Day: March 27, 2011

Staff threw stones at intruder and left him in the water to drown, alleges Baros staff member

A staff member at Baros Island Resort has claimed to have witnessed three staff members throwing stones at one of the four men who invaded the resort wearing balaclavas last Wednesday, as the intruder was standing on the jetty.

The body of 20 year-old Ali ‘Immortal’ Shafiu was later was later discovered floating dead in the lagoon. Staff restrained another of the intruders, while two others were found and arrested by police.

Friends of the deceased who were present at Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) when his body was brought to the hospital claimed to have seen wounds on left hand and left side of his chest, and a wound on his head one and a half inches deep.

Shafiu’s family members later told local newspaper Haveeru that they had seen wounds on different parts of the body, however police would not confirm the injuries claiming the investigation was ongoing.

“That day early in the morning my colleagues came and shook me awake saying thieves had invaded the resort,’’ the staff member told Minivan News, on condition of anonymity.

‘’I ran to the jetty and saw staff throwing stones at a person waiting at the end of the jetty. I saw him falling into the water, I think he was knocked unconscious and fell,’’ the staff member said.

“His body was in the water – it had no movement at all, I was worried and told them to pick him up.”

Staff did not retrieve the body and the body was left in the water for more than 30 minutes, the source said.

‘’His body was floating on the water like a log. Someone who had not seen the body falling would think that it was a log. There was no movement at all.’’

The staff member said that police arrived on the island and took the body from the water.

“His body was as hard as rock when he was taken out of the water, and suddenly white foam came out from his mouth,’’ the staff member said. “The police then took the body for examinations.’’

The staff member said that later that day, before staff realised that they might be subjected to revenge attacks, many staff were claiming to have attacked Shafiu.

“They were not intending to kill him, but after they knew he was dead they rejoiced,’’ the staff member alleged. “But later the three staff who led the attack on Shafiu started receiving phone calls and threats that they would be sorry.’’

After they received these calls, those who claimed have hit Shafiu suddenly claimed to have not even touched him, the source alleged.

“Later I asked my colleagues who had found the intruders first. They said it was the security officers who saw the four of them, and they went and called the Maldivian staff members,’’ the staff member said.

At a press conference this afternoon, police that they were now investigating the cause of three wounds to Shafiu’s head.

Inspector Abdulla Nawaz also said that police have discovered the boat which was allegedly used by seven men – only four of whom landed on the island.

Weapons were also discovered inside the boat, Nawaz said, including swords and a harpoon gun.

”Police have now arrested the other three men, who include the captain of the boat,” he said.

Police said the four persons found in the resort had allegedly damaged the resort’s accounts department in a bid to to steal the safe inside.

”The safe contained US$50,000 at that time,” said Nawaz. ”We are investigating whether the seven men had any connections with a persons working in the resort.”

He also said that the body of Shafiu was ”apparently dead” when police took him out of the water.

”Police officers who attended the scene observed that there was no movement and the body was very hard,” Nawaz said.

General Manager of Baros Island Resort and Spa, Jonathan Blitz, was on his day off when Minivan News called the resort, however a senior staff member said the resort was unwilling to comment as the police investigation was ongoing.

“It was early in the morning and we are still not clear what happened,” he said, expressing concern that the original Minivan News article on the incident had been posted on the TripAdvisor website “and guests were commenting.”

Baros was the second Maldivian resort this year to suffer an attempted robbery by people from outside the island.

In Janurary, staff at Kihaadhuffaru in Baa Atoll were threatened by a group of masked men brandishing machetes and swords, who escaped in a dingy with the resort’s safe.

A receptionist was reportedly gagged with tape and restrained with a cable tie during the incident.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said at the time that he did not believe resorts would need to review existing security measures in light of the Kihaadhuffaru theft.

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Senior judges accuse Supreme Court of violating due process in High Court appointments dispute

Two senior judges have accused the Supreme Court of violating due process and rules of procedure by unfairly dismissing a case challenging the legitimacy of the Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC) selection and appointment of judges to the High Court.

Five judges were sworn in to the High Court bench by the JSC last night after the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a case filed by Criminal Court Judge Abdul Bari Yoosuf at the Civil Court claiming to show procedural and legal issues in the JSC vetting process. Bari’s case was later entered into by Family Court Chief Judge Hassan Saeed as a third party.

On January 20 – three days before the judges were due to be sworn in – the Civil Court issued a temporary staying order halting the appointments by the JSC pending a final ruling.

The Supreme Court however transferred the case from the lower court a day later and conducted two hearings before dismissing it without issuing a verdict on Thursday (March 24) after neither Bari nor Saeed reportedly appeared at court.

The Supreme Court had announced on January 21 that it was taking over the case as it involved “a matter of public interest”.

Judge Bari, who was himself among the candidates for the High Court, however insists that section 23 of the Supreme Court regulations – which requires claimants to inform the court prior to leaving the country or face dismissal of their case – does not apply to him as he had filed the case at the Civil Court.

The Criminal Court judge claims that he had also informed the senior registrar of the Supreme Court of his departure on a personal trip. In an apparent violation of standard procedure, chits were reportedly sent out to the involved parties two hours before Thursday’s hearing began.

Moreover, under section 75(c) of the Supreme Court regulations, the court must give a maximum period of seven days for the claimant to file the case again. However, the JSC – chaired by Supreme Court Justice Adam Mohamed Abdulla – decided to hold the swearing-in ceremony on Saturday night, effectively preempting Bari from filing the case again.

In a letter sent to President Mohamed Nasheed today, Chief Judge Hassan Saaed writes that “that the case was dismissed in violation of legal principles and procedures came as a shock to the judiciary.”

Saeed added that as a result of the incident, “the growing confidence that I and ordinary citizens had in the judiciary is lost,” urging the President to “stop this process continuing unlawfully.”

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Authorities in the dark over Interpol’s Maldivian terror hunt

Maldivian authorities say they have no knowledge of any investigations of its nationals by Interpol regarding possible  involvement in an alleged terrorist plot to attack players at the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Ali of the Maldives Police Service told Minivan News that it had been given no information on any Maldivian nationals wanted for allegedly planning attacks on the World Cup. The only arrest police have confirmed to have made of late that was linked to terrorism was the arrest of local man Iqbal Mohamed over alleged involvement in an attack on the capital in 2007.

Mohamed was himself yesterday released by the country’s Criminal Court. Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed said the decision was made after an apparent “lack of information” supplied by police.

Today’s police comments were made as local paper Haveeru cited officials at Interpol, the international police organisation, as reportedly confirming that two Maldivian nationals suspected of involvement with Pakistani militant organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) were now wanted for planned attacks at the high-profile cricket tournament being held in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh.

The report came 24 hours after prominent regional media outlets such as the Times of India claimed that Iqbal Mohamed, who had been arrested by police earlier this month on charges relating to a homemade explosive device attack in Male’ in 2007, was suspected of being part of an alleged terror plot at the cricket World Cup. LeT was implicated in the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, India.

Haveeru said that Interpol representatives had confirmed that two unidentified Maldivian nationals were now wanted alongside four Pakistanis and an Afghan for alleged involvement in plans to strike the tournament; claims it has said were based on “reliable” information.

The report claimed that Interpol’s information had been based on the interrogation of several terror suspects it had arrested, which it was now using to collaborate with officials from South Asian nations like the Maldives over the matter.

Sub inspector Ali said that although the Maldives Police Force was a member of Interpol, it has not been collaborating over the alleged terror investigations of  Maldivian suspects or supplied with any information on the matter.

“A Maldivian (Iqbal Mohamed) was arrested a few weeks back, but we don’t have any new information since then [about these terrorism reports],” he said.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Ahmed Naseem said allegations of Maldivian involvement in planning potential terrorist attacks during the 2011 World Cup was “old news” and that the Ministry had not been provided with details of any such investigations being carried out by Interpol.

“We really don’t have details about this.  It is a matter for the police,” the spokesperson added.

Representatives from both the Pakistan Foreign Office and Interpol had not responded to Minivan News before going to press.

Interpol has not yet revealed to the media the identities of the two Maldivian suspects it is reportedly hunting, yet Iqbal Mohamed was yesterday identified by the Times of India as a “terrorist” suspect arrested who had been on his way to the Maldives from Karachi with “criminal intent”.

According to the report, Indian police authorities have already issued a general alert ahead of the tournament’s final match scheduled for April 2 in the city of Mumbai, while Australia was said to have last week updated a travel advisory for its citizens calling for a “high degree of caution” for anyone in the region during the event.

Speaking to Minivan News on 15 March, Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that Iqbal Mohamed had been arrested on arrival at Male’ International Airport from Pakistan on 10 March, after regional authorities had alerted their Maldivian counterparts of his movements.

The arrest, according to Shiyam, was made in connection to an attack in Male’ in 2007, where a device built from components such as a gas cylinder, a washing machine motor and a mobile phone exploded injuring 12 tourists – several seriously.

Shiyam told Minivan News at the time that although Iqbal was believed to have been in Pakistan during the Male’ attack, he had been wanted by police for questioning as part of their ongoing investigations into the 2007 incident over an alleged role in the plan.

The sub inspector claimed that the Maldives Police Service had been waiting for the Prosecutor General to present a case against the suspect ahead of any potential trial in the Maldives and had not been aware of any motivation for his return to the country.

“We really don’t know why has had travelled back to the Maldives, but we have now arrested him.”

However, Iqbal was confirmed to have been released from custody yesterday by the Maldives’ Criminal Court after his arrest on March 10.

Iqbal was himself the subject of a red notice issued by Interpol, which was said to have drawn police attention after Interpol’s Major Events Support Team (IMEST) operating in Sri Lanka during the Cricket World Cup identified the suspect as he was travelling through the country back to the Maldives.

According to Interpol, red notices are a system used to keep the 188 nations that make up its members informed of arrest warrants issued by judicial authorities. Although the notices are not formal arrest warrants, the organisation said that they are used to identify individuals wanted for crimes under a national jurisdiction.

Following Iqbal’s arrest, Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that he did not believe the suspect’s return to the Maldives raised concerns about further potential attacks in the country.

He claimed that the country’s National Security Advisor had recently addressed the issue of religious fundamentalists after a request from the country’s Immigration Commissioner and found no additional concerns. Zuhair added that the advisor had concluded that there was not thought to be any terror cells operating within the Maldives and claimed there was no need to further heighten national security against such threats.

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Bangladeshi arrested for alleged rape attempt of 13 year-old girl

Police have arrested a Bangladeshi man who allegedly attempted to rape a 13 year-old girl in Eydhafushi, Baa Atoll.

Police Lance Corporal Abdul Majeed Moosa told Minivan News that police were called about the incident this morning at 2:30am.

”He was been arrested early this morning,” Moosa said. ”We can’t give more information as the investigation has not been concluded yet.”

The Bangladeshi man was 22 years-old, he added.

Local newspaper Haveeru reported that the Bangladeshi man entered the girl’s room at midnight while she was asleep and attempted to rape her.

According to Haveeru she bit his finger and he left. The man was naked when he entered the girl’s house, Haveeru reported according to sources.

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Rebels push Gaddafi back as NATO provides aircover

Forces loyal to Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi have been pushed back by Benghazi rebels after coalition airstrikes grounded both the Libyan airforce and tank columns.

The rebels yesterday retook the oil export towns of Brega and Ajdabiya in the country’s east, the latter 30 miles from the refining station at Ras Lanouf.

Spokesperson for the rebel’s Transitional National Council, Shamsiddin Abdulmollah, told journalists in Banghazi that Gaddafi’s forces were “now on the back because they no longer have air power and heavy weaponry available.”

AFP meanwhile reports that 117 people have been killed and more than 1300 wounded in a week of attacks by Gaddafi’s forces on Misrata, Libya’s third largest city, which has been targeted by snipers and artillery after French aircraft destroyed at least five planes and two helicopters in the region yesterday.

US President Barack Obama stated over the weekend that NATO was fulfilling the UN Security Council’s resolution and that the no-fly zone had been established to protect civilians.

“Make no mistake, because we acted quickly, a humanitarian catastrophe has been avoided and the lives of countless civilians – innocent men, women and children – have been saved,” Obama said.

Gaddafi’s government has accused the international community of pushing the country into civil war by choosing sides: “it is not to protect civilians because now they are directly fighting against the armed forces,” Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told Associated Press.

Libya’s former ambassador to the United States, Ali Aujali, has meanwhile praised the intervention as warding off “another massacre in Africa that [would have been] remembered like Srebrenica and Rwanda. It was the right action at the right time.”

Meanwhile, the foreign press pack in Tripoli was visibly shaken after a woman in her 30s, Iman al-Obeidi, burst in on foreign journalists at the Rixos Al Nasr hotel to say she had been gang raped by 15 government militia.

Obeidi showed the media slashes and bruises on her body, and screamed as Gaddafi’s media minders hauled her outside. Two journalists who tried to protect Obeidi were punched and beaten by the minders, who smashed cameras and reportedly drew a gun and threatened the media, claiming Obeidi was mentally ill.

Correspondent with the UK’s Channel 4 television station, Jonathan Miller, was knocked to the ground and kicked when he attempted to intervene.

“There was a desperate sense of our failure to prevent the thugs taking her away,” Miller told papers in the UK today. “There was nothing more that we could have done as we were overtly threatened by considerable physical force.”

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Addu “tailor-made for the lazy tropical cyclist”: UK Telegraph

Once described as a place of “harrowing tranquillity” where “grown men weep with sheer geographical frustration”, Addu is now a secret speck of heaven, tailor-made for the lazy tropical cyclist, writes Nigel Tisdall in the UK’s Telegraph newspaper.

“Spared the worst ravages of the bleaching that has dulled the coral in other parts of the Maldives, the seabed here is bejewelled with flashes of blue, green and purple. As the sun gains strength, the lagoon surrounding me fills with an immense calm. It is 82F (28C) and you know it’s going to be another classic day of clear blue skies, sensational snorkelling trips, siestas on the daybed, then dinner on the beach with rows of candles decorating the sand.

“So far, so very high-end Maldives – except that down here in Addu, the southernmost atoll in this 500-mile island chain, the holiday experience is refreshingly different. Traditionally, a trip to the Maldives has meant flying into the capital, Malé, then bouncing onwards as fast as possible to one of almost a hundred small and luxurious lily-pads that ceaselessly vie with one another to offer the most indulgent experiences.

“Some islands are so small you can walk round them in 10 minutes, others proffer ridiculously OTT amenities such as an underwater restaurant, pretentious afternoon teas and wine cellars with bottles costing up to £38,000. Invariably there is a niggling fear that a week in the Maldives, however much you are in love, could well leave you feeling trapped, bored and overcharged.”

Full story

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Bangladesh and Maldives have long shared histories, says Nasheed at national day celebrations

The High Commission of Bangladesh yesterday celebrated its national day, marking 40 years of independence, with a reception and dinner at Dharubaaruge.

Speaking at the ceremony, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to the Maldives, Rear Admiral Abu Saeed Mohamed Abdul Awal, observed that the Maldives recognised Bangladesh’s independence in 1972, “soon after our independence.”

Bangladesh was “keenly watching the democratisation process” in the Maldives, Awal said, “and it is gratifiying to watch the Maldives consolidate its democracy.”

Awal congratulated the Maldives for graduating from the UN’s definition of a Less Developed Country (LDC) to a Middle Income country, adding that this was one of Bangladesh’s goals and that it hoped to learn from the Maldivian experience.

“I hope the Maldives retains the advantages of being a LDC by using the climate change card effectively, so we can follow later,” Awal said.

Bangladesh was the world’s 21st fastest-growing economy with a US$90 billion economy, and was now the world’s fourth largest exporter of garments, he said. Even during the global recession Bangladesh had retained a growth rate of 5.5-6 percent, he added.

Acknowledging the large number of Bangladeshi expatriates working in the Maldives, Awal noted that worldwide, remittances from Bangladeshi expatriates contributed US$11 billion to the country’s economy.

“At the same time we are working very closely with the Maldivian government to ensure that expatriates can work under proper conditions. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on manpower is in final stage, and the signing will bring the employment of expatriates under greater regulatory approval.”

President Mohamed Nasheed noted that the relationship between Bangladesh and the Maldives extended far into both country’s histories.

“As traders we have always had good contact with Bengalis,” Nasheed said.

“In recent times both our countries have become more strongly joined, not just through just SAARC, but through the immense contribution of Bangladeshi workers to our development efforts. We are thankful for the work done by the Bangladeshi community in the Maldives, and we strongly believe living conditions for migrant workers has to improve.”

Nasheed noted that Bangladesh had worked closely with the Maldives on issues and challenges relating to multilateral agency funding, adding that Bangladesh had very strong experience with the procurement proceedures of international donor agencies.

“Donor agencies funding mechanisms have their own cycles relating to their own administrative affairs, not to the development efforts of recipient countries,” he said. “This has been an issue very widely discussed in Bangladesh.”

South Asia, Nasheed said, “deserves much better. We are one of the fastest growing regions in the world, but very often a large number of people are left behind in development efforts.

“We want to see wider distribution of wealth as well as the provision of safe drinking water and electricity.”

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Letter on High Court appointments

Dear President Mohamed Nasheed,

Since the committee has not followed the criteria set up by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to allocate marks for the potential judges of the high court, and since constitutional problems are apparent in the process of appointing judges to the High Court, I voluntarily participated in case forwarded by Baa Kendhoo Abdul Bari Yousuf, in the hopes that an independent and fair verdict would be reached.

But to the surprise of the whole judiciary, this particular case has been rejected by the courts and as a result the trust I, myself and the people have placed in the judicial process has grown faint.

Therefore as I am responsible for heading an official institution, I am obliged to work towards correcting this matter. And according to the article 115 of the constitution, since it is your responsibility to maintain the rule of law, I am obliged to report this to you. I sincerely request you to bring an end to this process which is violating the rules and laws of the State. Due to the inconvenience and shortage of time, I am unable to provide you with all the details of the matter.

Yours sincerely,

Hassan Saeed

Chief judge of Family Court

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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JSC appoints five judges to High Court bench

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has appointed five judges to the High Court bench. The five took their oaths of office last night.

The five were Shuaib Hussein Zakariyya, Dr Azmiraldha Zahir, Abdurauf Ibrahim, Abbas Shareef and Ali Sameer.

The appointment of the judges had been previously scheduled however right before the five were about to take the oath and officially commence work, Criminal Court Judge Abdul Baary Yousuf filed a case in the Civil Court claiming that there was discrimination between men and woman in the appointment.

Judge Baary’s case, which was later taken to the Supreme Court, ended up as a void complaint after the court ruled that Judge Baary had left the town without informing the Supreme Court.

The High Court has said on its website that the five new judges have taken the oath of office last night.

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