Day: May 21, 2011

Former prisons chief interrogated after release of DPRS torture photos

Former Prisons Division Head with the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Serivces (DPRS) Isthafa Ibrahim Manik has been detained and questioned by police, after disturbing photographs of tortured victims in custody were obtained by the Presidential Commission and leaked to the media.

Manik remains in custody at Maafushi after the courts granted police a 15-day extension of detention.

The photos released so far include images of men tied to coconut palms, caged, and bloodied. One of the photos, of a prisoner lying on a blood-soaked mattress, has a 2001 date stamp.

A senior government official told Minivan News that the photos were obtained by the Commission from the DPRS itself on Monday, and that those released “are just the tip of the iceberg.”

Inspector of Police Abdulla Nawaz confirmed in a statement to the state broadcaster MNBC that the matter involved severe cases of torture and suspected fatalities, and had been passed to police.

“Former heads of the Prisons Division will be interrogated,” he said. “We will also question former ministers if it is believed that they were involved,” he added, claiming that police would withhold the identities of some of those summoned for questioning.

One of the pictures, reportedly obtained from the DPRS

National Security Advisor and former Defence Minister Ameen Faisal, a member of the Presidential Commission, told MNBC that prison records had revealed that inmates were punished without court order “and subjected to inhumane torture and ill-treatment.”

“This commission has received information that some inmates who were tortured ended up dead,” Faisal said.

Many members of the current government, including President Mohamed Nasheed and Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem, claim to have been tortured under the former administration.

“They were limited only by their imagination,” Naseem said, describing the describing the former government’s treatment of prisoners as “medieval”.

Gayoom’s spokesperson Mohamed Hussein ‘Mundhu’ Shareef told Haveeru that the government’s arrest of the former head of prisons was the “the third part of the drama” in a long-plotted lead up to the arrest of the former president.

“The attempt to arrest President Maumoon will only boost his profile. We see this simply as the government’s attempt to divert the people’s attention from the dollar crisis and rising commodity prices,” Shareef told Haveeru.

The Presidential Commission has previously summoned Gayoom, who refused to appear.

In October 2010, President Nasheed’s high profile support of elderly historian Ahmed Shafeeq, who has alleged that 111 people died in custody under the former administration and that he himself had been arrested and his diaries destroyed, prompted Gayoom to write to the British Prime Minister David Cameron.

In the letter, Gayoom appealed for pressure to be placed on President Mohamed Nasheed following “the escalation of attempts to harass and intimidate me and my family.”

The matter, he told the British PM, involved “unsubstantiated allegations by an elderly man by the name of Ahmed Shafeeq that I had, during my tenure as President, ordered the murder of 111 dissidents.”

“In a book authored by this Shafeeq, which was ceremoniously released [on October 10] by Mohamed Nasheed himself, it is accused that I also ordered the man’s arrest and supposed torture in prison. In a country of just over 300,000, it is safe to assume that even one ‘missing person’ would not go unnoticed, let alone 111.”

Men chained to coconut palms

Nasheed’s government had “escalated its attempts to harass me” in the run up to the local council elections, Gayoom wrote, despite his retirement from politics.

“After the government’s defeat in last year’s parliamentary elections, the popularity ratings of the ruling MDP have fallen further in recent months as a result of the government’s failure to deliver on its campaign promises, and its lack of respect for the law.”

“On the other hand,” Gayoom told the British PM, “I continue to enjoy the strong support, love and affection of the people, and have been voted by the public as ‘Personality of the Year’ in both years since stepping down from the presidency.”

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“I tried to clean the muddy aspects of a long rule”: former DRP MP Ali Waheed

The following is an English translation of a speech by former opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) member Ali Waheed given after signing with the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

I first met you from behind a podium like this during the 2008 presidential campaign. The 2008 presidential election was a competitive contest that took place due to the hard work of the beloved members of MDP and the efforts of members from other parties as well. We were able to have that election due to a lot of hard work by some members of the Special Majlis [constitutional assembly convened to revise the constitution].

What I am trying to say is, with the life of our constitution changed and those changes accepted by the people, but without forming an interim government – that is a transitional government that included the opposition – we Maldivians had to face a competitive election. That election was won by his Excellency President of the Maldives Mohamed Nasheed from the Maldivian Democratic Party-led coalition.

Following that election then came the parliamentary election. In that election the Maldivian people gave to those opposed to the government a majority to hold it accountable. In truth, a government of change was formed among us and, to hold that government to account, parliamentary majority was given to opposition parties.

Two and a half years we swam in that sea. However, what we, or I definitely, tried to do [in opposition] was clean the muddy aspects of a long rule. To do that, at the DRP Congress I came out in first [place] as deputy leader in spite of the direct disapproval of DRP Zaeem al-Usthaz Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

However, when boys who came from Thoddoo, Addu and the street achieved high posts in democracy, beyfulhun (aristocrats or members of the upper class) could not accept it!

We did not bring change to the country for a person to advance because he belongs to a certain family or clan, but for a person to move up through merit. Today we can see that those who could not digest this have created different factions and we can see the state of the party we formed with our hard work. Therefore, because [the party] has become an inheritance, I have let go and walked out empty-handed.

I’ve come to this podium tonight empty-handed. I have signed this form as a common member of MDP. I joined DRP as a common member. I know how to climb one rung after another and advance in the party.

We have seen that in parliament we have had very competitive and heated debates. However democracy is for those who can come to the [discussion] table even with differences of opinion.

There are people in the DRP who believe that talking to Caranyge Mohamed Nasheed is haram [sinful or forbidden]. However, I say this with daring, I am the one who criticised Mohamed Nasheed the most but here I am at this podium!

Democracy is about criticising when it’s needed and shaking hands if we have to. We are all Maldivians here! This country belongs to all of us. This President is the President of all of us so we can criticise and praise him, too.

What we see in parliament, with two and a half years gone, what we see from opposition activities is that, despite prolonged efforts within the opposition coalition, everything becomes about saving a person whose tail is caught and stuck in the 30-year reign! Everything! So what solution can [they] bring?

We dare to load our magazine with bullets, sling our rifles and come out to the front. That’s why it is from our tongues that the ‘boom, boom’ comes most loudly. However, a flight cannot be operated without passengers, without fuel. That’s why I’ve come to collect the passengers.

We truly have to think today, our country is at a very critical juncture economically and socially. My manner of speaking is not going to change even if I’ve left the blue podium for the yellow. The fact that prices of goods are rising is a reality that we all know. That dollars are out of reach for us is a reality.

The government has a plan but what the opposition has is only calling [the plan] bad. When we asked for an alternative, we never got an answer for that.

When the party’s name failed and the name of youth was attached, even then we came out to protest, because it was on behalf of the rights of the Maldivian people. However when it came to negotiating, or when it came to offering a better change than the one made by the President, what they are now saying is ‘if we protest any further we might be arrested, so we’re going to stop protesting’!

It can’t be done this way. There must be a solution. Therefore, when there is no purpose or destination, what I want to say is that it’s going to become an exercise in futility. Ordinary DRP members use your brains and think!

We come out under different colours not only to serve the party, but to serve the nation. If so, if one party offers a better ideology or philosophy, ideology must be met with ideology. We cannot change the country if we bring only resistance to that ideology [without offering an opposing or alternate ideology].

So it’s been two and a half years of resisting and opposing for argument’s sake. But two and a half years later, DRP has not given birth to an ideology – that is why I had to leave.

Ali Waheed and Reeko MoosaI do want to say this though: because the government did not have a majority in parliament, I do accept that things had to be done in the margins. Any government would have had to do so, as the President says, acting inside and outside and in margins of the chart – that was necessary to maintain this government!

Now however, when parliament returns from recess, we will redraw the chart and its boundaries will be clear. We will move forward with this government even if it means setting aside those who would obstruct benefits to the Maldivian people.

If we do not, what we have before us are very dire consequences. For example, we are very young. Our young generation is bound in chains. There is not a single family in this country without a youth caught up in drug abuse. With things as it is, we cannot solve this if we squander the future of this country with political quarrels between opposition and government in parliament.

Tomorrow we might have a new leader and a yet a new one the day after that. A new colour might come. I have not come to the MDP podium assuming at all that MDP will win in 2013. Even if [MDP] loses, we have come accepting a principle and we shall remain so.

You would have heard at the last sitting of the Majlis session about a sunset law, as it’s popularly known in the media. If powerful laws are written as the prescription for what’s ailing our youth, we cannot find a solution. And if we resist the changes that need to be made to our economy, we cannot win tomorrow. Therefore, we have to bring our expenditure in line with revenue. Without doing so, how can we bring down the price of a dollar? The only thing that will come down will be our shorts.

I don’t want to say much today. I don’t want to launch attacks. I saw yesterday the leader of my former party saying that ‘leaders are those who do not leave whenever they are worried.’ I have been worried and concerned for two and half years now. I have not come [to MDP] all of a sudden.

I did go to the Supreme Court and remove ministers, thinking that it was a philosophy that was beneficial to the Maldivian people. However when the matter of approving this Finance Minister [Ahmed Inaz] came before us, we started receiving orders to eliminate him because he was young. But I’m a youth too. I told them, why not keep [the no-confidence motion] until after the recess, as politically by then the people will be unhappy with rising prices. But they went and ahead and did it anyway. After that, the finance minister said at a news conference that Majlis giving him consent meant MPs have said yes to the increase in the value of dollars – for that they wanted to submit a no-confidence motion and the first name on it was Ali Waheed. I told them you sign it, it cannot be done!

This is why I’m saying that the efforts of politicians in parliament and inside and outside government to shape and instill democratic principles in this country are going to waste. Independent institutions are being filled with people who belong to those whose tails are caught. The whole system is collapsing! We cannot stand aside and watch this happen.

It is not the President or MDP who will be harmed because of this. It is the beloved Maldivian people and our children who will suffer. […] We must not be stuck in quotation marks after two and a half years. We have to hike it up to maximum and bring wellbeing and prosperity for our people. Vassalaamalaikum.

Ali Waheed as a DRP MP:

“I would say our Zaeem, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, is with us here tonight. The reason is that there’s a full moon tonight and Maumoon is this party’s full moon.”
– April 2010, celebrating the DRP’s victory on the decentralisation bill.

“Given the state of the country today, the biggest betrayal to the nation and the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party would be to split up this party,”
– November 2010, on holding concurrent opposition protests

”They take me to police custody like a medicine they take twice daily. It’s all President Mohamed Nasheed’s doing. He is afraid of me.””
– March 2010, after a police case against him was filed with the Prosecutor General for last years ‘gate-climbing’ protest outside Muleaage.

“Without doubt these new procedures are void – nobody can narrow the summoning of cabinet ministers to parliament.’’
– October 2010, after the government ordered Ministers not to respond to parliament questioning.

“People who should be behind bars are sitting around on the beaches, sucking on butts and all sorts of things – this is the result.”
– October 2010, on how the lack of prisons is responsible for rising crime.

“When I received government documents that I believed had the potential to harm the national security of the country I presented it to the national security committee to investigate. I do not believe that it is known as thieving. It was not leaked by my mistake.”
– May 2010, after releasing confidential documents on the government’s intention to accept several Guantanamo Bay inmates.

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Maldives will starve in three months: future Adhaalath head

Potential future President of the religious Adhaalath Party Sheikh Imran Abdulla has reportedly claimed that the Maldives will starve once the country exhausts its foreign reserve in three months.

Sheikh Abdulla told press that the party had been informed of this during a meeting with the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).

Sheikh Abdulla made the claims during an event at Kalaafanu school to announce that the party would be competing in the 2013 Presidential elections. He is currently running unopposed for leadership of the party, which is in coalition with the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

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Premature baby found in Coast Milk tin on Villingili

The corpse of a premature baby boy was discovered yesterday inside a Coast Milk tin on the island of Villingli, the second abandoned infant found in as many weeks.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News that the dead child, believed by forensic examiners to have been born three months premature, was discovered in the discarded container near the powerhouse area of the island.

The baby was taken to Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in Male’ for forensic examination before being buried, according to the police.

On May 5 a dead infant was been found in a plastic bag in the swimming track area of Male’. A medical examination later concluded that the baby’s had sustained cuts, bruises and other wounds.

Shiyam said that yesterday’s discovery of the dead infant on Villingli was not believed by police to reflect an escalating problem in the country concerning child abandonment or abortion.  However,  he said police did have serious concerns about the health implications for mothers of these abandoned children.

“Although we know this [abandonment] is happening, it is not something we believe is a growing issue. However, we request the public not support people who are thinking of abandoning a baby,” he said. “We are very concerned about the health of the mothers of these children, who are not receiving proper medical treatment or the drugs they may require for recovery.”

Police added that they had not yet made any arrests in connection with the discovery of either body and asked for members of the public with any possible information about the case to come forward.

In November last year another abandoned newborn was discovered alive in some bushes near the Wataniya telecommunications tower in Hulhumale’.

Abortion is illegal in the Maldives except to save a mother’s life, or if a child suffers from a congenital defect such as thalassemia. Several studies on HIV in the Maldives have identified risk factors including high levels of promiscuity and little use of contraception, and anecdotal evidence points overwhelmingly to a high rate of abortion.

In an article on the subject in 2009, Minivan News reported that many women unable to travel to Sri Lanka resort to illegal abortions performed by unskilled individuals in unhygienic settings.

Abortion-inducing pills and injections administered by amateur abortionists are one recourse while others turn to harmful vaginal preparations, containing chemicals such as bleach or kerosene. Although infrequent, some insert objects into their uterus or induce abdominal trauma, such is the stigma of having a child out of wedlock.

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Government invites IFJ to Maldives “to judge for itself”, after journalist body backs MBC

The Foreign Ministry of the Maldives has invited a delegation from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to the Maldives “to judge [for themselves] whether the local media is able to meet the needs of the public it serves, and of freedom of expression in the Maldives.”

The invitation was given after the IFJ issued a statement supporting the transfer of assets of the Maldives National Broadcast Corporation (MNBC) to parliament’s Maldives Broadcasting Corporation (MBC).

The MNBC is a 100 percent government-owned corporation that controls the assets of the former State Broadcaster Television Maldives (TVM) and Voice of Maldives (VOM).

In April 2010 the then-opposition majority parliament triggered a tug-of-war for control of the state broadcaster after it created MBC, appointed a board, and then ordered MNBC transfer the assets to the new body. Following a refusal to do so by the President’s Office, a Civil Court ruling last week ordered the transfer take place within 20 days. The government has said it intends to appeal.

“The IFJ has consistently argued the case for public service journalism which is independent of state control and insulated from a dependence on advertising revenue which is known to often impair editorial independence,” said IFJ’s Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park.

“The Maldives Journalists’ Association (MJA), an IFJ affiliate, has placed on record its belief that the empowerment of the autonomous corporation [MBC], which has been designated as a public service broadcaster under Maldives’ national law, is key to raising awareness during a challenging time of transition for the Indian Ocean republic.”

The Foreign Ministry claimed that “Unfortunately the current MBC Board was appointed at a time when the opposition majority of the People’s Majlis was being used for obvious political reasons.”

“However, the government looks forward to the day when the MBC can function as an independent, impartial and objective State broadcaster, backed by an independent and well-respected Board.”

The Maldivian media – including MNBC – is frequently accused of overt political bias favouring one or other of the major political parties, a legacy of decades of autocratic governance and a state-controlled media establishment.

Several opposition-allied MPs and businessmen remain key owners of much of the country’s private media, and visiting journalism trainers have voiced concerns from young Maldivian journalists that senior editorial management obstruct them from reporting ethically.

Iraq Editorial Manager for the Institute of War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), Tiare Rath, observed in September 2010 following a series of journalism workshops that “one of the major issues all my students talked about is resistance among newsroom leadership – editors and publishers.”

“Even if the journalists support and understand the principles being taught, they consistently tell me they cannot apply them,” Rath said.

“This is a very, very serious problem that needs to be addressed.”

Inviting the IFJ to the Maldives, the Foreign Ministry said it requested that the IFJ “only uphold the very principles they espouse when they report on the situation on the ground. In this regard, perhaps it would be useful for the IFJ to send a delegation to Male’.”

Minivan News is currently seeking a response from the IFJ to the Foreign Ministry’s invitation.

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President talks business tax increases as part of economic reform plans

President Mohamed Nasheed has pledged further economic reforms including the planned implementation of a general business profit tax in July and the possible increase of the Tourism Goods and Services Tax (GST) from six percent to 3.5 percent.

Speaking yesterday during his weekly radio address, the president claimed that serious reorganisation of state finances was needed as the Maldives graduates from the UN’s list of nations with Least Developed Country status.

This reorganization strategy includes a managed float of the rufiyaa to effectively devalue the currency against the US dollar .  The move was designed to try and allow the local currency to be traded within 20 percent of the pegged rate of Rf12.85 – a decision that has led to ongoing protests in Male’, said by organisers to be focused on escalating living costs.

“Reducing public expenditure and increasing state revenue to reduce budget deficit; stopping money printing to prevent devaluation of currency due to increased  supply; and corporatising government services to increase participation of efficient private parties,” were outlined by the president  as the government’s key aims for the economy.

In order to meet these goals, Nasheed claimed that the government would look to begin collecting business profit tax from the private sector on July 18 as well as trying to impose a minimum wage for local people.

In addition, the president also claimed that he was considering increasing the Tourism Goods and Services Tax, which was first implemented as of January 1 this year, to six percent from the introductory rate of 3.5 percent.

Criticising national spending policies under former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Nasheed claimed that his government had reduced a budget deficit that stood at about 30 percent of the nation’s GDP back in 2008 to just above 10 percent at present.

While generally supporting initiatives to reduce costs that have led to ongoing public protests in the country, the Treasurer of The Maldives National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI), Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Gafoor, said that the the planned addition of a minimum wage and a Goods and Services Tax (GST) on all enterprises operating in the country needed to be gradually implemented.

Speaking earlier this month, Abdul Gafoor claimed that gradual introduction of taxes would be vital to ensure the nation’s fledgling economy can cope with any potential changes.

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President claims MDP parliamentary majority as DRP MP Ali Waheed signs with MDP

Just a day after resigning from the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), MP Ali Waheed was last night welcomed to the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) by President Mohamed Nasheed, who claimed Waheed’s decision had handed the party a parliamentary majority and the capability to push ahead with proposed reforms.

Waheed, a former DRP deputy leader, yesterday signed up the party alongside Ahmed Assad ‘Adubarey’ and DRP Sports Wing Head, Hassan Shujau.

A senior MDP source told Minivan News that additional members of the party were talking with the MDP about signing, but were reluctant to abandon the troubled party in such a large group.

The opposition figures followed in the wake of former opposition MP Alhan Fahmy in an exodus to the other side of the country’s political divide.

DRP MPs including Ahmed Nihan, currently working closely alongside the Z-DRP faction of the opposition critical of party leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, claimed that the MPs were switching sides solely for financial payoffs, though an MDP official insisted no such transactions had taken place.

However, dismissed DRP Deputy Leader Umar Naseer has submitted a case to the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) accusing the MDP of bribing opposition MPs to join the party.

Speaking during the rally held at Male’s artificial beach last night, Waheed reportedly accepted that he had criticised the president and the MDP in the past, but said that he now stood with them nonetheless.

“I was one of the strongest critics of President Nasheed,” he was reported as saying in newspaper Haveeru. “But I am right here at this podium; being able to criticise everyone is one of the fundamental aspects of democracy.”

Addressing the crowds afterwards, President Nasheed reportedly said that Ali Waheed would be welcomed to the party and could potentially take a senior position within the party following his switch.

Nasheed talked of the significance of having a political majority for the MDP and claimed that the party’s influence on parliament would need to be used responsibly and with respect to others in the Majlis.

Waheed along with DRP spokesperson Ibrahim ‘Mavota’ Shareef and opposition leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali were unavailable for comment when contacted by Minivan News this morning.

Shareef has previously acknowledged that Waheed had served as a rising star in the DRP, and his loss would be a “great blow”.

Changing political landscape

The recent election of another former opposition MP – Alhan Fahmy – to the deputy leadership of the ruling party may be a key factor in luring ambitious MPs from the troubled opposition. However if rumours of money changing hands proved true, several MDP members have privately expressed concern that this risked unsettling grassroots members loyal to the ruling party from the beginning.

Further discontent is likely on the islands among those constituents who voted for a party, rather than the MP.

The MDP also risks importing potential skeletons into the party along with the MP, such as the case with former Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) MP Hassan Adhil who is currently under house arrest and facing charges of child molestation.

Furthermore, the departure of MPs loyal to Thasmeen’s faction will place further pressure on the more prosaic side of the opposition, limiting its ability to resist the leadership ambitions of Gayoom’s far less compromising ‘Z-Faction’ and risks greater destabilisation of the opposition.

The MDP has however struggled to pass legislation in the opposition-majority parliament, and is fervently seeking to tip the balance in its favour and gain control of the legislature to push through difficult bills such as the revised penal code, evidence bill, and income tax for people earning over Rf30,000.

Taking control of parliament is a major victory for both the MDP and the government, and potentially marks the end of the ‘scorched earth’ politics in the Majlis that led to the en-masse resignation of cabinet ministers in July last year.

While the Maldives has a presidential system of government on paper, the constitution hands significant powers to parliament – particularly oversight of independent institutions. Control of the voting floor gives the MDP levers with which to address the challenges facing the judiciary and independent institutions in the country.

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