Day: October 27, 2011

Households prohibited from offering tourist accomodation

The Tourism Ministry has said households are not permitted to provide lodging for tourists, and indicated action will be taken against those who violate Article 20 of the Tourism Act.

The Act state that registered businesses with required facilities may host tourists. Tourists may not receive accommodation in exchange for payment to any establishment other than a registered and licensed guest house and hotel.

Households in Male’, Hulhumale’ and other atolls had recently placed advertisements for housing tourists.

Tourism Ministry Permanent Secretary Ahmed Solih told Haveeru that no complaints had been received, and that the ministry had issued the warning to inform the public of the policy.

Popular traveler website CouchSurfing, however, has nearly 80 registered users in the Maldives. While some users simply look to meet for coffee, others offer basic accommodation to travelers in exchange for a local perspective.

CouchSurfing does not facilitate, stipulate or endorse financial transactions.

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MNBC investigated for suspicious transactions

Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) is being investigated by Parliament for transactions that allegedly transgress the Public Finance Act.

Villufushi MP Riyaz Rasheed, Eydhafushi MP Ahmed ‘Red Wave’ Saleem, Alifushi MP Mohamed Nashiz and Nolhivaram MP Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed have been appointed to lead a sub-committee of the parliamentary Finance Committee and carry out the investigation, reports Haveeru.

A letter has been sent to MNBC requesting relevant information.

Details of the alleged transactions are unknown.

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JCI accepting applications for 10 Outstanding Youth

Applications for Junior Chamber International (JCI) Maldives’ Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) award are being accepted until Monday.

The program recognises people aged 18 to 40 whose achievements and positions as community role models are significant to the Maldives’ future.

Nominations may be made for ten categories: Business and/or entrepreneurial accomplishment, political, legal and/or governmental affairs, academic leadership, cultural achievement, moral and/or environmental leadership, contribution to children, world peace and/or human rights, humanitarian and/or voluntary leadership, scientific and/or technological development, personal improvement, and medical innovation.

National honourees are entered in the International TOYP Programme, which awards a free round-trip airline ticket to the JCI World Congress in Taipei, Taiwan, scheduled for November 2012. Honourees will be featured at an award ceremony, Haveeru reports.

The nomination form can be found online at www.jci.mv and must be completed no later than October 31.

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Mother of deceased premature baby receives 100 lashes for fornication

Aminath Shaira, age 30 of Finolhu/Noonu atoll Manadhoo, was publicly lashed 100 times outside the Justice Building for committing fornication. Lashing is the standard punishment for intercourse outside of marriage under Maldivian law.

Shaira was sentenced to one years’ imprisonment after she was identified as the mother of a premature baby that was found on 19 May in a Coast Milk tin in the bushes near the Vilimale’ powerhouse.

Forensic experts at the time claimed the baby was dead upon birth, and had been aborted after a five-month pregnancy.

Shaira was also sentenced to 100 lashes and one year’s house arrest for fornication, the Criminal Court confirmed today. Officials said she would be transferred to a prison in the next few days.

Shaira had been charged with disobedience to an order under article 88(a) of the 1968 penal code as well as violations under the Child Protection Act.

Fingerprints belonging to Mariyam Rizna, 18, of Guraidhoo in Kaafu Atoll, had been found on the Coast Milk tin at the time. Rizna was sentenced to six months in prison for helping Shaira deliver the baby.

A third suspect, Aishath Aniya, 24, of Huraa in Kaafu Atoll, was released after the court determined that there was not enough evidence to prove that she had provided abortion pills to the defendant.

Police were unable to identify the baby’s father at the time, and Shaira did not reveal his name.

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. Anecdotal evidence, however, points overwhelmingly to a high rate of abortion and unwanted pregnancy.

Around the same time as Sharia’s arrest, a dead infant was found in a plastic bag in Male’s swimming track area. A medical examination later concluded that the baby had sustained cuts, bruises and other wounds, an indication of possible abortion practices.

In November 2010, an abandoned newborn was discovered alive in bushes near the Wataniya telecommunications tower in Hulhumale’.

In January 2010, Minivan News reported that many women unable to travel to Sri Lanka resort to illegal abortions performed by unskilled individuals in unhygienic settings.

Deputy Minister of Health and Family Fathimath Afiya told Minivan News that a meeting was held today to discuss reproductive services in the Maldives. While Maldivian and Shariah law criminalise abortion and intercourse outside of wedlock, Afiya said communication between relevant services and the judiciary made it difficult to fully address each case.

“There needs to be an appropriate legal framework for reporting these cases to the services that could help unmarried and teenage women in compromised positions,” said Afiya. “We are very concerned about the rising number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions by married and unmarried women. Today, we began formulating an action plan for short- and long-term improvements.”

The action plan, which will be finalised during a half-day workshop in November, aims to create awareness of the challenges that pregnant married or unmarried women face, and the comparative lack of appropriate services, among citizens and legislators.

“The situation is very serious, I was surprised at the work that needed to be done to improve the situation,” Afiya said.

Sexual education is not administered per se in the Maldives, and the only official study of reproductive health was done in 2004. Other unofficial studies have noted that very little information is available on the subject.

According to Afiya, up to three cases of abortion are reported by Indira Ghandi Memorial Hospital’s (IGMH) family protection unit–a scant slice of the real picture. Most abortions go unreported or are only brought to medical professionals when an unsafe abortion has damaged the mother.

The stigma of having a child out of wedlock appears to drive women to grave action. Some use abortion-inducing pills or receive injections from amateur abortionists; others turn to harmful vaginal preparations, containing chemicals such as bleach or kerosene. Although infrequent, some women insert objects into their uterus or induce abdominal trauma.

Afiya said the situation is not limited to abortions – an increasing number of women abandon their babies at the hospital after birth.

“Some will just leave after giving birth. It does happen somewhat regularly,” she said.

In 2009, a young woman convicted of having extra-marital sex was also flogged. Amnesty International called for a moratorium on the “inhumane and degrading” punishment in the Maldives.

Although flogging is still a legal form of punishment in many Muslim countries worldwide, Amnesty officials claim that it specifically discriminates against women. Of the 184 people sentenced to lashing in 2006, 146 were female.

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Police exhibit video footage of falling plank injuring 17 year-old outside Endherimaage

Police have exhibited video footage of a wooden pole thrown from above injuring a 17 year-old during a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) protest outside former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s residence, Maafanu Endherimaage.

At a press briefing last night, Superintendent Mohamed Jinah said police wished to “reveal the truth” about the incident as “deliberately false allegations have been made against police using the media” to bring the institution into disrepute, and “relentless attempts” had been made to cast aspersions on police and its senior officers.

On Monday, police arrested Gassan Maumoon, son of the former President, on suspicion of hurling the 5-foot block of wood from the Endherimaage building. The Criminal Court however ruled that his arrest was unlawful and ordered his release.

The video footage shows the wooden pole strike the victim on the head and the crowd scattering after other objects were thrown down. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Minivan News journalists observed gravel, hot boiling water and sharp metal objects raining down on protesters.

Jinah said the victim, Hussein Hassan, Gaaf Dhaal Thinadhoo Semy, had to undergo brain surgery to repair damage to his skull and “one side of his body is paralysed.”

Police did not want to reveal such video footage to the public lightly, said Jinah, but did so in this case because “many people have been using different media to claim that [the incident] never happened and make serious allegations against police contrary to the truth of the matter to bring the institution into disrepute.”

Police were also investigating damage caused to private property during the MDP protest and ascertaining the cost of the damages, Jinah said, adding however that police had not been provided security camera footage from residences in the area upon request.

Two MDP activists were arrested on suspicion of causing damage to the former President’s residence and adjoining houses. The pair have since been released after interrogation despite the Criminal Court extending their arrest for five days.

Of the two cases under investigation, said Jinah, “the most important and serious matter” was the “life-threatening” incident that left the 17-year-old hospitalised.

“We had reasons to implicate Gassan Maumoon in this matter,” Jinah said, adding that police had statements from eight witnesses who saw Gassan on the balcony as well as photos taken by a police forensic team of wooden poles inside the Endherimaage building Thursday night.

In addition to eyewitness testimony and forensic evidence, said Jinah, the “most important reason” for suspecting Gassan was his admission upon questioning that he did step out to the balcony.

When Gassan let slip that he was on the balcony, Jinah said “after a gesture from his lawyer he then exercised the right to remain silent.”

“When a police investigation team gets such information, there is no reason not to suspect a person of committing a crime,” he asserted.

The Criminal Court’s decision to order Gassan’s release was not based on the evidence submitted but “a procedural point” argued by the legal team of the accused.

Gassan’s lawyers filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus, or release from unlawful arrest, before police were due to take the former President’s son before the Criminal Court for an extension of detention.

The Criminal Court has since imposed a one-month travel ban upon request by police.

Meanwhile in a video message released before his arrest with footage from opposition-aligned private broadcaster DhiTV, Gassan denied the allegations and said he heard the protesters call for Gayoom to be “brought out, killed and dragged through the street.”

“At this dangerous moment, my priority was to take my father and mother to what I saw as the safest place in the house,” he said. “Afterwards, I called Commissioner of Police Ahmed Faseeh and asked for help to save us. However we haven’t seen those who committed this atrocity taken for interrogation.”

After being summoned for questioning on Saturday, Gassan noted that police informed his lawyer by phone that a second summons chit was cancelled.

However, a third chit was issued the night before his arrest: “We believe that a third chit came to me after the government directly influenced police and ordered them,” he said.

Asked about the circumstances surrounding Gassan’s arrest, Jinah said Gassan was summoned a second time after receiving new information.

“We decided to take him into custody at the police headquarters,” he said. “If a person cannot be arrested at a police office, I don’t believe we can arrest a person on the street either.”

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MDP Parliamentary Group considers no-confidence motion against HRCM

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Mohamed Mustafa today said that the MDP Parliamentary Group was considering forwarding a no-confidence motion against the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) members, for failing to protect the human rights of citizens.

‘’We have noticed that the HRCM members that we appointed have failed to protect the rights of the citizens, and are more concerned about protecting the rights of particular persons,’’ said MP Mustafa. ‘’I am ashamed of HRCM for they have showed no effort in fulfilling the duty assigned to them.”

Mustafa referred to the recent incident where a 17 year-old boy was injured in a protest led by the MDP calling for judicial reform, during which the activists gathered outside former President’s house.

‘’HRCM did not even a say a word of sympathy to the young boy who was injured, they did not even visit the hospital to see him, but when police arrested the former President’s son Gassan Maumoon, they prepared a press statement,’’ he claimed. ‘’This shows what kind of things concern HRCM members.’’

Mustafa said that HRCM had another statement, as yet unreleased, calling on the MDP not to gather near the former President’s residence, and not to threaten the judiciary.

‘’But we have a right to protest, we conducted the protest in accordance to the laws,’’ he claimed. ‘’So there is no use of the current HRCM members and paying money to them is a big waste.’’

He called on the resignation of the commission members and said the commission would be “better with empty desks”.

‘’That day knives were dropped and pots filled with stones were thrown from the former President’s house, and a 17 year-old boy left disabled. He is very young and he is half-paralysed.”

President of the Human Rights Commission Mariyam Azra did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

In August, a delegation from the Maldives headed by Attorney General Abdulla Muiz reported to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that the country’s Human Rights Commission “was one of the most active national institutions in Asia”.

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Addu Cultural Centre promotes arts in plan for progress

As Addu moves forward with SAARC preparations, local artists are also recommending a look at the past.

The Addu Cultural Center is the first historical replica village in the region, and the second in the Maldives. Founders Saifulla Hameed, Ibrahim Fariq and Min Haj said it serves three purposes: to respect the elderly, to remind the youth, and to introduce tourists to Maldivian heritage.

“Even now, people are visiting the center,” said Project Director Hameed. “They are shocked when they see this replica of how Maldivians lived years ago. For the older generation who remember this lifestyle, it’s like traveling back in time, and they are especially happy to see this. We also plan to invite schools to educate the young people.”

Construction of the center began six months ago, and is due for completion in time for the SAARC Summit, which starts on November 10.

The center includes seven buildings made from palm materials: a blacksmith, a living area, a bathroom, a 60-year-old koda dhoni, a kitchen, a school and a historical display room. A garden is also being cultivated. Buildings are furnished with original artifacts. Local crafts will be sold in one display building as souvenirs.

As SAARC approaches, the centre’s finishing touches are being made during any possible moment.

“It is hard to work because most people are preparing for the summit, but we work at night or during the day, when people are available,” said Hameed.

Project Partner Ibrahim Firaq began collecting artifacts at age 16; he is now 47. The Cultural Centre is the first opportunity he has had to make use of his collection.

“It was one of my dreams to put the collection on public display. I can’t even sleep, I am so eager to open this place,” he said.

Firaq’s collection includes coal-blowers, traditional cookware, rope bed frames, boat building tools and more. Many items, such as colonial clocks, European pottery and Arab tea and coffee pots, indicate the importance of international trade to the Maldives.

The collection will be used by a team of 20 staff who will “live” in the village.

“We have been training these workers to work, live and behave appropriately to illustrate a traditional lifestyle,” said Hameed. “The elderly picked it up easily, since many have actually lived like this when they were younger. But the younger workers need training.”

Hameed said he had developed the concept years ago, but applications for funding were previously rejected. Recent council elections and SAARC preparations paved the way for funding and expansion.

The centre is privately funded, and supplemented by a government contribution. Hameed said growing interest in developing Addu as a tourist destination has made the centre more significant.

“People staying at resorts have nice food and activities, but there isn’t much to see on those islands. Now, with more paved roads and things to see in Addu, there will be more reason to come here,” said Hameed, who looks forward to the attention that Addu is expected to receive during and after SAARC.

Addu atoll features a mere two resorts and two local hotels; council officials called accommodation a development priority. Mayor Abdullah Sodiq however said Addu offers unique opportunities for tourism within the Maldives.

“Addu is unlike other areas in that it offers places to visit. The remains of the British royal air force can be of interest to Europeans, and the Commonwealth War Grave is interesting to Commonwealth countries,” said Sodiq. “We also offer a protected marine area, as well as excellent diving.”

The Cultural Centre’s team also reported local interest in opening art galleries, crafts markets and Maldivian restaurants.

Haj said Addu should use the new convention center for more than just business events.

“Right now, Addu needs more accommodation to really host big conventions. I’m not sure that they’ll get more than two events a year. They should use the center for exhibitions, concerts or plays,” he suggested.

Few Maldivian schools boast artistic and cultural studies as a strong point. The government, however, has taken steps to foster cultural awareness.

Maldives Hulhevi Media Project recently began the first digital recording and documentary of the traditional Buruni Ballad, funded by the United States Embassy.

In September, the government announced plans to sign the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Deputy Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mamduh Waheed, said at the time that protecting cultural heritage would improve tourism in the Maldives. “We have a market for the natural aspect of the Maldives, and now we will be able to add cultural attractions and destinations. I think it will draw tourists interested in cultural conservation,” he observed.

Recently, a UN State of the World report found that over half of the global population was under the age of 25. One-quarter of the Maldives’ population is aged between 15 and 24, with a quarter of the young men and half of the young women reported as unemployed.

Vice President of the Maldives Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan recommended creating more job opportunities in the atolls.

Deputy Minister of Finance Haifa Naeem said it was important to “diversify jobs to attract the youth market, in fields such as arts and culture.”

The SAARC summit will be preceded by several days of festivities by local and international dance, music and sports groups.

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MNDF concludes investigation into the shooting death of Sergeant Shaukath

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has concluded its investigation into the death of MNDF Sergeant Ibrahim Shaukath, who was accidently shot in the head while he was on SAARC Bodyguard Training.

In a statement, the MNDF said that the investigation team had determined that Shukath’s death occurred due to the negligence of Lieutenant Muaz Mohamed.

The MNDF said that Shaukath was accidently shot while he and fellow MNDF Officers were doing a private training in the resting area to prepare for a ‘’wounded shoot’’ test due to be held the next day of the incident.

In a ‘Wounded Shoot’ exercise, soldiers are trained how to shoot and reload when one hand is wounded. While they were practicing, Muaz received a magazine with a bullet in it did not check whether the magazine was loaded before putting it into his pouch.

According to the MNDF he inserted the magazine into his pistol and fired at Shaukath. The soldiers were standing in a circle when the incident occurred and Shaukath was in front of Muaz.

The MNDF said the incident was unintentional but due to the negligence of Muaz, he had been ousted from the course and transferred to a section where he does not have to handle weapons.

The MNDF said that according to its regulation it is a required to check whether a magazine has bullets before firing, and that in the bodyguard Training, instructors had not told the students that officers should point weapons at each other in violation of MNDF regulations.

‘’While bodyguard Training is a high risk course, there wasn’t an adequate number of trained instructors sent to the program,’’ the MNDF statement acknowledged.

There were not enough magazines to use in the program and officers had to share magazines, a practice that was not safe, noted the MNDF in the statement, adding that officers had mismanaged the issuing of the magazines.

‘’That day there was only one first aid-trained person in the training centre, and he was also not a person trained for high risk programs,’’ the MNDF said in the statement. ‘’Some tools that are used in first-aid were unavailable at the training centre and the emergency vehicle used in the training was  not an adequate vehicle to use in emergencies.’’

The MNDF said that the issues noted in the investigation have been sent to the Defence Ministry as recommendations.

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