June 2012 – Page 23 – Minivan News

UK visit will resolve Commonwealth and UK government’s concerns, claims President Waheed

President Mohamed Waheed Hassan has claimed his visit to the United Kingdom will resolve concerns of the UK government and the Commonwealth regarding the political situation in the Maldives.

Speaking to press prior to his departure to attend the Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee luncheon hosted by the Commonwealth, President Waheed said during his visit he would meet with UK Prime Minister David Cameron, senior officials of the UK government and Commonwealth officials.

“I am confident that after this trip, any concerns they have will be allayed,” President Waheed told the media.

“We have already provided them with explanations to some extent, and later relayed more information to the Foreign Office as well. Because of this the UK government now listens to what we have to say,” Waheed claimed.

Local newspaper Haveeru claimed 30 people gathered to bid farewell to the President, following the use of loudspeakers around the streets of Male’ last night by pro-government parties urging supporters to gather at the President’s departure point.

The President’s visit to the UK is his second official visit since taking office in February, after his predecessor President Mohamed Nasheed was ousted in what he latter claimed was a coup d’etat.

During his official visit to India, President Waheed told a gathering of diplomats that the Commonwealth was being unduly influenced by opposition politicians in the Maldives, and that it was acting beyond its remit.

Speaking at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi during his five day official visit to India, Dr Waheed reportedly said that the Commonwealth’s Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) had followed the lead of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) in attempting to intimidate the government.

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President Waheed discusses expanding Iranian relations

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan has committed to strengthen relations with Iran in a number of areas such as education and energy, the country’s state media has reported.

The state-run Fars News Agency has reported that President Waheed had shown “willingness” to expand ties between the two nations during a meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in Male’ last week.

The comments were as Iranian President Dr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invited Dr Waheed to attend the 16th Non Aligned Movement Summit in Iran between August 30 to 31.

The invitation was delivered personally by Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi at meeting at the President’s Office. Discussions were also held on the potential for investment and higher education opportunities from Iran.

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Deputy Tourism Minister talks Malaysian tourism opportunities

The Maldives has pledged to attract 10,000 Malaysian visitors annually by 2014 through focusing on the potential of initiatives like sustainable tourism, according to local media.

Deputy Tourism Minister Mohamed Maleeh Jamal told Malaysian media during the 2012 World Islamic Tourism Mart based in the country, that as the Maldives continued to try and address climate change issues at island level, local resort operators had been pursuing more eco-friendly operations.

Maleeh told Malaysia-based newspaper the Sun Daily that when considering the potential partnerships between the two destinations for sustainable tourism, some 6,555 Malaysian holidaymakers already visited the Maldives over the course of last year. He added that 1,700 visitors from the country had arrived during the first four months of 2012.

Maleeh claimed that with a growing importance attached to Asian visitors coming to the Maldives, local people working in the travel industry had also begun to better acquaint themselves with Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages and cultural practices.

“The number of Chinese tourists, including Malaysian Chinese, to the Maldives is expected to set a new high in 2012. We see them as an important market,” he told the newspaper.

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Maldives Broadcasting Commission issues TV and Radio frequencies

The Maldives Broadcasting Commission today awarded broadcasting frequencies to three television stations and four radio stations.

Pictureland Fm Pvt Ltd (Sun Fm), Island Broadcasting Company (VTV) and Broadcasting Maldives Pvt Ltd (DhiTV) won bids for television broadcasting licences while Raajje Television Pvt Ltd (RaajjeTV) and Next Plan Pvt Ltd lost the bids.

Radio frequencies will be given to Island Broadcasting Company, Pictureland Fm, Asna Maldives Pvt Ltd and Faraway Holidays Pvt Ltd.

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Dr Didi and Alhan join Jumhooree Party, back Gasim as President

Additional reporting by Musliha Hassan

Former President of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Dr Ibrahim Didi and former Vice President Alhan Fahmy today signed up with the Jumhoory Party (JP) of local business tycoon Gasim Ibrahim.

Former MDP Secretary General Hassan Shah also signed for JP today.

Speaking at the signing ceremony this morning, Alhan Fahmy claimed Gasim Ibrahim’s “experience and service to the country” made him the most capable candidate to rule the country under the current situation.

Beyond his resort interests, Gasim owns television station VTV, is an MP, and a member of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC). VTV was shown on the state broadcaster after it was stormed by police and opposition demonstrators on February 7, while Gasim and several other then-opposition leaders gathered in police headquarters.

Dr Didi and Alhan Fahmy were removed from the MDP leadership posts in a no-confidence vote supported by 95 percent of the MDP’s National Congress on April 30, after the pair were accused of making statements contradictory to the party’s official line concerning February 7.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Gasim stated that former president Nasheed resigned after realising that he would no longer be able to rule the country.

“At some point the police and the military declined to obey his orders. If that is a coup, then it is a coup,” he said.

Gasim further alleged that Nasheed had given illegal orders to the police and military, and arrested people unconstitutionally and refused to release them – a reference to the detention of Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdullah Mohamed.

Gasim also said that Nasheed, who had resigned with the realisation that he had failed, was now trying to “hoodwink” people into thinking he had been ousted by a coup. He described Nasheed’s actions as poisoning the people.

Gasim said that Nasheed “should be arrested” by now and that with “the help of the constitution”, the current administration would arrest him.

Speaking at the ceremony, former Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) President Dr Ibrahim Didi said today he had opened a new page in his political career and looked forward to working for the nation on a JP platform.

” The message that I want to give to my friends and my relatives, is that from the day my political career began, I have been working in the best interest of the nation,” Didi said.

” Unfortunately, all the doors had been closed in [the MDP], and today, I am joining Jumhooree Party because I believe that this platform has all the doors opened for me,” he added.

He said that he did not find any substantial reason to believe that the ousting of former president Mohamed Nasheed had been a coup, and that if JP started mocking people and harassing Islam, he would leave immediately.

Speaking in the ceremony, former Vice President of MDP, MP Alhan Fahmy said that the country would not be able to recover if people were to follow in Nasheed or [former president] Gayoom.

He further alleged that both Nasheed and Gayoom, with the help of their close friends and family, wanted to establish a system in which they could stay in power without limitations.

” I want to say to the young people of the country, those that create and build ideologies. That is, we wont be able to steer our nation to the destinations that we want, if we are to blindly follow a few individuals,” he said.

Fahmy joined Didi in claiming that the controversial transfer of power was not a coup and that it was legitimate.

Also in the ceremony, former Secretary General of MDP, Hassan Shah, claimed that all MDP members knew how to do was gather in a place and protest.

Minivan News tried contacting Fahmy and Didi, but they did not respond at time of press.

Local newspaper Haveeru earlier reported that both Didi and Fahmy insisted on retaining the Presidential and Vice-Presidential positions within their new party, which required an amendment to JP regulations.

Didi and Fahmy were removed from their posts in the MDP after being accused of making statements in contradiction of the party’s official line, concerning the the events that led to the resignation of President Mohamed Nasheed on February 7.

A motion of no confidence was supported by 95 percent of the MDP’s National Congress on April 30. Both men disputed the legitimacy of the process which led to their ousting.

Dr Didi filed a complaint with the Elections Commission (EC), which was later dismissed, whilst Fahmy staged a sparsely attended ‘free MDP’ rally, protesting against what he alleged was the negative influence of Nasheed on the party.

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Fourteen expats arrested with alcohol and drugs

Police have arrested 14 expatriate workers while they were in possession of four large bottles of alcohol and seven 500ml bottles of alcohol inside a garage in Male’.

According to police, the expats were arrested in a special operation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Department last Friday night at around 12:30am.

Police said the alcohol bottles were discovered inside a box in the garage.

Two packets of suspected illegal drugs were found inside the wallet of one expat arrested, said police.

Police said the 13 expats arrested were from Sri Lanka and one was from Bangladesh. Two were female, police said.

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Police release slideshow of Usfasgandu black magic evidence

Police have released a PowerPoint slideshow containing images of alleged black magic paraphernalia collected from the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s protest camp at ‘Usfasgandu’, after they raided the area last Tuesday.

The evidence collected included 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’.

In a press conference on Saturday, Deputy Head of the Special Crime and Command Department, Superintendent Mohamed Riyaz, said that it was clearly mentioned in the Maldives Police Service Act that it was the duty of police to stop people committing unlawful acts in public.

Riyaz said police had sought a court warrant to search the premises for the sake of public opinion, although they had not needed one, and had found evidence suggesting that criminal activities were taking place.

However, he said that police delayed the process of dismantling the camp after the Civil Court ordered it halted.

He contended that Usfasgandu had become a “lawless” area, and said police had evidence it was being used for the practice of sorcery and black magic.

Speaking to Minivan News, MDP spokesperson MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor described the police statement as an act of repression to control the MDP protesters.

“This is just repression. They are trying their best to hide their impunity by blaming the protesters who have come out against the coup,” Ghafoor said.

Ghafoor alleged that police were inventing reasons to take over Usfasgandu and limit the right of freedom of assembly.

Ghafoor said he had heard similar “vague” language used by pro-government coalition partners during the the all party talks.

”I have come to understand this language the police and even the coup leaders are using during the all party talks. They are desperate. They are desperate to the extent that they feel that their impunity needs to be legitimised,” he said.

The use of “defiance, repression and threat” to control a population was not possible, Ghafoor said.

“The coup regime is desperate. Showing this evidence is just a tool of repression. They were desperate to such an extent that they sent an under cover police officer to Usfasgandu to throw a at a police van,” he alleged.

Police raided the protest camp at on Tuesday morning, after obtaining a search warrant from the Criminal Court and cordoning off the area from MDP demonstrators.

Reasons for the search as mentioned on the warrant issued by the criminal court included: “suspected criminal activity”, “damage to public property”, and “suspected black magic performed in the area”.

Under evidence, the warrant alleged that people in the ‘Usfasgandu’ area verbally abused police officers and damaged a police vehicle on April 20, obstructed a Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) exercise of May 9, and on May 25, “MDP protesters threw a cursed rooster at MNDF officers.”

Shortly after the raid, the Civil Court ordered a temporary court injunction after the MDP challenged the legality of the operation.

The government appealed the Civil Court decision in the High Court, which issued an injunction suspending the Civil Court’s injunction.

Police issued a statement right after the High Court injunction stating that there were no more legal obstructions to raiding the camp, but said the police were “thinking on the matter”.

Meanwhile, early on Sunday morning police arrested a MDP activist on charges of practicing black magic.

Activist Jennifer Aishath was arrested on Saturday midnight at around 1:45am near the ‘Aa Saharaa’ cemetery while she was attending a funeral. She was released at around 2:45am in the morning.

Police Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef confirmed that police had followed Aishath “because she was up to something”, but did not disclose what this was.

However following her release Aishath produced a police docket stating that the reason for her summoning was for questioning over allegations she was using “black magic and sorcery”.

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesperson MP Imthiyaz Fahmy alleged the government was now using charges of black magic and sorcery as an “excuse” to go on a “literal witch hunt” for MDP activists.

A piece of paper containing alleged sorcery

Empty beer can allegedly found in the area

Photos of police officers found in one of the containers

A box of condoms hidden in the ceiling of one of the containers

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Incidents of February 7 “past us, over”: President Waheed

The controversial transfer of power on February 7 is “past us” and the Maldives will soon have “peace and harmony”, President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan told a rally on Ihavandhoo in Haa Alif Atoll.

“I believe the incident of February 7 is past us now. That incident is over now. The people who were unhappy about it are getting weaker and fewer. It is all fading away now,” Dr Waheed said. “Therefore, God willing, very soon we will see a united people working together.”

Speaking at the rally during his trip to the atoll over the weekend, the President said although he was informed of the possibility of facing some opposition from the people, the only sound he had heard was of a very warm welcome from the islanders.

Speaking at the rally in Ihavandhoo, President Waheed expressed his satisfaction with the current state of the country.

“Now the people of the Maldives enjoy freedom and protection of their rights more than ever before in this country,” Dr Waheed said.

“One thing I am really proud of is that nobody will be arrested any more for saying anything about the government or the President,” he added.

A total of 29 people were arrested during the unrest following the President’s visit to Haa Alif atoll. Police Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef confirmed that 15 of the arrested were still under police custody.

Police replaced opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) flags around the harbour area with national flags before the President’s arrival, Haneef noted.

During his tour of Haa Alif Atoll, President Waheed also visited the Dhihdhoo island. Dhihdhoo Councilor Ahmed Jameel told newspaper Haveeru that 100 meters surrounding the island jetty was closed off with police tape prior to the arrival of President.

According to Haveeru, the island’s council said the President was to meet supporters of pro-government political parties inside the cordoned off area and that no island councilors had been allowed inside.

President Waheed’s supporters were also subjected to comprehensive screening before meeting the President, the council claimed.

Sub-Inspector Haneef confirmed to Minivan News that five people including two island councilors were arrested prior to the President’s visit on June 2, for “disrupting peace and breaking accepted social standards in the public.”

During his speech, President Waheed claimed that elements of the MDP had “unusual, undemocratic, and uncivilised” ideas, however “we must not worry about them at all as they are very few in number.”

“We have a perfect democracy in the Maldives now. If members from the only political party that has a different ideology from us calmed down and started working with us, we would have peace and harmony in this country. There wouldn’t be a single person who would create havoc in the country,” he claimed.

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Legal reforms needed to curb corporal punishment of children: SAIVEC

The Maldives is among several nations in South Asia urgently in need of legal reforms to explicitly prohibit corporal punishment against children, according to a new report.

The report, “Prohibition of Corporal Punishment of Children in South Asia: A Progress Review”, jointly published by the Global Initiative, Save the Children Sweden and South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIVEC), the apex body of children under the South Asian Association for Regional Corporation (SAARC), aims to highlight a practice that kills and injures millions of children across the region.

Corporal punishment includes hitting, smacking or kicking, or any measure in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain and discomfort to the child. It also includes other non-physical forms of punishment which belittle, humiliate, threaten or ridicules the child. It is said to be the most common and widely accepted form of violence against children.

The report notes that none of the eight South Asian countries, including the Maldives, have passed comprehensive legislation to ban punitive violence experienced by children across all settings, including home, school, the penal system and alternative care.

Several government’s claim to support ending violence against children, while on the other hand they fail to prohibit violence disguised as discipline or punishment, Coordinator of Global Initiative Peter Newell noted.

Corporal punishment in the Maldives

Although there are no official statistics published on corporal punishment of children in the Maldives, a 2009 National Study of Violence Against Children, produced by UNICEF involving over 17,000 people in 2,500 households and 2,000 children in schools, found that 47 percent of children had experienced physical or emotional punishment at home, at school or in the community.

Thirty percent of children at secondary school had been hit by at least one of their caregivers, 21 percent with an object; eight percent of school students had been physically punished by their teachers.

However, the country review on Maldives highlighted that there is little or no legal defense for children to protect themselves, despite the high prevalence of punitive violence against children at homes, schools and other settings.

According to the two-page review, existing legal provisions against violence and abuse are not interpreted as prohibiting corporal punishment of children.

The report noted that the Maldives’ Law on the Protection of the Rights of the Child (1991) and Family Law (2000) prohibit only severe punishment which may harm the child while there is no legal defence for the use of corporal punishment by parents in the existing Penal Code.

Article 10 of the Child Rights Law states that punishment in school should be appropriate to the child’s age and should not affect them physically or psychologically and the Ministry of Education has stated that corporal punishment should not be used, the report reads.”But there is no explicit prohibition of corporal punishment in law,” it added.

Meanwhile, the review identified that corporal punishment is lawful as a sentence for crime in the Maldives.

Although the Law on the Protection of the Rights of the Child prohibits cruel and degrading punishment on children, and the Penal Code does not authorise judicial corporal punishment, the report noted that the Maldives Penal Code does not apply to offences under Sharia law or to certain other offences.

“The Regulation on Conducting Trials, Investigations and Sentencing Fairly for Offences Committed by Minors (2006) states that children from the age of puberty may be held criminally responsible for committing apostasy, revolution against the state, fornication, falsely accusing a person of fornication, consumption of alcohol, unlawful intentional killing and other offences relating to homicide. These are offences for which hadd is prescribed in Islam, including flogging. From the age of 15, children can be convicted of a wider range of ofences under Sharia law,” SAIVEC further explained.

Corporal punishment is not prohibited as a disciplinary measure in penal institutions or alternative care homes either.

Therefore, in a similar call to other countries, SAIVEC recommended the Maldives bring urgent legal reform necessary to achieve prohibition in all settings.

“Legislation should explicitly prohibit corporal punishment in the home and in all education settings, all institutions accommodating children in conflict with the law, all forms of alternative care, and as a sentence of the courts, including under Sharia law.”

Maldives commitments

The former Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) administration had “partially accepted” recommendations made to abolish corporal punishment in the penal system during the Universal Periodic Review of the Maldives in 2010.

The government at the time stated that the new draft Penal Code was intended to combine Sharia law with international human rights obligations, although it includes provisions for corporal punishment, and stated that the Maldives will consult with national and international authorities on the compatibility of corporal punishment with the Maldives Constitution and international human rights law.

It also stated at a SAIVEC workshop in 2010 that a Children’s Bill was being drafted which would prohibit corporal punishment in all settings. An Education Bill would prohibit corporal punishment in schools, and regulations for children’s homes were being drafted which would include prohibition of corporal punishment. Consideration would also be given to abolition of judicial flogging, it stated.

However, few commitments transformed into action in the face of political pressure and growing religious conservatism, which ultimately provided a platform for the controversial ousting of the MDP government on February 7.

Meanwhile, at the South Asia Regional Consultation on the UN Study on Violence Against Children organised by SAIVEC in Colombo last week, officials from the present government pledged to continue efforts to eliminate violence against children as per the international recommendations.

SAIVEC’s regional campaign was also launched at the conference in a bid to eliminate corporal punishment across the eight South Asian states, home to a quarter of the world’s children.

Director General of SAIVEC, Dr Rinchen Chopel called for a coordinated effort from all actors to address corporal punishment, using a holistic and coordinated approach, enacting laws, raising awareness and promoting positive parenting and teaching.

Dr Chopel described the wide social acceptance of corporal punishment as the biggest challenge. However he added: “The path to complete elimination of corporal punishment is long, but there are also sources of hope.”

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