Day: March 14, 2012

“No progress” in “disappointing” meeting with President Waheed, says MDP

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan this morning met with Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Parliamentary Group leader Ibrahim Mohamed ‘Ibu’ Solih, who has been representing the party at the India-sponsored all-party roadmap talks.

While a seven-point agenda – including the subject of early elections – was established during the roadmap talks, the order of preference was not, and the talks subsequently stalled with the withdrawal of the Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP), Jumhoree Party (JP), Adhaalath Party (AP), and the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) following MDP’s disruption of Dr Waheed’s address to parliament.

The MDP has also been holding separate, closed-door talks with the DRP, after previously challenging the involvement of parties such as the PPM and AP, which it argued had no electoral mandate. Together the DRP and MDP control a two-thirds majority of parliament, capable of forcing through legislation, constitutional amendments and even impeachments.

In a statement to the media on Wednesday following his meeting with Dr Waheed, Solih said “I don’t believe the former Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed is willing to seek an agreement, that both parties can agree to through peaceful dialogue.”

Solih said the MDP was “concerned” about the current state of political affairs in the Maldives, and contended that despite criticism to the contary, had attended all meetings requested by the current administration “and worked hard to find a peaceful solution [to the current political crisis].”

“No progress” was made in the meeting with Waheed, the party stated.

“It is disappointing that former Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik does not seem prepared to find a peaceful means to achieve a solution that is acceptable to all,” said Solih.

Dr Waheed’s Press Secretary Masood Imad referred Minivan News to Dr Waheed’s spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza, who was not responding at time of press.

Speaker of the Majlis Abdulla Shahid meanwhile declared that parliament would reconvene on Monday March 19, despite the failure to reach an agreement with the MDP. The party’s MPs barricaded themselves inside the chamber on March 1, preventing Shahid from entering and Dr Waheed from giving the presidential address.

That evening, Shahid held a press conference and announced he had cancelled the session because he was unable enter the chamber despite several attempts, and on one occasion had fallen and injured himself. Given the current political tensions, Shahid said he was unable to guarantee the safety of members and had decided to proceed through negotiation, rather than force.

MDP has not made any official announcements on what it plans to do, however one grassroots MDP supporter said following the failure of negotiations, the party would continue to block “the coup leader” from addressing parliament.

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Male’ City Council gives tsunami monument area to MDP until end of June

Male’ City Council has extended the duration given to Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to continue its protest at the tsunami monument area, reports online newspaper ‘Sun’.

Sun reported that the Council today decided to give the area to the MDP until the end of June this year.

The council first gave the area to MDP until the end of March.

The MDP is protesting the ousting of former President Mohamed Nasheed in what the party says was a military and police-led coup, funded by several opposition politicians and resort owners.

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Tourism Minister holds London press conference to reassure travellers

While the Maldives Tourism Minister hosted a press conference in London to soothe the fears of the tourism industry over the ongoing political instability in the Maldives, opposition activists distributed leaflets outside.

Former Maldives High Commissioner to the UK Dr Farahanaz Faisal distributed leaflets highlighting police brutality in the crackdown on demonstrators on February 8, while the Friends of Maldives NGO distributed its travel advisory highlighting the involvement of several politicians and resort owners in the change of government on February 7.

Monday’s professionally managed event was attended by 25 journalists from a host of prominent UK travel publications.

The Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) recently appointed Rooster Creative Public Relations Ltd as its official PR agent in the UK. MMPRC Acting Managing Director Mohamed Adam explained this decision.

“The purpose of having a full time PR and Marketing agency is to overcome the image that is continuously spoiling in the UK market due to the current political turbulence,” Adam said.

Adam’s aims were stymied somewhat by the presence of former Maldives High Commissioner to the UK Dr Farahanaz Faisal and the former Deputy High Commissioner, and brother of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan, Naushad Waheed.

MDP supporters Farahanaz and Naushad took the opportunity to distribute leaflets focussing on police brutality in the Maldives. The leaflet described the Maldives as undergoing “one of the most painful and brutal periods of its history”.

Business as usual?

Despite the demonstrations outside, Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Gafoor remained upbeat about the prospects of the Maldives tourism industry. The minister told Travel Weekly that he was expecting one million tourists to visit the country in 2012, breaking previous records.

He spoke of having visited tour operators during his trip who are eager to launch charter flights to the Maldives and begin new projects.

Referring to the demonstrations, he said, “The press conference was not affected by that. The journalists did not seem bothered. The press conference was a success.”

Former Tourism MinisterDr Mariyam Zulfa has expressed confidence in the sector’s durability, saying, “I don’t think that the political situation is actually affecting the tourism industry as such because Maldives is a well-established destination.”

This current government’s veneer of confidence, however, is belied by the hiring of the professional PR group to protect its image and by reports that bookings were down six percent  in February, according to Travel Weekly.

Speaking with Minivan this week, Dr Zulfa made clear the importance the MDP attributes to protecting the tourism industry.

“It has never been the MDPs intention and it will never be the MDPs intention to obstruct the progress that we have made in the tourism industry,” said Zulfa. “It’s not in our agenda to affect the traveller’s decision to choose Maldives as a destination at all.”

“But I think the tourist industry has a responsibility to provide correct information about Maldivian life in general.”

The awareness-raising efforts of the government’s opponents, indeed, do not appear to be registering with those travelling to the Maldives at present, supporting the views of Tourism Ministers past and present.

Asking the opinions of tourists at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport yesterday, the most common response was a vague notion that the Maldives had been in the news recently, without any specific details being recalled.

This was perhaps typified by the response of a couple from the UK who were asked how they felt about what was happening in the Maldives at the moment: “What is happening?” came the response.

Travel advisory

Also outside the press conference was David Hardingham, founder of Friends of Maldives (FOM), who distributed a second set of leaflets publicising his group’s travel advisory.

FOM is a UK based NGO focusing on the protection of human rights, the promotion of social justice and democracy in the Maldives.

The content of the FOM leaflet was interpreted by the Maldivian media outlet Sun Online as claiming that the Maldives was an unsafe travel destination. Newspaper Haveeru also reported that the NGO was advocating a “tourism boycott”.

Referring to Sun’s article Hardingham said, “Responsible journalism involves getting both sides of the story – so we were disappointed not to be asked by Sun for our views as their article is one sided, has factual errors and is somewhat misleading – however it’s not entirely surprising as its owners are known to be supportive of the recent coup.”

Hardingham forwarded the leaflet distributed by the NGO (page one, two), which lists resorts and businesses owned by Jumhoree Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim’s Villa Group, and Bandos Island Resort and Spa owned by Vice-President designate Waheed Deen, and urges “responsible” travellers to avoid these resorts specifically.

“The current political turmoil in the Maldives has deterred people from visiting the islands. Friends of Maldives urges tourists to continue to visit Maldives, as tourism is the mainstay of the economy. We feel the situation is not so bad, as the airport and resort islands are not linked to any population centres,” the leaflet notes.

The leaflet goes on to recommend the travel advice of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), which currently has no restrictions in its Maldives travel notice.

The FOM leaflet continues to briefly outline recent events in the Maldives before asking that potential tourists “consider the idea of being a responsible traveller” by avoiding resorts that are allegedly involved in “the subversion of democracy, and human rights abuses in the Maldives”.

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HRCM to conclude investigation into the arrest of Judge Abdulla Mohamed before April

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has said the commission will conclude its investigation into the arrest of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed before the end of the month, and forward the findings to the Prosecutor General.

HRCM Member Ahmed Abdul Kareem told the press that the case took so long because some of the people involved “did not cooperate with the commission.”

Kareem told the press that all the statements would be finished by the end of next week, and that before the end of this month the case will be sent to the Prosecutor General (PG).

President of HRCM, Mariyam Azra, today told Minivan News that the commission was hoping to conclude the investigation before next month.

She said she could not confirm whether all the persons involved in the case were cooperating or not.

”Its a different team investigating the case and Ahmed Abdul Kareem is the only commission member in the investigating team,” she added.

Meanwhile, Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News that police investigation in to the case was ongoing as well.

‘’We are still investigating the case and will send the case as soon as the investigation is concluded,’’ Shiyam said.

He also said former President Mohamed Nasheed “has not cooperated with the police.”

Local media Sun Online reported that police have decided to close the case and send the case to the Prosecutor General without including any statement from Nasheed because he had not cooperated with police.

Nasheed had been given the opportunity to give a statement to police at any time he wished, but he had not used the opportunity, Sun reported.

Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed was arrested by the MNDF on the evening of Monday, January 16, in compliance with a police request.

The judge’s whereabouts were not revealed until January 18, and the MNDF has acknowledged receipt but not replied to Supreme Court orders to release the judge.

Prosecutor General (PG) Ahmed Muizz joined the High and Supreme Courts in condemning MNDF’s role in the arrest as unlawful, and requesting that the judge be released.

PG Muizz ordered an investigation by HRCM, and said it would evaluate the situation following the commission’s findings.

The first complaints filed against Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed in July 2005 included allegations of misogyny, sexual deviancy, and throwing out an assault case despite the confession of the accused. The complaints were first made by then Attorney General, Dr Hassan Saeed, now President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s political advisor.

Six years of similar complaints later, the judicial crisis leading to President Nasheed’s downfall was triggered after Abdulla Mohamed filed a case in the Civil Court granting him an injunction halting his further investigation by the Judicial Services Commission.

This was following by a High Court ruling against his police summons on January 16, prompting police to request the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) take the judge into custody.

Then Home Minister Hassan Afeef subsequently accused the judge of “taking the entire criminal justice system in his fist”, listing 14 cases of obstruction of police duty including withholding warrants for up to four days, ordering police to conduct unlawful investigations and disregarding decisions by higher courts.

Afeef accused the judge of “deliberately” holding up cases involving opposition figures, barring media from corruption trials, ordering the release of suspects detained for serious crimes “without a single hearing”, and maintaining “suspicious ties” with family members of convicts sentenced for dangerous crimes.

The judge also released a murder suspect “in the name of holding ministers accountable”, who went on to kill another victim.

At the time Vice President of the Maldives, Dr Waheed  opposed the judge’s detention, stating on his blog that “I am ashamed and totally devastated by the fact that this is happening in a government in which I am the elected Vice President.”

Nasheed’s government then requested assistance from the international community to reform the judiciary. Observing that judicial reform “really should come from the Judicial Services Commission (JSC)”, Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem said at the time that the JSC’s shortcoming are “now an issue of national security.”

“We have been working to improve the judiciary since we came to power, but we have not succeeded,” said Naseem. “We have asked the international community to assist us in this effort several times, and we find that they are willing to help at this point,” he explained.

On February 7 Nasheed resigned “under duress”, after police joined opposition protesters in assaulting the main military base in Republic Square, vandalising the MDP headquarters, and taking over the state broadcaster.

A subsequent police crackdown on protesters on February 8, including women and the elderly, hospitalised many and triggered a surge of public and MDP-led animosity against the police and the new government.

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RF46 million needed to cover damage to court buildings: DJA

A total of Rf46 million (US$3 million) will be needed to repair the damages caused to seven courts in different islands of the the southern most three atolls during the political unrest on February 8, the Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) has revealed.

During intense political tensions which erupted across Maldives on February 8  after the security forces brutally cracked down on a peaceful march of the former ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), police buildings and courts were torched and vandalised by protestors on several islands.

In a statement released on Tuesday the DJA said that four courts in Seenu atoll were damaged, including magistrate courts on Hithadhoo, Maradhoo, Feydhoo and Hulhudhoo-Meedhoo.

The magistrate court in Fuvahmulah and two courts on islands Rathafandhoo and Thinadhoo of Gaaf Dhaalu atoll were also damaged extensively in the attacks which has been blamed by the government on MDP supporters.

A total of Rf46 million is needed to replace furniture and machinery out of which repair costs account to almost Rf485,00, Rf1.8 million on furniture and the remaining Rf5.4 million will cover the cost for new equipment, according to the statement.

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STELCO explains power cuts

Maldives’ State Electricity Company (STELCO) yesterday explained that intermittent losses of power in the capital Male’ are a result of vital upgrade work.

The company said that more losses of power should be expected as new generators were being installed.

Yesterday’s power failure was caused by the technical failure of three main generators.

STELCO explained that demand for power is rising every year and that the company plans to add two generators of 8000kW to its current capacity of 38.8MW.

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Jabir resigns from post as Special Trade Representative

Recently appointed Special Trade Representative to President Waheed, Abdulla Jabir, has resigned from the post three weeks after accepting it.

According to the President’s Office, Jabir’s resignation followed his decision to contest the Kaashidhoo by-election, after the Supreme Court upheld charges against sitting MDP MP Mohamed Mustafa and stripped him of the seat.

Jabir, now the deputy leader of fellow businessman Gasim Ibrahim’s Jumhoree Party (JP), has also been a member of both the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP).

Jabir’s wife, Dhiyana Saeed, was the former Secretary General of SAARC prior to her resignation in protest over the detention of Chief Judge of the Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed.

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Police raid ‘Natural Beauty Care’, arrest 10 expat women and three Maldivian men on prostitution charges

Police raided the ‘Natural Beauty Care’ salon on Monday night and arrested 10 expatriate women, three Maldivian men and an Indian national while they were allegedly involved in sexual activities.

In a statement, police said that officers entered salon, located in Sherin in the Maafannu district of Male’, after receiving reports that prostitution was conducted widely on the premises.

According to police, the women arrested included four Thai nationals, three Sri Lankans, one Chinese and one Nepalese national.

Local media reported that those arrested were summoned to the Criminal Court, where their detention was extended for a period of five days.

Police said they were investigating the case and that more information would be provided to the media later.

Monday’s raid is the second this week targeting Male’s brothels. On Sunday police arrested five Thai nationals and three male Maldivians inside ‘Herbal Beauty Salon’, located in the second floor of Maafannu Sherrif.

Police said the eight individuals were arrested after the police received information that prostitution was conducted at the location.

According to police the first group of arrestees were also involved in sexual activities when the police raided the beauty salon.

Shutting down alternative medical centres that conducted sexual activities was one of the five demands made by the then-opposition coalition while Mohamed Nasheed was in power.

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