be passed to help prosecute in the future.”

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ACC calls for developers to re-submit Thilafushi bids

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has called on the Thilafushi Corporation Limited (TCL) to cease reclamation work on Thilafushi lagoon and call on developers to re-submit bids for the project after ruling earlier this week that there was potential for corruption within the current deal, Haveeru has reported.

According to the paper, ACC Deputy Commissioner Muaviz Rasheed yesterday called on the TCL to comply with its orders and halt work being conducted as part of a contract signed with Heavy Load Maldives, a business linked to Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) member ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik and his family.

Heavy Load was awarded the US$21 million project on September 30 last year, and inaugurated the project on February 4.

However, despite the calls from the ACC for a cessation to work on the project, Haveeru said that the government-owned TCL was continuing to work on the reclamation project until it had finalized matters the company said it had with the ACC’s order.

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