Month: February 2012

Police use tear gas to disperse opposition and ruling party protesters as demonstrations continue

Police last night used tear gas to disperse a crowd of protesters who had gathered in an ongoing series of protests, held following the arrest of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed by the military.

Opposition protesters gathered near the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) office opposite the artificial beach, while  Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) supporters also gathered in the area.

The two groups shouting at each other over loudspeakers until midnight, accusing the other side of corruption along with other allegations.

At one point, according to local newspapers Haveeru and Sun, MDP protesters accused President of the Adhaalath Party Sheikh Imran Abdulla of sleeping with his sister-in-law, to which the Sheikh responded over his loudspeaker, “swearing by God” that the allegation was false and saying he would file for defamation.

Police attempted to enter the DRP head office several times, but were blocked by officials inside who denied then entrance without a court warrant.

After midnight police warned both groups of protesters to leave the area. After warning both sides several times, police threw tear gas canisters into the crowd, which dispersed.

Before the protest was dispersed, opposition protesters announced that they would gather again tonight.

A police spokesperson told Minivan News that police had asked both groups to leave the area.

”We warned them at 12:00am and then dispersed the protest,” he said. “We have not received any information that any person was injured except for a woman who suffered minor injuries.”

He said seven persons who disobeyed police orders were arrested, and one was released.

”The other six persons are still in police custody,” he added.

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MDP proposes bill to reform judiciary, reappoint higher courts

The ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has proposed a bill to amend the Courts Act (22/2010) which would reduce the number of judges on both the benches of the Supreme Court and High Court if passed.

In a press released issued by the party’s parliamentary group, amendments have been proposed to article 5 and article 27 of the Courts Act which dictates the number of judges on the benches.

The first amendment proposes changing clause (a) of the article 5 of the Courts Act, reducing the Supreme Court bench to five judges inclusive of the chief justice. The amendment would also dissolve clause (a) of the article 16 in Judges Act (Act 13/2010).

The second amendment proposed reducing the High Court bench to seven judges, inclusive of a chief judge.

The current Supreme Court has a bench of seven judges, including the chief justice, while the High Court consists of nine judges including the chief judge of the High Court.

The bill also states that once it is passed and ratified, the judges for the Supreme Court and the High Court should be reappointed within 30 days.

MDP Spokesperson and MP Imthiyaz Fahmy stated that the bill was proposed because the ruling party believes that the Supreme Court and the High Court have been inefficient in finishing cases, and that it is not feasible to have a large bench of judges if the efficiency of the courts were below expected standards.

“Only 31 percent of the cases submitted to the Supreme Court in 2008 were actually finished while the remaining 69 percent remained pending. In other countries with similarly-sized benches the same number of judges finish more than 90 cases annually,” Fahmy said.

Fahmy also said that the MDP is not seeking to remove specific judges from the bench,and that instead the intention was purely to reform the judiciary and ensure the people had free and fair access to justice.

The MDP was confident that the bill would pass despite neither the opposition or the ruling party having an absolute majority, Fahmy said.

Prominent lawyer Ali Hussain raised doubts about the sincerity of the MDP parliamentary group’s decision considering the timing of the proposal. Hussain claimed the government had a majority in the JSC and the parliament for six months [referring to the 16th parliament which ended its term in February 2009 after the general elections] and had done nothing to reform the judiciary.

Independent MP for Kulhudhuhfushi, Mohamed Nasheed, was reported saying in the local media that the bill to amend the Act was an attempt by the government and the ruling MDP to intimidate the current sitting judges of courts of the Maldives. Fahmy denied the claims.

The MDP recently launched a campaign to reform the judiciary. The government subsequently took Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed into military custody maintaining that Judge Abdulla posed a threat to the wellbeing of the society.

Tempers have flared across the capital Male’ with an ongoing series of opposition-led protests calling for the government to uphold the constitution and release the chief judge.

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Salafists taking root in Maldives amid toxic politics: Reuters

Few of the million or so tourists who visit the Maldives each year would catch even a whiff of the troubled politics or growing militant threat roiling the islands of one of the world’s most renowned get-away-from-it-all destinations, writes Bryson Hull for Reuters.

“Taking a page from the book of Gayoom, Nasheed ordered [Chief Judge Abdulla] Mohamed’s arrest and defied a Supreme Court release order, sparking more than three weeks of sometimes-violent protests by opposition parties that scented a chance for their own Arab Spring in the Indian Ocean.

The reason, Nasheed says, is because the judge, like the other 200-odd criminal court judges, was illegally sworn in for a life term and has blocked every attempt to bring multi-million-dollar corruption, rights abuse and criminal cases against Gayoom’s allies and relatives.

“Gayoom is running the judiciary,” Nasheed said. “When he lost the presidency, he was clever enough to carve out a territory and hide there, or get protected there. And none of the cases are moving.”

So to make good on his electoral promise to enact a new constitution and establish an independent judiciary, Nasheed says he has acted outside of it.

“You have to push everyone to the brink and tell them ‘You do this or we all fall’,” Nasheed told Reuters in an interview at the presidential bungalow in Male, the capital island.

“I think it would be so wrong of me not to tackle this simply because I might fall or simply because people may raise eyebrows.”

And it has done just that, drawing private diplomatic rebukes from Western nations which backed his ascendancy to lead the archipelago of 1,200 islands out of 30 years of Gayoom’s rule, which was widely criticised as dictatorial.

“It’s just indefensible. It’s almost like Nelson Mandela coming out and locking up all the white people,” a businessman based in Male who works with a government-linked company told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

But while the political fray goes on with all eyes on the 2013 presidential election, Maldivian intelligence officers and Western officials say hardline Salafist and Wahabist groups are gaining political ground in the more distant atolls and making a beachhead in Male.

The capital island is home to almost 200,000 of the Maldives’ 330,000 people, all Sunni Muslims. It is also home to the majority of the estimated 30,000 people on the islands who are addicted to heroin, according to UN estimates.

“It’s potentially a tropical Afghanistan. The same forces that gave rise to the Taliban are there – the drugs, the corruption and the behavior of the political class,” a Colombo-based Western ambassador who is responsible for the Maldives told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

“The Salafists are taking over atoll after atoll. They work on the ground and it is insidious. Nero is definitely fiddling while Rome burns.”‘

Read full story

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Maldives facing serious constitutional crisis: Eurasia Review

There is no doubt that the judiciary in the Maldives is in a mess with many unqualified and incompetent people having made it into the judiciary in the void created during the transition period, writes Dr S. Chandrasekharan for the Eurasia Review.

“The ICJ report of July 2010 pointed out the legacy of an authoritarian past in which the President was the supreme judicial architect that has tested the transition.

“Another factor which inhibited proper selection was that the Judicial Service Commission failed to fulfill the constitutional mandate of properly vetting and reappointing the judges. Even the composition of the commission was questionable. Imagine Gasim Ibrahim being a member – he is a politician and leader of one of the active political parties. He has extensive business interests and there will be an unavoidable clash of interests.

“In the year 2005, the then Attorney General and now a leader of the DQP has himself reported against the judge and the allegations included misogyny, sexual deviance, throwing out an assault case despite the confession of the accused. The Judicial Commission took its own time to enquire into the allegations and meanwhile the judge approached the civil court and stopped the enquiry!

“The judge would have got away with all this but what triggered the anger of the government was that he issued orders for immediate release of two persons from custody – Dr Jameel, the Vice President of DQP and Sandhaanu Didi for asserting in a private broadcasting station that the government was working with the Jews and Christian priests and encouraging vice. Didi went further and made personal attacks against President saying that the President was a madman and a Christian!

“Confronted by the police, the two were not able to substantiate the allegations and were therefore taken into custody under 125 of penal code which said that a ‘person can be punished for making a fabricated statement or repeats a statement whose basis cannot be provided.’

“The Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed ordered the immediate release of the accused and the Police with the help of the MNDF in turn arrested the judge of the criminal court.
Police Sources say that the Judge was arrested for unethical conduct in obstructing the Police in exercising their responsibilities to preserve law and order in the society.

“The High Court ordered the release of the judge stating that the arrest was illegal. The Chief Justice Ahmad Faiz and the Prosecutor General also issued orders for the immediate release of the judge.

“The JSC (Judicial Service Commission) also issued a press note that it is not in the jurisdiction of the armed forces or the Police to take action against the judge.

“The Vice President has in his blog has said that the arrest is against article 319 of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Further it is against the international covenant of civil and political rights and international convention for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearance. He suggested that the judge should be released and then make the JSC fulfill its responsibilities.

“The Secretary General of SAARC and a former attorney General Fathimath Dhiyana Saeed, the youngest and the first female Secretary General, condemned the arrest in a television programme and said that it is a “violation of individual human rights, a violation of independence of the judiciary and a violation of the constitution.” She has put in her resignation papers after the broadcast.

“A team of lawyers filed a case against MNDF in the High Court over the illegal arrest of the judge. A case has also been filed in the International Court of Justice over the arrest.

“President Nasheed appears to be unrelenting and has justified the arrest. He has separately approached the UN for help in cleaning up the judiciary- immediate issues and the long term issues that includes the failure of the judicial accountability mechanism in the constitution.

“It looks that President Nasheed has over reached himself in firstly arresting and in refusing to release the judge when the overwhelming public opinion is against taking such a drastic action. He should have taken this strong stand last year during the transition when some of the judges appointed by the previous regime were found not having “high moral character, educational qualifications or competence.”
One of the charges against the judge now arrested was that in 2005 he was alleged to have requested the under age victim of molestation to re enact her abuse in court. The charge could not be enquired into by the judicial service commission as the judge got a stay order from the civil court.

“By this one act of arrest, President Nasheed is likely to antagonise all his admirers and sympathisers. Earlier it is undone, better it would be for all concerned.”

Full story

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Amana Takaful opens shares for trading Feb 8

Amana Takaful has announced that its initial public offering (IPO) of 800,000 shares will open for trading on the February, along with a further 11,441,187 bonus shares.

The Sri Lanka-based sharia-compliant insurance company had previously announced an IPO of 800,000 shares in September last year.

General Manager of Amana Takaful, Hareez Sulaiman, said in a statement that the total number of shares issued were 20,241,987.

“The Maldives economy, no doubt, has huge potential for growth, but needs foreign and local investments,” Sulaiman said.

“An active stock market is what will attract this investment. Therefore, we expect not only our valued shareholders but also other individuals and corporates to actively take part in the stock market.”

The company had previously shared its hopes of generating Rf16 million (US$1.4 million) in proceeds through the IPO, by selling shares at a low issue price of Rf20 (bundled in packages of 25).

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Media accuses MNDF of abandoning Supreme Court guard duty

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has not confirmed whether a decision was made last night to withdraw MNDF officers providing security to Supreme Court and High Courts, following allegations in the local media today.

MNDF Spokesperson Major Abdul Raheem told Minivan News that he had seen the media reports but was unable to confirm whether the claims were true.

‘’I have seen the media reports and tried to clarify the details of what happened,’’ Major Abdul Raheem said. ‘’But I have been unable to make sure it is true or incorrect.’’

State Defence Minister Muiz Adnan said he had no any information about the matter.

Judicial Services Commission (JSC) Chair and Supreme Court Judge Adam Mohamed refused to comment on the issue.

Local media reported that at 7:00pm last night MNDF officers watching over the outside gates of the Supreme Court left with the key to the gate.

Newspaper Haveeru reported that the keys were handed back to the Supreme Court last night and informed that they were taken by mistake.

This afternoon, the paper quoted an official of the JSC saying that MNDF officers had been watching the Supreme Court today.

“Around 10 people gathered outside the court and started shaking the east side gate. They left when the lock was broken,” the official told Haveeru.

Five hours after the MNDF officers left the court a group gathered outside the court and broke the lock of the court’s east gate, the paper reported.

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Parliament security committee meeting to resolve political instability breaks down as MPs argue

Opposition protests continued on the streets of Male’ on Saturday night, while parliament’s National Security Committee (NSC) meeting to resolve the political instability was dismissed abruptly after heated arguments broke out between opposition and ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) parliamentarians.

Opposition protests have continued every night since January 16, after the Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed was arrested by military forces and detained at a training facility in Kaafu Atoll Girifushi – an unprecedented move that has led to a judicial impasse, intensified by political polarisation.

Home Minister Hassan Afeef and Defence Minister Tholhath Ibrahim Kaleyfaanu were summoned to the first session of the meeting and questioned by the opposition MP’s about the arrest of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed on January by military forces, which has subsequently led to consecutive opposition protests calling for his immediate release.

In response, the Defence Minister interjected that the judge is not under arrest, and that he is being “supervised to ensure national security”.

He avoided MP’s repeated requests to explain the reasons for the judge’s arrest, claiming that reasons have been explained in a previous public statement which was aired on state TV channel three days after the arrest. Afeef at the time had accused the judge of “taking the entire criminal justice system in his fist”, stating that the executive had been compelled to act to protect the constitution. The judicial watchdog – the body mandated to investigate and act on such allegations – had complied with a civil court injunction filed by the judge against his own investigation.

Several opposition MPs walked out of the meeting, complaining that the ministers did not answer their questions.

In his statement the Defence Minister revealed that police sent a letter to the armed forces on January 16 “requesting assistance to carry out its legal duty under article 71 of the Police Act, stating that the Criminal Court was not cooperating with police and that as a consequence of Judge Mohamed’s obstructing police work, the country’s internal security was threatened and police were unable to maintain public order and safety.”

Therefore, Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) exercised authority under chapter nine of the constitution and the Armed Forces Act of 2008 to take the judge into custody, he said, disputing that the judge’s detention was unconstitutional.

Tholhath added that MNDF would provide assistance to ensure public safety, and that the consecutive protests and unrest had jeopardised it.

Meanwhile, Afeef observed that those accused of causing the current unrest and destroying public property were swiftly being released by the judges, thus encouraging more unrest.

“Public safety is being lost because of judges’ actions,” Afeef concluded.

However, speaking at the NSC meeting’s second session, Judicial Service Commission (JSC) President and Supreme Court judge Adam Mohamed insisted that the current crisis had not been caused by the incompetence of the commission.

He claimed that the commission was executing its duties duly. The “earlier environment did not allow the commission to work,” Mohamed claimed – a comment directed at the former President’s member of the JSC, Aishath Velezinee, who had openly protesting against the unconstitutional appointment of unqualified judges, delays in investigating allegations against judges – including the chief judge – and politically biased decisions of the JSC. She was dismissed from the position in May 2011.

Velezinee  attended the committee meeting with a box full of papers on the judiciary, and maintained her stance that public has “lost confidence in the courts due to the JSC’s failure to take action against the chief judge”, and due to the reappointment of judges with life time tenure in violation of the constitution.

Velezinee has previously alleged that Abdulla Mohamed was at the heart of a “silent coup to hijack the judiciary”, with the complicity of opposition MPs seeking to prevent cases against them moving through court.

The NSC meeting heated up, after opposition MP Abdu Raheem objected to the summoning of JSC members to the national security committee.

Raheem claimed that the JSC must be summoned to parliament’s independent commissions committee, and the NSC’s meeting should be continued under the advice of Consul General.

Committee chair MDP MP Ali Waheed interjected that anyone can be summoned to the committee for questioning and adjourned the meeting after repeated attempts to maintain order failed as MPs continued arguing.

Meanwhile, out on the streets, the opposition continued to call for the release of Judge Mohamed and the resignation of President Mohamed Nasheed. The protests began near the Progressive Part of Maldives (PPM) camp, as pockets of MDP activists obstructed the rally, leading to mild confrontations which were controlled by the police.

The police comfirmed 16 were arrested last night.

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INIA remains cheapest airport in region “by half”: Transport Minister

GMR will lower fuel charges by US$0.05 a litre on all domestic flights and raise it the same amount for international flights at Male’s Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).

Several airlines, including Qatar Airways and Sri Lankan Airlines, have meanwhile voiced concerns over the recent hike in set airport fees including landing and ground handling charges.

In response, the Transport Ministry has said that even with price changes INIA remains the cheapest airport in the region “by 60 to 80 percent” – and claims that some airlines have not been paying their dues.

“Doha, Dubai, Tivandrum – while they all charge US$3,000 turn-around fees, Maldives’ INIA was only charging US$1,080,” Transport Minister Adhil Saleem told Minivan News. “Even with a fifty percent increase in fees the total charge of US$1,500 is still half of what is being charged everywhere else in the region.”

Saleem noted that INIA’s rates had not changed since 1994, however in that time salaries had increased four times and development projects had been contracted. He added that the price changes – initiated by Maldives Airlines Companies Limited (MACL) and not GMR – should not have come as a surprise.

“In February 2011 MACL informed all airlines that the rates would increase in November, effectively giving them nine months’ notice. There has been no price change by GMR,” he said.

Yet several carriers including Qatar Airways and Sri Lankan Airlines have expressed concerns over the price changes and suggested they would make changes to their routes, reducing services to the Maldives.

Qatar CEO Akbar Al Bakr last week told Reuters News Agency that the airline was “dismayed” over what it understood to be GMR’s plan to increase the handling fee by 51 percent at some future date, and suggested such a move would “threaten Qatar Airways’ continued presence in the Maldives.”

GMR officials are reportedly meeting with CEOs of airlines serving the Maldives. Two airlines contacted by Minivan News did not wish to comment, including Qatar.

“The issue,” Saleem told Minivan News, “is that some airlines have not paid their dues to GMR in nine months. No airport can go on without payment.”

INIA CEO Andrew Harrison later clarified through GMR’s spokesperson that Qatar has an outstanding debt due to its refusal to pay the higher rates. Minivan News understands that GMR has requested Qatar pay cash for today’s flights, while other airlines are in the process of settling their payments with the airport.

Some have suggested that concerns raised by groups such as Qatar also stem from a drop in demand as the low season approaches. Saleem said that Sri Lankan’s strategy had always been to boost tourism numbers in its own turf.

“We believe the London flights were operated for Sri Lanka to achieve its tourism target. They’ve changed their summer schedule to this effect,” he said, explaining that the airline may cut down on direct flights to Maldives as a result, but that this was rather a matter of scheduling.

Responding to  concern that reductions in carrier services would damage the tourism industry, Saleem pointed out that airline changes are a reflection of the already-changing tourism demographic.

Last year Chinese arrivals trumped all other tourist groups to the Maldives, while the Maldives’ traditional European market continued to slump under the West’s ongoing economic pressures.

“It’s a changing world,” Saleem said, noting that local airline Mega Maldives has expressed interest in expanding east to Japan. “The numbers from the East are rising, so it’s possible that the major Western carriers don’t have the demand to continue the same flight frequency that they did before. Singapore will be doubling its flights by 50 percent to 14 flights a week in March,” he said.

GMR spokesman Amir Ali reinforced that concerns over the price hike are misinformed. “There are concerns, but some people are using it in a political game,” he said.

Late in 2011 GMR’s intention to implement a US$25 (Rf385.5) Airport Development Charge (ADC) was blocked by the Civil Court, while minority opposition Dhivehi Quamee Party (DQP) campaigned against the industrial giant with a booklet titled “Handing the Airport to GMR: The Beginning of Slavery.” The government has since appealed the court’s decision, stating that it is obliged to honor its contractual relationship with GMR.

Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) Secretary General ‘Sim’ Mohamed Ibrahim agrees that INIA’s rates have been remarkably cheap for the region, but believes that the price hike – and ensuing negotiations with airlines – are a delicate business.

Although GMR “inherited” the current change in prices from MACL, “GMR’s strategy is to make as much money as possible any way they can – that’s business. But if it’s not done right then it’s not going to work. This has been too much, too fast,” Sim claimed.

According to Sim, the two overarching issues are the pace and method of the price hike. Rather than raising set fees dramatically during the high season, Sim suggests introducing the change in phases. He also recommends requesting payment post-service.

“In Singapore people are charged after they’ve seen the development and its benefits. People want to see what they are paying for, and it seems to be working alright,” he observed.

Pointing to the Maldives’ limited economy, Sim said airport development and fees “have to be weighed with the reality that the Maldives is totally dependent on tourism.”

Minister Saleem offered assurances that the Maldives’ appeal would continue to draw customers. “I’m sure there will be other airlines wanting to come in, especially as the demographic shifts,” he said.

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Britain begged India to accept aid money: Telegraph

Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee last year asked the UK to cease giving aid to the country’s booming economy, but relented after being begged to take the money for fear of “grave political embarrassment”, reports the UK’s Telegraph newspaper.

“We do not require the aid. It is a peanut in our total development exercises [expenditure],” Mukherjee told the upper house of Indian parliament, during question time, adding that the government wanted to give it up.

India is the top recipient of UK foreign aid, according to the Telegraph expose. The UK has given £1 billion in aid to India in the last five years and has earmarked a further £600 million in aid by 2015.

Projects from Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) are mired in controversy, reports the Telegraph. They include a £118,000 program to install satellite tracking on municipal buses in Bhopal – years before the technology was used in the UK – and program to deliver 7000 televisions to schools despite the lack of electricity.

Amid a surging anti-corruption movement in India, the Telegraph alleges that £70 million disappeared from one DFID-funded project along, and that £44,000 of British aid was “allegedly siphoned off by one project official to finance a movie directed by her son.”

Junior Development Minister Alan Duncan claimed that cutting off British aid to India “would mean that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people, will die who otherwise could live,” according to the Telegraph.

The admission by India is significant, implying India’s ascension as an aid donor in the region rather than a recipient, despite its own extremes of poverty and wealth. India now donates almost as much in bilateral development as it receives, according to the Telegraph’s report, of which the Maldives is a key beneficiary.

Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) was donated to the Maldives by India, along with military helicopter, scholarships and copious financial assistance, among other interests. An Indian company, GMR, has the country’s single largest foreign investment in the US$400 million renovation and upgrade of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA), while the growing mid-market tourism industry is looking towards the huge Indian middle class as a wealthy market for the Maldives tourism product on the country’s doorstep.

“The Maldives is perhaps one of India’s closest partners,” observed The Indian High Commissioner Dynaneshwar Mulay during India’s recent Republic Day celebrations.

Cooperation also extends to the military, with the installation of a coastal radar array plugged directly into the Indian defence network.

More recently, Indian interest in the Maldives has been challenged by rival China, which conspicuously opened its embassy in Male’ last year during the SAARC Summit.

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