A police investigation into the stabbing murder of a 16 year-old boy in Male’ last week was making progress although no arrests have yet been made, according to Deputy Head of Specialist Command Mohamed Riyaz.
Speaking to the press at Iskandar Koshi, Riyaz said police had spoken to several people and visited places related to the death, and have gathered information that cannot be revealed at the time for fear of disrupting the investigation.
He said the information received so far suggested that the boy was killed in a gang attack, however he declined to provide further information.
Last Wednesday morning at around 6:00am two patrolling officers discovered the dead body of 16 year-old Mohamed Arham inside the park behind Kulliyathul Dhiraasathul Islamiyya.
His body was found with stab wounds in his neck, back and chest with blood all over his body and on the floor, as well as on the walls of the park.
Mohamed Arham was a student at grade 9 in Dharmavantha School when he died.
The Education Ministry, Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) and police have condemned the attack on the boy.
The park in which he was found dead is known locally as ‘Lorenzo Park’, named after a Male’ gang called ‘Lorenzo’.
Minivan News understands that park is usually used by members or friends of the gang, and that it is very uncommon to find outside visitors sitting in the park.
Friends of Arham have said that he was in the park that 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 might have fallen asleep in the park alone and assailants may have attacked him while he was asleep, according to some of Arham’s friends.
A friend of Arham’s told Minivan News that they were not sure why he was attacked or who attacked him, because he not had any issues with anyone recently and there was no warning of any attack.
‘’He must have been attacked between 2:00am to 6:00am that night,’’ he added. ‘’That time he would have been by himself in the park because everyone left around 2:00.’’
The High Court of the Maldives has upheld a Criminal Court verdict to sentence Majidha Adam to 25 years imprisonment, after she was found guilty of being an accomplice to her son’s trade of illegal drugs.
The High Court ruling stated that she had given Rf 5000 (US$342) to her son to run his drug trade.
Majidha claimed in court that she had a mental illness, but the Criminal Court had not considered it in concluding the case, the High Court said.
According to the High Court the case was first lodged in the Criminal Court on 25 June 2007 and was concluded in November 2007.
On April 26, 2007, Majidha gave a statement to police stating that her son Ahmed Ihusan, studying at grade nine at the time, that she was aware that he was trading illegal drugs and that she provided funds for him to run the business on several occasions, the High Court’s ruling said.
The statement was however not signed by Majidha. Four senior police officers who investigated the case told the Criminal Court that the statement was as she gave it and no changes were brought to it, although she has declined that it was the same as the statement she wrote.
The High Court said Majidha has produced to the High Court a doctor’s statement that she had a mental illness, but that this was after the date the Criminal Court concluded the case. It dismissed the statement as the document was not produced to the Criminal Court at the time.
Majidha reportedly told the police that she was aware that Ihusan sold illegal drugs and that he kept it running by reinvesting the profits.
The High Court also ruled that the case was filed before the new constitution was ratified and so the courts had to follow the laws followed at the time.
The political leaders emerged out of the three day All Party Talks without reaching a consensus on the six point-agenda, failing again to achieve a compromise on breaking the political deadlock following the controversial ousting of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) on February 7.
Despite stalling several times due to disagreements over the subject and order of the agenda, the talks began at the Vice President’s Bandos Island Resort with expectation of reaching a consensus on the six-point agenda.
Six items on the agenda are, in order: 1) Discussion on how to solve the problem of public disturbances carried out in the country; 2) Discussion on assessing the state budget situation; 3) Discussion on identifying reforms needed for institutions and independent posts; 4) Discussion on assessing the laws to be amends and new laws to be enacted; 5) Discussion on amendments to the constitution; and 6) Discussion on determining a date for a presidential election.
However after a third day of failed talks with political representatives, Convener Ahmed Mujthaba told media that despite 15 hours of talks split into four meetings, they were only able to discuss the first item of the six-point agenda.
Although 30 points were outlined as measures to end the political disturbances, Mujthaba confirmed that the parties came to “no consensus” during the discussion.
Reportedly, amid heated arguments and intense debates between the pro government and former ruling MDP representatives, discussions ended without progressing to a cross-party agreement on any of the points. Convener Mujthaba reportedly came under verbal attacks as well.
According to newspaper Haveeru, 30 measures proposed by parties to end public disturbances included; “no attacks on public and private property, no attacks on political figures, no sexual transgressions in public parks where a party’s flag is hoisted, no keeping crows or other animals in public places, not hanging swings that block the pavements, not prevent anyone from coming ashore on any island, not holding political activities on roads and pavements, not participating in protests while intoxicated, not stymieing the work of the parliament, not using children or logos of a foreign body in a political protest, not spreading exaggerated or false reports through media outlets, not using loud speakers during peaceful and street protests, obeying court orders and not holding street rallies.”
MDP spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor told Minivan News that the party was requested to cease practicing black magic and other malicious forms of sorcery against other parties at the talks.
“I think that some people involved are now playing a hoax. It is hard to believe that the regime is lowering itself to this level. It is both pointless and irrelevant,” he claimed. “It is notable that figures such as former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom are very superstitious.”
At a press conference held this afternoon police displayed what they alleged to be items used for black magic by MDP protesters at the party camp site Usfasgandu. A female activist was also arrested on suspicion of sorcery.
The President Office and pro government party representatives have not responded to calls from Minivan News at the time of press.
However, representative of the coalition Jumhooree Party and President’s Office Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza blamed MDP for the outcome of the talks in local media.
“We proposed against stymieing of political activities and visits to the islands. But MDP was unwilling to agree. If they had done so, the outcome could have been much different,” Riza told Haveeru.
However, Riza stopped short from calling the talks a failure stating that the drafting and discussion on the 30 points itself is a “major achievement”.
Mujthaba noted that the “results are not bad considering the current political climate.”
The next round of talks will be scheduled after discussions with the parties and will continue from the first point ofnthe agenda.
Police have allegedly arrested an opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) activist on charges of practicing black magic.
Activist Jennifer Aishath was arrested on Friday night 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 note 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 has 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.
Fahmy, who was present at the time of the Aishath’ arrest, told Minivan News that she had been followed by a police car and a police officer in plain clothes. Aishath raised concerns that a car had been following her every move to the cemetery, where she was attending a funeral.
“She said that a police car had been following her from home. I walked out of the cemetery with her and saw the car which she had mentioned, and it really was following her. The car stopped every time she stopped, it was very obvious,” Fahmy said.
After becoming concerned that Aishath was being followed, he claimed that he went towards the car and asked the driver what was going on.
“I went to the car and said that the lady has told me that she was being followed. They were silent for some time and then they questioned me, asking if I wanted to know what is going on,” Fahmy continued.
Fahmy stated that after the questioning, the driver made a call from their phone and within minutes, a police van of about 25 to 30 police officers in full gear arrived to the area and asked Aishath to get into their van.
“When the van came and the police asked her to get into the van, I intervened saying that you can’t arrest someone like that,” said Fahmy.
“I asked on what grounds was she being arrested and they said they’d tell her after they reached police headquarters. I resisted and said that such an arrest could only be made after letting the arrestee know what the charges against her were. The arresting officers didn’t even have name tags.”
Fahmy said that a female officer came out of the van and forced Aishath into the van before taiking her away.
Fahmy alleged that the government was running out of excuses to arrest MDP members and were now resorting to charges of black magic and sorcery.
“This is definitely something that Gayoom is behind. He was the first person to say that black magic was being used to try and oust him from the presidency. This occured during the 1998 presidential referendum by his brother in law Ilyas Ibrahim,” Fahmy claimed.
“ This is hilarious, the coup regime is becoming a laughing stock. Why are they arresting people over allegations of black magic, while the country has greater issues to address such as gang violence and drugs? For God’s sake, people are being murdered,” said Fahmy.
President’s Office Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza and Media Secretary Masood Imad were not responding at time of press.
The document issued to Aishath by police, describing the reasons for her summoning as alleged practice of black magic
Police raiding MDP protest camp ‘Usfasgandu’ for alleged “black magic and sorcery”
Earlier this week, police raided the opposition MDP protest camp at Usfasgandu on Tuesday morning, after obtaining a search warrant from the Criminal Court and cordoning off the area from MDP demonstrators.
One of the reasons for the search as stated on the warrant included: “suspected black magic performed in the area.”
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 to halt the raid in a temporary court injunction after the MDP challenged the legality of the operation.
However, the government appealed the Civil Court decision in the High Court. The High Court issued a temporary 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”.
Black magic to be debated in all party talks
With a weekend-long set of all party talks held at Bandos Island Resort concluding today without agreement, MDP spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said that discussions had not progressed past the first point of agenda. Among the main sticking points during the talks, Ghafoor claimed that allegations of black magic were among 30 points of contention raised by government-aligned parties.
“Right now nothing has been accepted [in term of the talk’s agreed agenda],” he said. “We are still at step one.”
Ghafoor said that the first agreed agenda item on the talks – the role of the MDP in causing “public disturbances” through protests and other actions – had been discussed, but few agreements had been reached.
The MDP claimed that it had been requested to “voluntarily stand down” from disturbing the public peace through actions like its ongoing demonstrations. Ghafoor said that a total of thirty other concerns were raised by government-aligned parties that were linked to the first of the the talk’s agenda.
Among these thirty points of concern, the MDP was requested to cease practicing black magic and other malicious forms of sorcery against other parties at the talks, according to Ghafoor.
“I think that some people involved are now playing a hoax. It is hard to believe that the regime is lowering itself to this level. It is both pointless and irrelevant,” he claimed. “It is notable that figures such as former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom are very superstitious.”
Ghafoor said the MDP had agreed to address four out of the thirty points of concern raised relating over the issue of “public disturbances” during the talks, including concerns from some political parties about the use of the word “coup” in relation to February’s transfer of power.
He added that some parties in the talks did not appreciate the use of the word, with the MDP agreeing to refer to the issue as a ‘questionable’ transfer of power in line with issues raised by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group’s (CMAG) concerns.
Ghafoor claimed that MDP representatives proposed three agreements to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) mediation expert Pierre-Yves Monette to try and move the talks forward. These agreements were that the party would accept four of the thirty points of contention raised by government-aligned parties. They also wished to see the end of the use of “abusive” language used by representatives during the talks.
Finally, Ghafoor claimed that an independent monitor had also been requested to rule on allegations raised about certain representatives during the ongoing talks.
“Right now they are alleging we are terrorists. We need an independent monitor to rule on these accusations and verify the truth of such claims,” he said.
Of the other parties represented during the talks, Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) Vice President Umar Naseer and MP Ilham Ahmed were not responding to calls from Minivan News at the time of press.
Ahmed Thasmeen Ali and Dr Abdulla Mausoom, the respective leader and Deputy Parliamentary Group Leader of the largest government coalition member, the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), were also not answering calls.
President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan has submitted a list of 12 nominees for approval by the People’s Majlis to serve on the Customs Integrity Commission (CIC).
Under the Maldives Customs Act, five members are required to be appointed by the president to the CIC. A deadline for applications for the posts expired on May 29, 2011.
The President’s Office released the list of 12 nominees on Thursday.
Kurumba Maldives held a charity music festival on Friday, featuring 11 music acts ranging from solo Australian balladeers to local rock bands and traditional Bodu Beru drumming.
The Kurumba Maldives Music Festival, launched to coincide with the resort’s 40 year anniversary celebrations, was devised to raise US$5000 to purchase furniture, washing machines and other equipment for the state orphanage “Kudakudhinge Hiyaa”, based on the nearby island of Villigili.
Following three weeks of planning, event organisers said that yesterday’s event exceeded their fund-raising expectations, despite being the first such festival to be held at the resort.
The event’s organisers said that they had been particularly encouraged by the assistance received from sponsors and other local business. They also welcomed the Ministry of Finance in getting a temporary exemption from the country’s General Service Tax (GST) on food, drink and tickets sold to visitors attending the event.
“We were granted exemptions from paying GST for fund-raising, we were very lucky that the Ministry of Finance helped with this,” a resort spokesperson said, adding that the event had marked the first time it had been involved with fund-raising with local people.
“This was the first fund-raising of its kind to be held at a resort. We invited a lots of friends and suppliers of the resorts, so we didn’t know how much we would be receiving or how many bands would be arriving to perform. However, it was a really good day. We also had the children from the orphanage coming over to take part in activities like water sports as well.”
Orphanage focus
With about 53 children currently residing at the Villingili orphanage – eight of whom are said to be under one year of age – the site remains dependent on donations to feed, cloth and look after the children, according to the spokesperson for Kurumba’s fund raising team.
“You can see that they are well looked after, but the orphanage itself clearly lacks basic facilities. For instance, there are not enough high chairs for toddlers. Many of the property’s beds are also broken and there was just one washing machine for all the children,” said the spokesperson. “It’s therefore very hard for the orphanage to survive like this. Right now they are working on maintaining hygiene standards and providing food to the children. We hope to help where we can.”
All money raised through the festival will be used to purchase furniture and other items like washing machines through the resort’s own suppliers, to get the equipment as soon as possible.
“We are not going to give cash, instead we will directly be supplying items and goods as needed. This will allow us to get these things at our supplier rates and ensure the orphanage gets the benefit directly,” the resort spokesperson said.
“Some of the resorts here work in collaboration with more worldwide charities through their corporate social responsibility obligations,” said the spokesperson “With our 40th anniversary this year, and the resort being Maldivian-owned, we wanted to raise money for local causes and people.”
Performers
Split over two different sites on the resort, local groups and artists including Mcrew, DJ Paide, and Rock Paper Scissors were joined by international performers such as Australian singer/songwriter Ewan Procter. The line up was an eclectic mix of original compositions, cover versions and dance sets. A liberal sprinkling of stadium anthems were also provided – albeit in the more sedate backdrop of an wooden-decked Indian ocean resort property.
Despite praising the event’s outcome, Kurumba’s fund-raising team said the resort had to overcome some logistical issues in holding the small scale festival at the resort.
“We needed to be careful throughout the day to ensure we did not disturb guests. This is why we held the event at two different areas. In the evening we were required to move the performances from the beach area to our bar area so guests were not forced to participate if they did not want to. We are still a five-star resort after all.”
Independent institutions play a pivotal role in a democracy. Their independence from political influences is one of the key reasons such institutions remain a vital part of democracy and a functional mechanism for check and balances of a democratic system.
One such institution established by the Maldivian constitution was the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM). An institution set up under the article 189 of the constitution to ensure that the Maldives has made the much needed necessary transition from the days of police brutality and human rights violations during the ‘Gayoom era’ to the present day, and to protect and uphold the values of human rights of all citizens.
But the tale seems to be going in the wrong way. It is going to be almost four months after the country’s first democratically elected president was ousted in what was an obvious coup d’etat. It is going to be four months from the day where a few petty politicians, with the financial backing of a few self-centered business tycoons and mendacious preachings of deceitful sheikhs, led to disillusioned patriots within the security forces make an absolute mockery of the people’s rule.
With the coup came not only a change of a regime, but a return to the nightmares of Gayoom’s 30 year long dictatorship that the Maldivians never ever wanted to see again. Nepotism has come back in full swing. Police brutality once again has become abundant. Reports of human rights violations are slowly re-surfacing.
On February 6, the night before Nasheed was forced out of office, a police platoon broke the chain of command and came storming into the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) ‘Haruge’ and ran riot in the premises, beating down anyone that unfortunately came into their way – a direct violation of the article 246 of the Constitution of the Maldives. The HRCM failed to come up with anything substantial.
On February 8, the day after the toppling of Nasheed’s administration, the ousted president and senior officials of his administration and several MPs, along thousands of citizens who were convinced that their vote had been ‘robbed’ by ousting their elected leader, took to the streets exercising the constitutional rights of freedom of expression and freedom assembly entitled in the articles 27 and 32.
The protesters were met with one of the most violent crackdowns in the history of the country. But the HRCM merely concluded with a condemnation statement and the publishing of a report.
But alas, they found it an utmost priority to investigate the matter of the arresting of the chief Judge of the Criminal Court, the notorious man who is the root of the problems of our crippled judiciary. Yes, I do not disagree that arresting of a Judge was indeed a controversial move, given how flawed the check and balance mechanism is in our system is.
But when one protecting a notorious Judge with a history of ‘bending justice’ for his own personal interest becomes more of a priority than to looking into the human rights violations of hundreds of ordinary people beaten down ruthlessly by the police and the military, who were supposed to serve and protect them?
On March 6, a country that boasts of working to empower and uphold the rights of women and advocate against gender disparity, suddenly forgot what they had been preaching, and found the respect and dignity of the women they advocated for blasted by saltwater cannons. A group of female protesters went to the president’s office with an innocent intention of delivering a petition to the regime leader. Despite having a female in the presidency of HRCM, what a shame it was when it barely made a move. Where were the rights of women that day?
On May 29, another wave of police brutality struck again, as the coup regime’s unprecedented sudden nightmares over a ‘cursed rooster’ lead to police sieging into the MDP protest camp at ‘Usfasgandu’ under the excuse of alleged practice of black magic and sorcery, only to find no substantial evidence that gave rise to any criminal activities going on in the camp.
Furious protesters again began protesting in front of the barricades and yet again the police barged into the crowds with batons and pepper spray, beat down protesters and even pepper sprayed a cameramen of a local TV station who had tried to film the violent arrests.
But it seemed that the officials of HRCM present during the police takeover of the camp were either not in sane mind, or blinded and deafened as the commission issued a statement applauding the actions of police for their ‘professional handling’ the situation. What a fantastic way to mock the people again as the video footages revealed the extent of barbarity of the police. When did violent brutality become professionalism?
The Human Rights Commission is bitterly failing. They are far behind in following up with the police brutality and human rights violations of the coup regime. They have become a deaf and blind toady of Gayoom, Waheed and the senior officials of the coup regime instead of being the lions of the throne. They ought to have been defending and upholding the rights and liberties of the Maldivian constitution. Indeed a disheartening story to tell.
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