Day: June 5, 2012

High Court ruling on Usfasgandu ruling not “setback” for government: Home Minister

Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed has said that a High Court ruling to uphold a Civil Court order preventing the dismantling of a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) protest camp at Male’s Usfasgandu area is not a “setback” to efforts to reclaim the land.

The camp was raided last Tuesday (May 29) by police after they obtained a Criminal Court search warrant to search the area under suspicion that criminal practices were performed on the site, including the practice of “black magic”. Under evidence, the warrant alleged that people in the Usfasgandu area had on May 25 thrown a “cursed rooster” at MNDF officers.

Shortly after the raid, the Civil Court ordered a halt to the ongoing removal of the camp with a temporary court injunction, after the MDP challenged the legality of the operation.  The Civil Court decision was later appealed by the state.

The temporary injunction was upheld today though by the High Court, which said there had been no grounds to amend the Civil Court’s order, according to local media.

However, Dr Jameel maintained that the Usfasgandu site, which was leased to the MDP by Male’ City Council (MCC), was in fact the property of the government, a position he claimed would ultimately be supported by the law.

“I am confident that a claim to [Usfasgandu’s] vacant possession will be granted by the courts as it has a clear position in law,” he told Minivan News.

Jameel added that it would not be his responsibility or decision to appeal against the High Court verdict.

“The decision to appeal is a matter for the attorney general to make,” he added.

Black magic

During the police raid of Usfasgandu last week, police collected evidence reported to include pieces of paper with Arabic inscriptions,  incense, a box of unused condoms, a discarded ‘Tiger’ beer can, and a laminated sheet containing photos of police officers marked with ‘ticks’ and ‘crosses’.

Questioned on whether the evidence gathered by police from Usfasgandu – including the alleged black magic paraphernalia – was sufficient to support the legal case to ultimately dismantle the camp in its entirety, Dr Jameel said it was a matter for the police to decide.

“We will have to wait and see for their conclusion on the matter,” he said, also addressing the concern of authorities about black magic being practiced by anti-government protesters: “I do not know whether anybody is more concerned about black magic than those who indulge in such outdated activities.”

MDP spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor and MP Imthiyaz Fahmy were not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.

Stalemate

The fate of Usfasgandu represents an ongoing stalemate between the Home Ministry and Male’ City Council.

The Housing Ministry initially sought to repossess the area from the Council, which refused to cooperate. The Home Ministry then instructed police to retake the area, who approached the Criminal Court for a warrant. The court initially denied this warrant, stating that the repossession was a civil matter and not within its jurisdiction.

The Home Ministry has argued that leasing the area to a group for political purposes contravenes the deregulation act under which the land was granted to the MCC.

In a precursor to this issue, the previous area at Lonuziyaaraiy Kolhu used for the staging of the MDP’s operations, dubbed ‘Justice Square’, was dismantled by police and the MNDF on March 19. The subsequent court case was dismissed on a technicality and, after being re-submitted, has recently been delayed once again following for a similar reason.

The MCC has remained defiant, last month writing to the Police, the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) and the Housing Ministry, arguing that the area was fulfilling a pressing need for large numbers of people to conduct political activities without inconveniencing residents of Male’ City. It also dismissed the legal right of the government to claim the area.

The Housing Ministry has recently removed Sultan Park and the artificial beach area from the municipal council’s jurisdiction.

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CNI nominee agreement “important step forward for the Maldives”: Commonwealth Secretary General

The Commonwealth Secretariat has confirmed that an agreement between the government and former President Mohamed Nasheed has been reached concerning the appointment of a Nasheed nominee to the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI).

The government this week confirmed its acceptance of Ahmed ‘Gahaa’ Saeed, who was formerly both Principal of ‘Ahmadiyya School’ and Deputy Principal of the British College of Sri Lanka.

The CNI was established by President Mohamed Waheed Hassan to investigate the controversial transfer of power that took place on February 7, after Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) claimed the former president was forced out of office in a “coup d’etat“.

The MDP – and subsequently the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) – challenged the credibility of the three member panel appointed by Dr Waheed, and pressured the government into accepting a nominee from Nasheed and a retired foreign judge to serve as co-chair.

The government agreed, but imposed a set of restrictions on Nasheed’s nominee that saw the first 11 candidates rejected.

“I am happy that we finally have a resolution on the issue of Mr Nasheed’s nominee, and I commend both sides for their patience and perseverance in this regard,” said Commonwealth Special Envoy to Maldives, Sir Donald McKinnon, in a statement.

“Now that we have agreement on the reconstituted Commission, I look forward to it starting its work and carrying out its important mandate. I hope also that with its enhanced terms of reference and revised composition, the Commission will be a more broadly acceptable mechanism and will allow the country to move forward,” Sir Donald added.

The Commonwealth noted that in keeping with the commitment signed by the Maldives Government on 15 May 2012, the Commission will be co-chaired by a Commonwealth-funded senior retired judge from Singapore, “and the Commonwealth and the United Nations will each provide an expert adviser for support.”

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma also welcomed the agreement, which he said represented “an important step forward for the Maldives”, and expressed hope that the CNI would be able to conduct an impartial and credible investigation.

Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also commend the agreement between President Waheed and former President Nasheed “to make the national inquiry body more independent and credible and to find a resolution to the current political crisis.”

In a statement, Ki-moon urged all political parties “to resume immediately their political dialogue, both within and outside of Parliament, in order to find a mutually agreeable way forward on the basis of the Constitution and without jeopardising the democratic gains achieved thus far in the Maldives.”

The last round of All-Party Talks, held at Vice President Waheed Deen’s Bandos Island Resort and Spa last weekend and monitored by UN mediator Pierre Yves Monett, collapsed after parties in the ruling coalition presented the MDP with a list of 30 demands that included “stop practicing black magic and sorcery”, “stop the use of sexual and erotic tools”, and “not walk in groups of more than 10”.

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Speaker of parliament survives MDP-initiated no-confidence motion 45:25

Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid has survived the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) initiated no-confidence motion.

In the vote taken on Tuesday, 45 out of the 74 parliament members present in the sitting voted in favour of Speaker Shahid and 25 voted against him. Two members abstained.

Surprisingly, government-aligned Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) MP Riyaz Rasheed voted in favour of removing Shahid despite speaking against the motion, while MDP MPs Hassan Adil and Ahmed Rasheed voted against their party line. MDP MPs Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed and MP Ali Riza abstained. A fifth MDP MP, Zahir Adam, was absent.

During the debate over the motion, MPs from the coalition of parties supporting the government of President Mohamed Waheed Hassan spoke in favour of Shahid, with a number of MPs describing the speaker as the “most able and competent” MP to be in the role.

Speaking during the debate, leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali stated that the motion had been forwarded amid baseless accusations and defended his fellow party member, saying that he had been executing the responsibilities of the speaker in accordance with the parliament rules and procedures.

Thasmeen further claimed that the motion was an attempt by MDP to “break” the coalition after the party leadership’s recent “political failures.”

“Such a motion will not impact the ‘unity’ between the parties in the coalition supporting the government of President Waheed. So therefore I must say, yet again this is another wrong step taken by the MDP leadership,” Thasmeen added.

Former president Gayoom’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) spokesperson MP Ahmed Mahloof stated that despite his being an outspoken critic of Shahid who made several statements in the media and the parliament floor, he would stand by Shahid’s side today.

“Yesterday, the PPM Parliamentary Group (PG) came to a conclusion that this motion is a ‘trap’ set up by the MDP to ‘finish off’ the people and the ruling coalition,” he said.

“Today at a time where Abdulha Shahid is facing a grave matter at hand, I will stand by him. Abdulla Shahid will get all the votes from PPM. What we ask is that he act justly and equally,” he added.

MDP MP Ali Waheed during the debate alleged that the motion would reveal those MPs who spoke “in two mouths”, referring to the PPM MPs allegations of that Shahid and Thasmeen had cut deals with GMR and the government of former President Mohamed Nasheed to support the privatisation of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).

“Today is not a day  the Speaker should be upset about. Today is a day the Speaker will be victorious. [Because] the people will hear those who ‘smashed’ the DRP speak today,” he said.

“I am happy because today those who accused the Speaker of taking bribes, selling off the airport to GMR and travelling abroad at GMR’s expense, will applaud him [for his integrity],” added Waheed.

Waheed also alleged that the MDP had been “held hostage” while Shahid proceeded with the oath taking ceremony of President Waheed on February 7.

“He let just two or three MPs into the parliament chamber and forgot about the rest of the MPs,” Waheed claimed.

MP Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed during the debate stated that every time there was a conflict of opinion, it should not be taken as far as a no confidence motion.

“Shahid is not someone who had my support to become the speaker. [But] up until today during our journey with the constitution, he has contributed to a lot of things that we achieved. We don’t need to go to a confidence assessment of the speaker who focused on what we had to do up until today,” he said.

Speaking in his concluding statement at the end of the debate, Shahid stated that even if the position of the parliament speaker is seen as a ‘big seat’ and a great privilege, he had faced a very difficult environment in the last three years during his time as the speaker.

“At times I felt very comforted and proud to see the results [produced] by the parliament members. I never responded to the allegations and claims made against me in parliament. I even did not respond to such allegations and claims even outside the parliament, because I wanted to be sure I was doing my job,” he said.

He claimed that due such the allegations he had to work under circumstances that caused hurt to himself, his family and the party which he belonged to.

“But one person is elected out of 77 members to make some sacrifices. I made those sacrifices during the last three years. I have learned that as someone who makes vital decisions, I can’t please everyone,” he said.

He further stated that there were a lot of members who had opposing views to him, and that there were also members who later came to him and admitted that what they had previously believed was not right as well.

He said that the decision that the members were to make today was a historic one and that it was the first occasion in the parliamentary history of the country where the parliament was to take a no- confidence motion against a speaker.

He advised the members to not to make the issue a political one but rather a decision that they would make for the sake of the best interest of the people. He asked the MPs to think about the people who elected the members before pressing the voting button.

“Whatever way the decision [of the vote] goes, I wish all you members well. Whatever way the decision comes out, I will continue repaying the debt I owe to the constituents of Keyodhoo Constituency who elected me,” he said.

Shahid concluded his speech stating that he did not hold any hard feelings towards any member, and thanked the members who had said “beautiful things” about him.

Many MPs cheered as the Deputy Speaker announced that the motion had failed to get the required number of votes to oust Shahid.

MDP Response

Speaking to Minivan News after the vote, MDP Spokesperson MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said the MDP  parliamentary group had made a decision to take the no confidence motion against the speaker even before the transfer of power on February 7, but had waited for the right moment.

Ghafoor said that one reason for the motion was to assess the current political situation following the emergence of the PPM.

“Our argument is that a political party by the name of PPM has been formed. We wanted to assess the strength of the opposition coalition,” he said.

Ghafoor admitted that for the time being, the coalition of the political parties supporting the government seemed to be united as was seen from the vote, but questioned how long  they would work together.

He said it is inevitable that the coalition would break apart in the near future because of leadership tensions, raising doubts as to whether political figures within the coalition could work together for a longer period.

Asked whether the fact that MDP got 25 votes when the party had 30 MPs meant that there were internal conflicts within the party, Ghafoor said that it did not represent an internal conflict but just “a difference of opinion”.

“Our experience is that we lost four votes today. Two of our MPs abstained from the vote while MP Ahmed Rasheed and MP Hassan Adil voted with the opposition. MP Zahir Adam was absent today,” he said.

Ghafoor further stated that the parliament was a place of discussion and votes but on February 7, the transfer of power did not take place like that. He also said that the vote reflected that the majority of the parliament did not object to the coup.

“While the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) has raised doubts over the transfer of power on February 7, today we saw  that despite those doubts, the majority of the parliament voted in favour of a coup,” he said.

Ghafoor said that despite the no-confidence vote not succeeding, the MDP did not view it as a defeat but rather an indication of how the political culture in the country had progressed.

After deciding in April to forward the no-confidence motion, the MDP stated that motion against Shahid concerned allegations that he had been making decisions relating to significant parliamentary issues without discussing them with various political parties.

The party claimed that Shahid had been acting outside of his mandate by deciding to suspend certain parliament regulations, whilst opting to follow others that were to his personal benefit.

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Inter-atoll Athletics meet kicks off in Addu: “Important step to rehabilitate Addu city’s image”

The athletes strode  into the zone stadium at Addu City, proudly sporting their school colors, while being cheered on by public spectators, community leaders and officials.

The Maldives 17th Atoll Inter School Athletics Meet kicked off on Monday night in a colourful ceremony decorated with a spectacular laser show, music and dance. A total of  673 young athletes from 20 different schools across Maldives will be competing in the three-day sports event sponsored by Daily Milk.

As the excitement grows in Addu with athletes fighting to progress in to final rounds, a number of interested schools were reportedly unable to participate due to huge transportation costs.

According to the city council, this event is a “an important step to rehabilitate Addu city’s image”.

Addu, the second most heavily populated area in the Maldives after Male’ and the scene of the SAARC Summit in November 2011, was hit hard during the recent political crisis, as  reports of the protests, arrests and arson attacks on public and police property made international headlines.

But beyond the damage to reputation, the city was gripped by a violent social divide, which fragmented the long standing peace and threatened potential economic investments.

However, Mayor Sodiq said in an interview to Minivan News on Sunday that the athletics meet is a the beginning of a mission to restore the social harmony and create a better image for Addu.

“Following the recent political crisis, Addu has suffered social disintegration as the political friction intensified between different groups,” Sodiq observed.

“However, through social events like this, we aim to restore the peace, social harmony and encourage community participation in our city’s development.”

He noted that the athletics meet has already attracted participation from different public spheres.  Almost all the 1000 visitors who are currently in Addu for the competition are sharing homes with Addu families.

The business community has provided generous sponsorship to the athletics meet and the ongoing nigh market in the city.

Meanwhile, civil society also played a crucial role: “If TakeCare and Maavahi NGO  had not drafted the project proposal to host the athletics meet here, we might not be having this mega event in our city for the fifth time,” the Mayor noted.

The competition was first started in Addu in 1996 and since then it has been held in the souther-most atoll four times.

He added that the event was organised by a joint committee of athletics board officials, civil society and the city council, which was backed by almost 300 energetic youth volunteers.

“This event has provided us a unique opportunity to participate and gain valuable experience in organising a big event like this,”  said 18 year-old Ahmed Azaan, young member of the organising team.

“Others in the committee are an old crowd, so working with them, meeting people and doing the preparations – we are learning a lot.”

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Government postpones nationwide vehicle ban

Next week’s Pedestrian Day event that will ban vehicles from the streets of Male’ and other inhabited islands for six hours has been postponed until Friday June 15, local media has reported.

The event, originally scheduled for Tuesday June 12, will ban the use of vehicles between 4:00pm to 10:00pm as part of the country’s commitments to play up sustainable development ahead of the Rio+20 summit later this month.

However, the government has opted to move the Pedestrian Day to the weekend over concerns about disruption caused to the general public during a working day, according to Haveeru.

During the six hour period, only vehicles used by security forces and emergency services, as well as transportation for people with special needs will be permitted to operate on the country’s roads.

Vehicles carrying departure passengers and other tourism related services will be required to obtain a special permit from transport authorities. Members of the public not found to be in compliance with the vehicle ban will be charged Rf750, according to local media.

An exhibition set to be held on the artificial beach area of Male’ based around recycling has also been postponed until next Friday.

However, the government has said that events scheduled for the next 24 hours to mark World Environment Day were going ahead as planned.

The government told Minivan News yesterday that it was presently undertaking work to devise a new national environment strategy.

A President’s Office spokesperson claimed the government was not looking to “completely” reverse the high-profile carbon neutral policies practised during the administration of former President Mohamed Nasheed.

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Four arrested in connection with murder of 16 year-old boy

Four men have been arrested in connection with the murder of Mohamed Arham, 16, who was found murdered inside ‘Lorenzo Park’ last Wednesday.

Police Spokesperson Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef confirmed to Minivan News that four men were arrested, but declined to disclose further information.

‘’At this time police are trying to find more clues and information about the case. If further information is revealed it will be very easy to disrupt the investigation,’’ he said.

He said that at the time police had not yet decided to disclose the names of the arrested persons.

Arham’s body was discovered in the park around 6:00am last Wednesday by police officers patrolling the area.

“The body had many stab wounds and other injuries,” Haneef said.

Deputy Head of Specialist Command Mohamed Riyaz has previously told media that a police investigation into the stabbing murder of the 16 year-old boy was making progress.

The Education Ministry, Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) and police have condemned the attack on the boy.

Friends of Arham have meanwhile confirmed that he was in the park at night after all his friends left because he was too tired to go home, as he had just finished attending a camp that day.

Arham did not leave the park with his friends and may have fallen asleep in the park alone, and been attacked while he was asleep, according to some of Arham’s friends.

Arham’s body was found with stab wounds in his neck, back and chest with blood all over his body and on the ground, as well as on the walls of the park.

Neighbors living around the park have told the local media that at dawn that day they have heard the sound of someone wailing inside the park, but as it was usual to hear such noises in the area they did not pay much attention.

Mohamed Arham was a student at grade 9 in Dharmavantha School when he died.

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Prominent blogger Hilath Rasheed in critical condition after stabbing

Prominent Maldivian blogger and journalist Ismail ‘Hilath’ Rasheed is in a critical condition after he was stabbed in the neck near his house in Male’ on Monday evening.

Police Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef confirmed that Rasheed was stabbed around 8:15pm and was undergoing emergency treatment in ADK hospital.

No arrests have been made, “however there is CCTV in the area and we are trying to get something on it,” Haneef stated.

Police had cordoned off the area around the blood-stained pavement at time of press. There was on Monday evening no indication as to the motivation of the attack.

An informed source at ADK hospital said Rasheed was bleeding but conscious when he was brought to the hospital, and that he was expected to remain in surgery until 2:30am.

“They slit his throat clean through the trachea, and missed a vital artery by millimetres,” the source said, around 11:30pm, giving Rasheed a “five percent chance …  It doesn’t look good.”

Early on Tuesday morning the source reported that Rasheed’s condition had stabilised: “He’ll be in intensive care for a couple of days. He’s breathing through a tube now.”

Sub-Inspector Haneef said a second individual was stabbed in the back at 11:00pm near Male’s garbage dump and had been taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in a critical condition. Local media reported that the victim was believed to be a Bangladeshi national.

Second attack

Rasheed, a once outspoken blogger against extremism and former editor of newspaper Haveeru, was previously attacked by a group of men on December 10, 2011 – Human Rights Day – while attending a protest calling for religious tolerance.

A group of men attacked the protesters with stones, and Rasheed was taken to IGMH with a fractured skull.

He was subsequently arrested by police for questioning over his involvement in the protest gathering, and jailed for over three weeks.

Amnesty International declared him a ‘prisoner of conscience’, and said it was “dismayed that instead of defending Ismail ‘Khilath’ Rasheed, who has peacefully exercised his right to freedom of the expression, the government of Maldives has detained him. Moreover, the government has taken no action to bring to justice those who attacked the ‘silent’ demonstrators, even though there is credible photographic evidence of the attack.”

The Foreign Ministry subsequently called for an investigation “by relevant authorities” into the attack on the protest.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) also condemned both the December 10 attack on Rasheed and his arrest, noting that he was not only one of the country’s leading free speech advocates, but one of the few Maldivians bloggers to write under his own name.

“The Maldivian constitution bans the promotion of any religion other than Islam but guarantees freedom of assembly and expression as long as it does not contravene Islam. Rasheed professes to be an adherent of Sufism, which emphasises the inner, spiritual dimension of Islam,” RSF stated at the time.

Censored blogger

Rasheed’s popular and controversial blog, www.hilath.com, was blocked in November 2011 by the Communications Authority of the Maldives (CAM) on the order of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The Ministry made the request on the grounds that the site contained anti-Islamic material, CAM confirmed at the time.

Hilath claimed he was being censored for expressing his version of Islam, and called for more freedom of interpretation within the faith.

“I call upon all concerned to amend the clause in the constitution which requires all Maldivians to be Sunni Muslims only,” his statement read. “‘Unto you your religion and unto me my religion,’ and ‘There is no compulsion in religion’,” he said, quoting Qur’an 109:6 and 2:256.

Hilath claimed at the time that the blocking of his website had a political edge: “If Sunni Muslims are the conservatives, then the Sufi Muslims are the liberals,” he told Minivan News. “I think this is a conservative attack on the site. They think if you’re not a Sunni, you’re an unbeliever.”

Following the blocking of his blog and his attack in December, Rasheed became less outspoken on the subject of religion and withdrew from the public spotlight.

On May 12 he tweeted his intention to stop blogging altogether, and stated that he had “repented and am now a Muslim. But a very tolerant one at that.”

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