Day: July 2, 2012

The last resort: Nasheed calls for tourism boycott

Former President Mohamed Nasheed has called for a tourism boycott of the Maldives, urging potential visitors to make other plans and to cancel existing bookings.

“I’d say to anyone who has booked a holiday to the Maldives: cancel it. And to anyone who is thinking of booking one: please don’t bankroll an illegitimate government,” Mohamed Nasheed told the UK’s Financial Times (FT) newspaper while in New York last week.

Nasheed also told the publication that the country was at risk of ‘talibanisation’.

The former president resigned from office in February under circumstances he alleges amounted to a coup. His resignation has been followed by months of street demonstrations by his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the country’s largest political party.

Nasheed was in the United States to speak with government officials as well as receive an award for achievements through the practice of non violent action.

“This is the most effective form of non-violent pressure,” MDP Spokesperson Hamed Abdul Ghafoor told Minivan News, of the boycott.

“This is a sign that the MDP have gotten very serious. This is the last resort,” said Ghafoor.

The tourism industry is by far the country’s largest sector at US$2-3 billion per year, and is responsible for 70-80 percent of all foreign exchange receipts.

Resorts owned by those local businessmen the MDP has accused of funding the change of power have been previously targeted by a ‘selective boycott’, the so-called ‘Maldives Travel Advisory’.

However the MDP has disavowed any association with the advisory, and the site went down last week and can no longer be accessed.

The advisory rated all of the country’s resorts on a traffic light system, ranging from ‘green’ which urged tourists to visit, to ‘red’ – ‘those to avoid’.

Seeking the to counter the negative publicity, the government entered into a deal with global PR firm Ruder Finn, reportedly paying the company US$150,000 a month to highlight the country’s appeal as a tourist destination.

The Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) hopes to welcome over one million tourists to the country in 2012, however the corporation’s most recent figures showed that tourist arrivals had dropped 1.4 percent compared to the same period last year.

According to figures from the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), while South Asia was the second fastest growing market reporting 14 percent year-on-year growth in March in terms of visitor volume, the Maldives was the only destination to record a decline (five percent).

Boycott timing

Throughout the recent political turmoil, the tourism industry has remained relatively sacrosanct with all sides acknowledging the importance of the industry to the Maldives.

In March, former Minister of Tourism and MDP party member Dr Mariyam Zulfa told Minivan News that despite having evidence that certain resort owners were involved in a coup, the MDP would never seek to damage 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.

Today, Zulfa said that Nasheed’s comments were a “very practical suggestion” in response to the MDP’s concerns that the new government was becoming “entrenched”.

In his interview with the FT, Nasheed said that, “if there isn’t an election soon, I fear there won’t be one at all”.

Zulfa said that although the party’s National Council had yet to decide to officially call for a total boycott, Nasheed’s comments were “indicative of policy direction” which she felt was widely supported within the party’s ranks.

The call for a tourism boycott comes at a time when occupancy rates are already down at many resorts, with reports emerging that certain resorts have not paid staff for up to six months, and at a time when economic turmoil and plunging investor confidence has followed the country’s political unrest.

The government has claimed it is undertaking an austerity drive to slash spending in its departments by 15 percent in an attempt to cut Rf 2 billion (US$130 million) from the anticipated Rf 9 billion (US$584 million) budget deficit this year – a massive 27 percent of GDP.

This huge deficit has sparked concern from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which has predicted the dwindling of foreign reserves and the impoverishment of the nation if government spending is not curtailed.

Government response and impact

President’s Office Spokesman Abbas Adil Riza described Nasheed’s comments as “ridiculous” and “absurd”, and not befitting of someone who enjoys the status and privileges of a former president.

Riza argued that Nasheed had contradicted himself in his interview with the Financial Times, claiming that the absence of foreign tourists would play into the very hands of the Islamic hardliners he accused of taking over the government.

“If there are and hardliners, and fundamentalists, they would love a tourism boycott,” Riza said.

Asked about the likely impact of a boycott, Riza was adamant that the industry would be fine.

“We don’t see any change. We don’t think that the international community takes Nasheed seriously,” he said.

Riza added that the government would continue to respect Nasheed’s freedom of speech. He was confident that tour operators would be able to make their own assessments and that they understood the “true situation”.

Parties in the ruling coalition have meanwhile voted to establish a committee to investigate Nasheed’s alleged wrongdoings while in power, while Deputy Leader of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Umar Naseer meanwhile told local media last week that he was confident that Nasheed would be jailed before the next elections.

Mauroof Zakir, Secretary General of the Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM) said that alongside low occupancy rates and the industry’s low season, the boycott would be bad news for the industry’s workers.

“We are already seeing a higher number of terminations and unfair dismissals. We had 48 cases in June alone”, said Zakir.

“With the occupancy so low, the workers also receive less as a service charge and so they are increasingly demanding extra rights,” he continued.

“Political parties need to come to an understanding. They are creating more challenges for their own benefit. They have to negotiate rather than call for negative approaches.”

Minivan News was awaiting response from several resort managers to the news at time of press. One suggested that the move could force tour operators to pay higher premiums for the Maldives, absolving them from the need to be selective as to where they were sending guests and undermining the apparent purpose of the boycott.

Furthermore, the resort owner continued, the boycott risked undermining support for the MDP within the tourism industry, while giving the government a reason to blame the party for its dire economic situation.

However, another resort owner, quoted in the FT’s article, said he supported the boycott “as the industry was partly responsible for the overthrow of Mr Nasheed.”

“Resort owners have financed and backed the new regime, and we can’t carry on as if its business as usual. A boycott will hurt me personally a lot in the short term, but it’s necessary in the long term,” said Ali Shiyam, Director of AAA resorts.

Zulfa meanwhile said she hoped that a boycott would get the attention of the international community, and expressed desire for an EU travel directive in particular.

“We would like to create more impact and we would like people to have the right information,” she said.

“The government’s PR has been promoting the image of a country in which there are no problems, at a time when an immense crime has been committed against the people of the Maldives.”

The newly reformed Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) has meanwhile begun its investigations into the events surrounding the transfer of power and is expected to have completed its investigations by the end of July.

Ghafoor said that while the party respected the work of the commission, it had concerns about the level of protection afforded to witnesses.

“How can you rely on the CNI? Even when I go into the CNI, I know I am having my photograph taken – there is no witness protection,” said Ghafoor.

“We do not want to put all our eggs in one basket.”

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Slashed journalist claims attack was targeted assassination by Islamic radicals

Ismail ‘Hilath’ Rasheed got out his mobile phone and called for a taxi, but no sound came from his throat.

Instead the Maldivian blogger, journalist and former Amnesty prisoner of conscience, infamous for his willingness to tackle taboo subjects, particularly religious tolerance – felt air escaping from his neck.

“A very bad kind of panic came at that moment. I knew my trachea was cut. I knew it was a deep cut, and not just on the surface of the skin,” the journalist told Minivan News, prior to fleeing his own country in fear of his life.

Moments before, on the evening of June 4, Rasheed had turned into the dark alleyway leading to the door of his apartment block to find a man in a yellow shirt waiting for him.

“Then I heard someone call me by name from behind, and two more entered the alley. As I was turning the guy in a yellow T-shirt came up beside me, grabbed me from behind, put a mid-size box cutter to my neck and started slashing.

“I put my hand up to try and stop him, but he kept slashing.”

Rasheed holds up his hand – besides the jagged slash mark across his neck that almost claimed his life, the blogger lost a digit of his index finger trying to protect himself from the knife.

“That was why they missed a vital artery. I tried to prevent it – they cut the finger to the bone.”

Job done, the three men walked “very calmly” out of the alley in separate directions, leaving Rasheed to bleed to death in the alley.

“I got a look at their faces, but it was too dark to identify them,” he says. “They all had beards, and they were very young – I would say between 18 and 24. When the man in the yellow shirt was slashing my throat I smelled his breath – it smelled of alcohol.”

Acting on instinct, Rasheed held his neck and did not let go.

“I didn’t know how bad it was – because it was a box cutter, it was a very clean cut – it wasn’t painful,” he says.

“I thought about going upstairs to inform my parents, but I thought I better go straight to hospital rather than go up all the stairs.”

Leaving the alleyway, holding his head down to prevent blood loss, Rasheed tried to flag down a passing motorcycle. In the distance, he saw two of his attackers ride away on a motorcycle, while the walked round the corner.

“I knew it was pointless to go after them as I needed to get to the hospital,” he recalls.

Three motorcycles passed without stopping to help him, even though the front of his shirt and trousers were by now drenched in blood. That was when he tried to call the taxi, only to realise the extent of his injury.

“Even at that moment, a thought came into my mind. All the people who brought change to the world, most of them died for that cause – they didn’t live to see the fruits of their effort.

“When this thought came into my mind, survival instinct took over and I felt a rage: ‘I am going to survive, I want to live to see the fruits of my work – the fight for human rights,’” he tells Minivan News.

A young couple walking down the street noticed him – and the girl began screaming. A young man on a motorcycle motorcyclist heard the sound as he came around the corner, and stopped so Rasheed could get on behind him.

“I was still holding my neck, and not talking, and pointed in the direction of the hospital. With my right hand I held onto his shoulder – I was afraid I might faint because of the blood loss and fall off. There was so much blood – there was a pool forming in front of me.”

Fighting off unconsciousness, Rasheed stumbled into the lobby of ADK hospital, the young man behind him.

“I was very appreciative but I couldn’t talk to thank him,” Rasheed says. “Because I couldn’t say thank you I just gave him a thumbs up and walked into the hospital. A doctor later said the guy promptly fainted in the doorway.”

Still holding his neck, Rasheed walked into the the emergency room: “The people waiting in the lobby started screaming as I went passed – I think they were shocked,” he says.

A Maldivian girl and a couple of foreign nurses took Rasheed to a bed – “I saw a lot of ADK officials and police officers coming in. The Maldivian girl asked me to show them the injury. I knew I had to show them the extent of the damage so they knew what kind of treatment was needed,” he says.

“I lifted my head all the way back. And quickly back down. A doctor later told me that a nurse and a police officer fainted.”

The foreign nurses quickly inserted a tube into his neck so he could breathe, and pressed bandages to his neck to try and stem the blood loss.

The staff put him on a bed and rushed him to the operating theatre.

“They gave me anaesthetic. It took a while for it to work, but I didn’t feel any pain. I could see them opening my neck, putting their hand inside. I knew they were trying to assess the damage and from what they were saying, that my trachea was severed.”

The hospital kept Rasheed under anesthetic for 48 hours – “they didn’t want to wake me up,” he says.

“My father later told me that I happened to go into the hospital when the new shift was coming in All the old shift doctors stayed on – there were 6-8 of them. My father said at that moment they told him that I had a less than one percent chance of survival, but that they would try everything they could.”

Rasheed was later told by friends who had gathered outside the operating theatre that while he was undergoing emergency surgery, one of the men who had attacked and hospitalised him during a protest for religious tolerance on December 10 – Human Rights Day – came and waited outside the emergency room.

“A relative spotted him and asked him what he was doing there – he said he was there for scans – so the relative asked him why he was waiting in front of emergency. He was the guy who attacked me with a stone on December 10 and fractured my skull, and his excuse was that he was there for a scan,” Rasheed says.

That was the first of several unsettling incidents to happen while Rasheed was in hospital. Conscious of security concerns, ADK staff forbade access to Rasheed for all apart from his parents.

“While I was under anesthetic, I was told by a friend of a friend – a gang member – that someone had been sent into the hospital to kill me – to pull the plug. Nobody would have noticed,” Rasheed says.

“This bearded guy came into the Intensive Care Unit posing as my father. While he was near me a doctor who knew my father just happened to come into the ICU. The doctor was suspicious, and asked him who he was – he said he was my father. The doctor said ‘I know Hilath’s father, you are not his father,’ and called security to have him thrown out. He’s on the hospital’s CCTV footage.”

Four days later, Rasheed woke up on a ventilator, astounding doctors at his miraculous recovery.

“They said they had never seen anyone recover so fast from such an injury,” he says.

Rasheed has no doubt in his mind as to the motivation behind his attack – the third in just a few months. The attack was unusual in that most of the wave of recent gang stabbings in the Maldives have involved multiple stab wounds to different parts of the body – targeted throat slashing is new.

In July 2009, Rasheed broke news of a story on his blog concerning an under-age girl allegedly being kept by a family as a ‘jaariya’ – a concubine. Concerns were initially raised when the girl was taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) and was found to be pregnant.

“Ever since I reported the story on my blog I have received death threats. Things like: ‘If we see you on street we will slash your throat’, ‘we will behead you’, ‘don’t walk in a dark alley,’ things like that,” says Rasheed.

One of only several Maldivian bloggers to write under his own name, Rasheed courted controversy by continuing to tackle taboo subjects in the Maldives – particularly religious intolerance, and the constitutional provision that all Maldivians were required to be ‘100 percent Sunni Muslim’. This was at odds, Rasheed argued, with the country’s Sufi history and new-found commitment to freedom of expression – which had ironically, he argued, also given a voice to more extreme interpretations of the religion.

The attitude of many to Rasheed’s work was summarised in comments made by spokesperson for former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and newly-appointed Minister for Human Resources, Mohamed ‘Mundhu’ Shareef, who told AFP following the attempt on the blogger’s life that while the government condemned the attack, “Hilath must have known that he had become a target of a few extremists.”

“We are not a secular country. When you talk about religion there will always be a few people who do not agree,” Shareef said.

Both the administrations of Nasheed and Waheed showed little interest in prosecuting those who threatened and attacked Rasheed – regardless of the number of photos and witnesses.

“I reported the threats to police. In fact an intelligence officer met me after the concubine story. Nothing came of it. The man who attacked me with the stone on December 10 – there were photos of him, I gave his identity and everything. Police never arrested him, and as far as I know he’s still roaming free around Male.”

Police are investigating the latest attack on Rasheed, but despite claiming to have access to CCTV footage of the area, no arrests had been made at time of press. Police Sub-Inspector Hassan Haneef told Minivan News that while the investigation was proceeding, the case was “sensitive”.

The reason for that, Rasheed says, “is very obvious.”

“This coup government is collaborating with Islamic extremists. The extremists together with the Adhaalath party are now in power. I don’t think they will arrest my three attackers, even this time, and I don’t think I will get justice as long as Waheed’s coup government is in power,” the blogger says.

Days before the attempt on his life, Rasheed and a friend were passing the Furqan mosque in Male’ on their way to the swimming tracks. Six members of the same gang who attacked him on December 10 – who were inside setting up a sermon – came out and began punching him in the face.

“They cornered me, and pushed me into the wall. And started punching my face. As they were punching me I told them I had repented and was a Muslim. One of them said: ‘We don’t know that. You have to make a public announcement that you are a Muslim. Otherwise we will kill you.’”

The sight of a passing police jeep caused the group to cease their attack and scatter – “apart from one. He was one of those who threw stones on December 10,” Rasheed says. “Right in front of the police, he punched me in the face.”

The police saw the incident, came out of the jeep and arrested his attacker, says Rasheed.

“They asked me and my friend to come to the police station. We filed a case. That night they took him to court and extended his detention by five days.”

However while Rasheed was at home one of the gang members “called me, and told me to withdraw the case, and that in return I would never be attacked by Maldivian Wahabis again.”

The following morning Rasheed went to the police station and withdrew the case. He rang the gang member, “who said he was very happy.”

“A few days later this happened,” says Rasheed, pointing to his scarred throat. “I guess they are not good at keeping their word,” he laughs bitterly.

While Rasheed cannot identify his attackers in the June 4 attack, he claims that besides calling out his name, the assailants told him the attack was “compliments” of three senior political and religious figures in the country.

“I was told by a friend of these gang members that [two of these figures] met this gang and told them to murder me, and that it would not be a sin, and that in fact they would go to heaven because I had blogged about freedom of religion and gay rights,” Rasheed says.

“The friend also told me via the gang member that the extremists have drawn up a list of MDP members and supporters who are advocating secularism on Facebook and Twitter. I haven’t seen this list, but I’m told it exists. I have advised all my friends to be extra careful about their personal safety.”

Both sides of the political spectrum in the Maldives have on occasion accused the other of employing gangs for political purposes, such as attending and disrupting political rallies, in exchange for money and alcohol. However, Rasheed’s allegation that radicalisation is now being used as a control technique is new.

“These gangs are very easy to radicalise,” Rasheed explains. “They have committed all kinds of evil acts and sins, and it is very easy to brainwash them. These Sheikhs go and tell them that because they have done all these activities, the only way for them to get salvation is to subordinate themselves to Allah and undertake jihad against secularists and unbelievers. It is very easy.

“I think because the Islamists are now in power these people feel powerful and immune, and protected by this new culture of impunity. They are doing what they want to do, and what they are told to do. As long as this coup government is in power, this country will be lawless with gangs and Islamic extremists dictating our lives and murdering their opponents who disagree with them.”

Some of the more conservative Sheikhs have even privately expressed concern about the growing radicalisation of gang members, Rasheed says.

“One of them told a relative of mine that it was a disgrace – that these were gang members, taking heroin, abusing alcohol, that they were just criminals posing as Salafis,” says Rasheed.

“He said he was really concerned about groups taking over mosques because it was giving a bad name to Salaf and all the other Wahabis.”

International response

The attack on Rasheed has been widely condemned by international human rights NGOs, as the first apparently targeted murder attempt of a journalist in the Maldives.

Several human rights NGOs raised the attack during a recent debate at the UN Human Rights Council with UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Frank La Rue.

During the debate, NGOs led by the Centre for Inquiry and the International Humanist and Ethical Union criticised the growing “climate of intolerance and impunity for such crimes” in the Maldives.

“The government of the Maldives has made no effort to arrest Rasheed’s attackers despite credible photographic evidence of the attack,” the NGOs contended, expressing alarm at the growing influence of extremists in the Maldives.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the blocking of Rasheed’s blog – www.hilath.com – in 2011 by Communications Authority of the Maldives (CAM) on the order of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The Ministry had made the request on the grounds that the site contained anti-Islamic material.

Rasheed at the time described the crack-down as “just the beginning”, claiming there was no material on it that contradicted his Sufi interpretation of Islam.

“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.”

After his attack, RSF issued a statement noting that it had “all the hallmarks of a targeted murder attempt.”

“Rasheed has made many enemies through his outspoken blogging. The authorities in charge of the investigation should not rule out the possibility that this was linked to his journalistic activity. He is a well-known journalist who has repeatedly been censored, arrested and threatened.

“The police must, as a matter of urgency, put a stop to the harassment of Rasheed and take the issue of his safety seriously. Any lack of response on their part will constitute a criminal failure to assist a person in danger,” RSF stated.

Amnesty International also issued a statement, noting that “religious groups opposed to Ismail Rasheed’s long campaign for religious freedom are suspected of being behind the attack.”

“People linked to these groups hit him with stones in December 2011, fracturing his skull, because he had arranged a rally to call for religious tolerance. Although that attack took place in front of onlookers and there is photographic evidence that can be used to identify the attackers, no one has yet been brought to justice for that attack,” Amnesty said.

For his part, Rasheed is no longer in the Maldives and has said he has no specific plans to return.

“In my opinion, I can never return to the Maldives. Right now, with the coup government hand-in-hand with Maldivian extremists, I believe the Maldives is a terrorist state. We need elections as soon as possible to bring back democracy,” he said.

The apparently newfound willingness of some politicians to use radicalised groups for political gain was “a devil’s pact”, Rasheed warned.

“Expect more political murders in the near future. It is not just me they want to get rid of – there are a lot of people. I forsee a lot of bloodshed.”

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Lawyer Najeeb murdered: Supreme court and AG call for action as public demand death penalty

The judiciary and authorities have come to high alert after prominent Lawyer Ahmed Najeeb was found brutally murdered on Sunday night.

Police were called to second floor apartment in Maafanu Masroora house in the capital Male’ at around 6:45pm yesterday evening, where they found 65 year-old Najeeb’s body inside a large dustbin, gagged, badly beaten up and stabbed multiple times.

According to eye witnesses, his face was lobotomised with a knife beyond recognition, and a blade was found stuck underneath his chin.

Though police have not revealed details of the case they have confirmed that a suspect, identified as 29 year-old Ahmed Murrath, has been arrested in connection to the murder. His 18 year-old girlfriend is also also being questioned by the police, according to some media reports.

Murrath, who is registered as residing at the house where lawyer’s body was found, is reported to be a convicted criminal released under the former government’s Second Chance Program, under which over 300 inmates incarcerated for drug offences were conditionally released.

Devastated family members of Najeeb and friends were seen crying at Indira Ghandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) last night as the hospital official conducted the medical examination of the body.

“He was so badly beaten up and stabbed. Everyone is so shocked and devastated. He is a very nice and kind man. Why would someone to something so horrible?” said a relative of  the victim.

According to early reports, Najeeb was providing legal counsel in dividing the house, Masroora, between its heirs. Police have yet to give confirmation of this.

He is scheduled to be buried after Asru prayer this evening.

Judiciary on alert

Meanwhile, Najeeb’s background as a lawyer and writer has prompted both Attorney General Aishath Azima Shakoor and the apex court to take the unprecedented step of issuing statements condemning the murder.

He is the sixth victim to be killed this year, while several others have been brutally injured in a spate of gang violence across capital Male’ and atolls.

The Supreme Court said that “attacks against lawyers will not be tolerated” and that it takes every necessary measure to provide protection and security to lawyers.

“Crimes like these are committed with utter disregard to dignity entitled to the people, and are beyond the boundaries of humanity. When such crimes occur, the whole society plunges into fear and chaos,” the statement read.

Therefore, it adds, taking action against the attacker responsible for Najeeb’s murder is necessary for both public security and peace.

The Attorney General’s Office meanwhile echoed the apex court’s statement, emphasising that lawyers today are serving in an “increasingly dangerous environment.”

The AG’s Office reported that Azima made clear the need for prompt actions to make sure such crimes are not repeated.

Calls for death penalty grows

Home Minister Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, speaking at a press conference today, repeated his call for a decision on the implementation of the death penalty in relation to such crimes.

“We want death for death,” a crowd gathered near IGMH last night shouted, as Najeeb’s body was brought to the ambulance.

In recent times gang violence, burglary, mugging, sexual abuse of children and murders are increasing to levels of alarming concern in society, and the rise in criminal-related death tolls have provoked public pressure to implement the death penalty or capital punishment in the Maldives.

Under Islamic Sharia, the death penalty is the punishment of a murderer (one who kills deliberately) and that he is to be killed in retaliation (Qisaas) unless the victim’s next of kin let him off or agree to accept the ‘Diyah’ (blood money).

Although death sentences are issued by courts in the Maldives, traditionally those sentences a commuted to life imprisonment under the power vested in the President.

From January 2001 to December 2010, a total of 14 people were sentenced to death by the courts, and none from them have been executed. The last person to be executed in the Maldives after receiving a death sentence was in 1953 during the first republican President Mohamed Ameen. Hakim Didi was charged with attempting to assassinate President Ameen using black magic.

Following  reports of the murder, the government-aligned Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM)’s parliament group member Ahmed Mahloof  proposed an amendment to the Clemency Act (Act no 2/2010) which would make performing the death penalty mandatory in the event it was upheld by the Supreme Court.

His amendment would require the President to enforce any death penalty if the Supreme Court issued the verdict of death, or if the Supreme Court supported the ruling of the death penalty made by either the Criminal court or the High Court. This move would halt the current practice of the President commuting such sentences to life imprisonment.

Previously, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Rasheed and later MP Ibrahim Muthalib also submitted similar amendments to the clemency act although both subsequently withdrew the motions.

“I believe nobody would want to die. So if the death penalty is enforced, a person who is to commit a murder would clearly know that if he carries out the act, his punishment would be his life. I believe this will deter him from committing such acts,” Mahloof said following the submission of the amendment.

In the Initial Report of Maldives under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prepared by Human Rights Commission (HRCM) in 2011, the commission noted that growing public sentiment to impose death penalty.

But implementing death penalty may not be as easy as it sounds.

According to the commission, the Maldives has affirmed the UN Resolution of Moratorium on death penalty on 18 December 2007, which emphasises all states that still provision capital punishment “progressively restrict the use of the death penalty and reduce the number of offences for which it may be imposed.”

“This resolution still needs to be passed by the parliament” it reads.

Furthermore, there are several laws pending which are related to the enforcement of the death penalty including, the passage of the revised Penal Code, Criminal Procedures Code, Evidence Bill and Witness Act, the commission adds.

The Maldives is yet to establish an independent forensic institution to provide accurate information to support the judiciary to make an impartial decision on matters concerning the administration of the death penalty.

Meanwhile the commission acknowledged that the “life threatening acts of crime in the country have been aggravated” due to a number of direct and indirect factors, of which the direct problems include “inadequate legislation pertaining the criminal justice system”.

The existing Penal Code which was enforced in 1981 and its last amendment made in 200 has many parts which are not relevant to the present context and does not reflect the spirit of the present Constitution.

Moreover,the commission identifies the  inadequate legislations pertaining to evidence and witnesses, dismissal of forensic evidence by courts, absence  of  a witness protection program and inadequate correctional and rehabilitation system for convicted offenders as key factors.

“The lack of a comprehensive integrated crime prevention mechanism remains the greatest weakness in addressing the issue of increase in crime. High numbers of unemployed youth, and the persistent substance abuse and drug addiction among youth in the country are indirect factors catalysing the increase in crime,” the HRCM report adds.

Therefore, to address the above, says the HRCM, the “state should revise the existing Penal Code, and bring into force the Criminal Procedure Code – the other legislation pertaining to evidence and witnesses.”

“The State should further establish effective rehabilitation mechanisms for offenders, better prisons and correctional facilities to house and to rehabilitate criminals, and to strengthen effective coordination between drug rehabilitation system and criminal justice system,” it concludes.

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Bottom of the table Maldives seek first points in final Under-22 qualifier

The Maldives Under-22 football squad will face off against their Kuwaiti counterparts tomorrow in their final qualifying match for next year’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-22 Championships.

With tournament qualification in Group C already sealed by Iran and Kuwait, the Maldives, who presently sit at the foot of the same table, face a daunting challenge as they look to seal their first points during the final match of their current campaign.

In the Maldives’ previous game yesterday, the squad were defeated 2-1 by Bahrain after a 61st minute Ahmed Nazim equaliser was cancelled out by a late second-half goal from Hassan Abdqaheri.

The loss came on the back of a 7-0 thrashing by top of the table Iran on Thursday (June 28) and two previous qualifying defeats at the hands of Tajikistan and Qatar.

According to the AFC, the top two teams in each of the seven qualifying groups will qualify for the inaugural Under-22 championship along with the best third-place team. The championship is expected to serve as the official Asian qualifiers for future Olympic tournaments.

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Majlis assembles Nasheed investigation committee

A seven member Majlis committee has been assembled to investigate the alleged illegal activities of former President Mohamed Nasheed, after a resolution was submitted by Kaashidhoo MP Abdulla Jabir last week.

The introduction of the proposal prompted a furious response from the members of Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), prompting the premature ending of the Majlis’ session.

The committee members have been assigned today and local media has revealed their names to be: Ali Waheed, Ibrahim Mutthalib, Ibrahim Riza, Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik, Riyaz Rasheed, and Moosa Zameer as well as Jabir himself.

Jabir, a member of the Jumhoree Party (JP), told Minivan News that he intends to contest for the chairmanship of the committee.

“It is important to understand these activities. If we find he has acted against the constitution, parliament will decide on the process that should be taken after that”, he explained.

Jabir explained that amongst the charges to be investigated were the closing the supreme court and “giving away the effects” of the Maldivian people without proper bidding processes.

“There is no personal grudge – we are just doing our duty”, added Jabir.

Ali Waheed is the only MDP MP assigned to the committee, the rest representing parties aligned with the unity government or standing as independents.

Following his return from the United States yesterday, Nasheed was reported in Haveeru as saying that he would be happy to appear before parliament to discuss these matters.

“I have always been ready to answer. I can answer. Anything I did was done for the sake of the people. I have facilitated the needs of the people at the time in accordance to the principles of the law and the general guidelines”, told the press at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).

The Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office is currently considering two cases forwarded to it in mid April regarding Nasheed’s alleged misdemeanours whilst in power.

The cases concerning the arrest of Judge Abdullah Mohamed and the alcohol containers apparently discovered at the official residence of the President, Muleaage.

Last week by Deputy Leader of the PPM Umar Naseer expressed his confidence that the PG would play a role in putting Nasheed behind bars.

“He is an independent person. I hope he will prosecute this case. He has said that he will. I have no doubt that he will,” Naseer said.

The PG’s office responded at the time, saying that it was awaiting further information on the case, maintaining that the office was “not sitting on it”.

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President appoints Deputy Minister of Gender, Family and Human Rights

Mohamed Zahid has been appointed Deputy Minister of Gender, Family and Human Rights, the President’s Office has announced.

Zahid will serve under Dhiyana Saeed, who heads the ministry, which was formed back in May as part of a cabinet shake-up.

President Mohamed Waheed Hassan announced at the time that he was to abolish the previous Ministry of Health and Family in favour of two separate bodies.  These bodies are the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Gender, Family and Human Rights.

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GMR commences two year terminal launch countdown, while coalition calls for nationalisation

Infrastructure giant GMR has said the new terminal at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) will open two years as of yesterday (July 1) “irrespective” of outside issues.

The government has meanwhile pledged to back parliament should it decide on re-nationalising the project.

The development of the airport – expected by the company to total US$511m in costs – is the largest foreign investment project undertaken in the Maldives’ history and includes commitments to renovate INIA’s existing terminal by September both in terms of operational efficiency and customer services, according to GMR.

At the same time, work is also under way on an entirely new terminal structure on the Eastern-side of Hulhule’ island that GMR has claimed will completely transform the country’s foremost transfer hub for local people and international visitors alike.

Work conducted by GMR to reclaim the new terminal ground

Local media outlets were on Saturday updated on the redevelopment of the island and shown around the new terminal site which, when completed, will aim to cater for increases in international traffic predicted in the country up to 2035.  The site is also required to bring INIA’s operations in line with international aviation standards.

With contractors already having begun work on the new structure as of last month, the government has stressed that it will not seek to interfere or “disturb” the project that officially commenced back in November 2010 under the administration of former President Mohamed Nasheed.  This government commitment was made despite raising concerns over what it claimed are minor issues relating to business regulations on the site.

However, President’s Office Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza said the long-term prospects of the construction ultimately depended on GMR validating the legality of their contract – a document that was overseen by the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The IFC is a member of the World Bank group and the largest global institution focused on private sector in developing countries.

Abbas added that should parliament also decide on nationalising the airport in line with the wishes of certain pro-government parties to take back the project from GMR, then the present administration would have to comply with such a decision.

The government of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan comprises a coalition of former opposition parties that represent the majority of elected representatives. The now-opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presently has 29 MPs in the Majlis, the largest number of MPs belonging to a single party.

Nationalisation calls

Several pro-government parties – including the Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP), Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), People’s Alliance (PA) and Jumhoree Party (JP) – advised President Waheed last month that they continued to endorse an agreement signed in June 2010 calling for the airport to be taken back from GMR and nationalised.

The agreement endorsed six main points which included taking legal action to prevent the government’s decision to award the contract to GMR.

GMR’s contract is currently under scrutiny by a committee appointed by President Waheed, which includes the Attorney General, the Finance Minister and the CEO of Maldives Airports Company Ltd (MACL). The president has previously pledged during a visit to India that he would protect investment from the country in the Maldives.

A delegation from the IFC, which brokered the deal between GMR and the government of Maldives, recently addressed the government’s concerns over the concession agreement in a meeting with senior government officials.

Coalition concerns

When asked whether he believed GMR’s pledge to present the Maldives with a entirely new airport structure by July 1 2014 – in line with a 25 year concession agreement to develop and manage the site – would be met, Abbas claimed that concerns raised by several former opposition parties would need to be addressed.

“The point to note is that during the agreement’s signing, several unlawful points were raised by [former opposition] parties over why the government could not enter the agreement with GMR,” he claimed. “Under the law of the contract [GMR] did not perform sufficient due diligence and they must validate the legality of the contract. If any court of law rules the contract is illegal, the law must be upheld.”

The claims were made after local media reported that GMR had begun construction last month without a Civil Aviation Authority permit needed for work to begin. GMR responding in newspaper Haveeru said that the terminal construction had been approved in an existing master-plan agreed with the government.

Clarifying the report, Abbas claimed that the permit was “not a huge issue” and was believed to have resulted from an error by contractors presently working on the airport’s construction.

Under the law, he stressed that companies were required to undertake an Environmental Impact assessment (EIA) – which had been completed by GMR – as well as meet all other local business regulations.

Abbas claimed that the permit was an issue likely to have resulted due to a contractor error and could be addressed within the space of a week without major delays.

“Normal procedure would be for the cessation of work on the airport while the permit was awaiting approval. This takes about a week. I don’t see any reason for delays,” he said.

Aside from the permit issue, the government also alleged that it wished to resolve an issue over a duty-free law that outlawed duty-free shops at arrival terminals. With alcohol outlawed for consumption or purchase outside of licensed resort properties under Maldivian law, duty free stores within the airport’s arrival area was raised as a legal issue.

“These issues can easily be resolved, we are not looking to disturb the GMR deal,” he claimed. “Larger corporations need good governance, if one company does not meet its obligations everyone else may start looking for loopholes.”

Disturbance

Abbas said the most pressing issue concerning the INIA construction agreement remained the US$25 Airport Development Charge (ADC) outlined by GMR within its original agreement – a practice the infrastructure group contends is commonly used by airport developers around the world to aid the costs of large-scale renovation projects.

“The law does not allow for deduction of the ADC without parliamentary approval,” Abbas said.

The country’s Civil Court had blocked GMR charging the ADC last year on the grounds that it was a tax not approved by parliament. As the ADC was stipulated in the contract, former President Mohamed Nasheed’s administration had signed with the airport operator, the government at the time agreed that GMR would deduct the charges from the concession fees due the government, pending appeal.

With the present government having contested these deductions, GMR released a statement back in May proposing a compromise agreement whereby Maldivian nationals would be excluded paying the ADC when departing the airport.

While seeking to maintain an open dialogue with the government, GMR said Saturday that there had been no reply so far in regards to the options it had offered the government in order to find a resolution to the ADC matter.

Business politics

Despite the ongoing issues with the ADC, the infrastructure group said it did not pay too much attention to politics in the country, claiming it instead remained focused on the development of INIA.

“We don’t do politics well at all,” said INIA CEO Andrew Harrison, when questioned by local media about the impact politics was potentially having on the construction.

Speaking during a tour of the new airport structure yesterday, Harrison added that the airport construction was on track at present, and already providing improved returns to the state when compared to earnings before the agreement came into place.

He added that although there was no set deadline in order to reach consensus with the government over the resolution of the ADC charge, long-term delays could have “time and cost implications for the project”.

“Additional improvements”

Aside from contractual obligations to improve tourist processing capacity in the existing terminal, Harrison said that GMR was committed to a number of additional improvements not specified in the original concession agreement.

These improvements include an entirely new outdoor food court for the present terminal including Thai Express, Burger King and Coffee Corner restaurants that would be open to the general public as well as visitors.

He also pointed to other high-profile developments such as the refurbishment of the airport’s domestic terminal and toilets, a new executive lounge and behind the scenes modifications to boost capacity at the site as a reflection of the company’s claims it is going beyond its contractual obligations.

The new terminal meanwhile has been devised to include new shopping complexes, increased seaplane capacity via two new water runways and a considerably larger structure built above an large artificial lagoon.

The construction, comprising of a 70 percent glass structure, has been designed architecturally to play up the appeal of the Maldives’ oceans, whilst being four times the size of the terminal presently used to accommodate airline passengers.

Emergency runway

Addressing concerns raised in local media about the development of the existing runway, Harrison said that GMR had sent proposals to the government for possible construction of an emergency runway.

He stressed the the construction, which would require additional funding support either directly through the government or through the concession agreement, could be used only in case of emergencies should the main airport runway be out of action owing to an accident or emergency.

Harrison claimed that if approved by government, the emergency runway, which would not be ready by the opening of the terminal on July 1, 2014, would not be in full compliance to  International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) regulations, due to its distance to grounded aircraft.

With the new terminal in place, aircraft would be grounded 212 metres away from the proposed emergency runway, meaning it would not meet recommended international regulations. However, GMR claimed this distance would still be preferable in terms of regulatory requirements to the current space available between INIA’s runway and aircraft parking area.

Beyond the new terminal aiming to meet full ICAO compliance by the time it is open to tourists, the passenger terminal is also expected to meet LEED Silver Certification environmental standards.

The contruction will also include a new VIP terminal to deal with diplomats, heads of state and other high-profile guests, along with a brand new cargo terminal and a Airport Fire and Rescue Building to deal with any potential on-site emergencies.

GMR said that the terminal had been designed by Singapore-based architect Winston Choo, who had devised a structure making the most of natural ocean surroundings while also playing up garden areas and a lagoon equivalent to two football pitches in size.

As part of the terminals proposed aesthetic, distressed wood, granite and coral like materials designed to emulate the feel of high-end resort properties around the country are expected to be used, the company added.

A virtual walk through of the proposed terminal design can be viewed here.

Discussing the ongoing political backlash against the awarding of the contract to GMR back in 2010 on nationalistic grounds, Harrison contended that INIA would remain a Maldivian owned enterprise that would be continuously developed by the company for the duraction of the tender.

“We are just the caretakers here,” he said.  “The airport remains and has always been owned by Maldivians.”

Harrison contended that to ensure profitability for its investment in the airport, GMR was itself committed to strengthening the wider Maldivian economy by working with local businesses, industry and contractors.

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