Day: June 25, 2013

Maldives given final chance to avoid tier 3 in human trafficking report, face possible sanctions

The Maldives has been placed on the US State Department’s Tier Two Watch List for Human Trafficking for the fourth consecutive year.

As with last year’s report, the country avoided a downgrade to the lowest tier “because [the] government has a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.”

However US Ambassador-at-large for the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, Luis CdeBaca, noted during the release of the report that the six countries again spared a downgrade would not be eligible next year – including Afghanistan, Barbados, Chad, Malaysia, Thailand and the Maldives.

This was, he noted, intended to prompt action in countries that were “getting comfortable being on Tier 2 Watch List, doing a minimum amount, not really doing all that much, not on the upward trajectory of a Tier 2 or a Tier 1 country.”

Tier 3 countries are defined by the State Department as those which “neither satisfy the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking nor demonstrate a significant effort to do so”, and are open to non-humanitarian and non-trade international sanctions.

Human trafficking in the Maldives

The Maldives is a destination country for human trafficking, including sex trafficking and particularly forced labour and debt bondage. Maldivian children were also trafficked within the country, the State Department noted.

“An unknown number of the approximate 150,000 documented and undocumented foreign workers in Maldives – primarily Bangladeshi and Indian men in the construction and service sectors – face conditions of forced labor: fraudulent recruitment, confiscation of identity and travel documents, withholding or nonpayment of wages, and debt bondage,” the report stated.

“Migrant workers pay the equivalent of approximately US$1,000 to US$4,000 in recruitment fees in order to migrate to Maldives, contributing to their risk of debt bondage inside the country.

“In addition to Bangladeshis and Indians, some migrants from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Nepal reportedly experienced recruitment fraud before arriving in Maldives.

“Recruitment agents in source countries collude with employers and agents in Maldives to facilitate fraudulent recruitment and forced labor of migrant workers.”

Despite widespread acknowledgement of the practice and the government’s submission of a draft anti-trafficking bill to parliament in December 2012, the Maldives still has no specific laws prohibiting human trafficking and “the government of the Maldives made minimal anti-trafficking enforcement efforts during the year.”

While forced labour was prohibited under the 2009 Employment Act, it was not penalised, the report noted.

“The government reported investigating four and prosecuting two sex trafficking cases in 2012, compared to no prosecutions recorded in 2011,” the report stated.

However “the government did not report any prosecutions of government employees for alleged complicity in trafficking-related offenses [and] the absence of government translators prevented foreign trafficking victims from pursuing recourse through the Maldivian legal system.”

Deport first, ask questions later

Instead, the government focused on deporting undocumented immigrants without screening them for indications of human trafficking.

“Some of these immigrants subsequently were identified by a civil society group as trafficking victims,” the report noted. “Due to a lack of comprehensive victim identification procedures, trafficking victims may have been inappropriately incarcerated, fined, or otherwise penalised for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of their being trafficked.”

The State Department report specifically noted that between March and December 2012 the government “arrested, imprisoned, and deported 29 foreign females for prostitution at beauty salons without first identifying whether they were sex trafficking victims.”

“The government did not provide foreign victims with legal alternatives to their removal to countries where they might face hardship or retribution. Authorities did not encourage victims to participate in the investigation or prosecution of trafficking offenders. Police officers reported that suspected trafficking victims were fearful of being arrested or deported by the police,” the report stated.

The focus on deportation was noted, with government officials even observing that the Maldives “had not meaningfully addressed the role Maldivian recruitment agents play in facilitating human trafficking.”

Police were reported to have fined three local recruitment agencies found to have engaged in fraud and forgery, however “no labor recruiter or agency was criminally prosecuted for fraudulent recruitment practices”, despite the creation of a recruitment agency oversight body in April 2011.

Sex trafficking

The report noted that a “small number” of women from Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, China, the Philippines, Eastern Europe, and former Soviet countries, as well as some girls from Bangladesh and Maldives, “are subjected to sex trafficking in Male.”

Domestic trafficking involved the transport of children from their home islands to the capital Male for the purposes of forced domestic servitude, with some also facing sexual abuse.

The report noted that while the 2009 Child Sex Abuse Act criminalised the prostitution of children with a penalty of up to 25 years’ imprisonment for violations, Article 14 of the same act “provides that if a person is legally married to a child under Islamic Sharia, none of the offenses specified in the legislation, including child prostitution, would be considered a crime.”

“The government did not report any efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts during the year,” the report noted.

Recommendations

The Maldives’ entry in the State Department’s report concluded with a long list of specific recommendations for the Maldives to combat human trafficking, and avoid the now otherwise inevitable downgrade to Tier 3 in June 2014.

These recommendations included:

  • Pass and enact legislation prohibiting and punishing all forms of trafficking in persons;
  • clearly distinguish between human trafficking, human smuggling and the presence of undocumented migrants in legislation, policies, and programs;
  • develop and implement systematic procedures for government officials to proactively identify victims of trafficking among vulnerable groups, such as undocumented migrants and females in prostitution;
  • ensure that trafficking victims are not penalized for acts committed as a result of being trafficked;
  • increase efforts to investigate and prosecute suspected trafficking offenses respecting due process;
  • work to ensure that identified victims of trafficking are provided access to victim services;
  • enforce prohibitions of passport retention by employers;
  • raise public awareness of human trafficking through media campaigns;
  • provide translators to police and other law enforcement authorities to ensure foreign workers are able to participate in investigations and prosecutions against their alleged traffickers;
  • improve inter-ministerial coordination on human trafficking issues;
  • ensure that changes to labor migration policies for the purpose of reducing human trafficking do not restrict legal migration;
  • take steps to ensure that employers and labor brokers do not abuse labor recruitment or sponsorship processes in order to subject migrant workers to forced labor;
  • accede to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.
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Group disrupts MDP rally in Henveiru

Additional reporting by Ahmed Naish

A group of about a dozen young men with placards and a megaphone disrupted a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) gathering in the Henveiru ward of Male’ last night (June 24) and “actively tried to incite violence”, the MDP has claimed.

The youths, who appeared to be in their 20s, entered the MDP rally held in Henveiru Park shortly after it began at 9:45pm, carrying placards with anti-MDP phrases and shouting.

The group was “actively trying to incite violence”, claimed MDP Spokesperson and MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor. “We suspect the [rival parties] paid the children.”

“It exposes them as thuggish. They are probably thinking ‘We lost [the elections] so we might as well disrupt [the MDP],” said Ghafoor.

“The young men were aggressive and wanted to scare people off,” Gahfoor continued. “They were kicking the shins of the MDP supporters in attendance and issuing thinly veiled threats. That’s what was most disturbing.”

Ghafoor explained that the young men kept moving through the crowd of MDP supporters and crowding the front of the podium.

“To show their impunity, one young man came up to the podium while [former MDP Chairperson and MP] Mariya Didi was speaking, picked up and drank her bottle of water,” said Ghafoor.

“He then hit the mic with a flourish and one of the young men declared ‘no one can hold a meeting without Bosnia City’s consent’,” he continued.

Some of the MDP supporters in attendance came to stop the youth from causing further disturbances at the podium and pushed him away, explained Ghafoor.

“The crowd of a couple hundred did not leave, but they were not happy with the disruptions and ‘boo-ed’ the youths, which caused them to back off a bit,” he said.

“The young men actively wanted to incite violence. That didn’t happen, but the crowd did shout [political slogans] at them saying things like ‘ehburun’ (one round),” he noted.

Ghafoor explained that the MDP speakers at the rally patiently appealed to the young men to let the meeting continue and told the youths they could protest peacefully without disrupting the rally.

“Two of the protesters’ placards claimed MDP Chairperson ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik and Vilma Rasheed swindled money, which is not true,” said Gahfoor. “They also claimed to not have been treated well by Nasheed’s government.”

Ghafoor referred to their efforts as “amateurish” and “rather silly”.

“They were not savvy about what they had to say,” he added.

Ghafoor said he suspected the youth group consisted of displaced children – since large numbers from the islands relocated to the capital after the tsunami – rather than Male’ residents.

While being heckled during her speech “Mariya Didi said ‘This is why MDP is campaigning, we don’t want displaced children to be used by people’,” explained Ghafoor.

Some of the speakers planned for last night’s MDP rally were unable to participate because “there was so much commotion” and ultimately the meeting ended earlier than planned, he added.

While Ghafoor was not aware if anyone called the police he was surprised at their lack of presence because “they are usually all over the place” during political events.

“[It shows] the police are supportive of such acts headed by the [government] mutineers and that this is how they are getting ready for the elections,” he alleged.

“Instead, the police should do everything to ensure elections are free and fair,” he added.

Given the disturbances at last night’s MDP Henveiru rally and the property damage done to a MDP meeting hall in the Manchangoalhi ward of Male’ on Sunday night (June 23), Ghafoor believes more disturbing incidents “are likely to happen again”.

“In which case we will contact MDP members to combat these types of disturbances with sheer numbers, rather than have a confrontation,” said Ghafoor.

Rocks and eggs

Meanwhile, a rock and some eggs were thrown at a party meeting hall in the Manchangoalhi ward of Male’ on Sunday night (June 23) and “late last night (the early morning hours of June 25)  the door was smashed at the same jagaha (meeting hall),” said Ghafoor.

In his speech after opening the hall later Sunday night, former President Mohamed Nasheed – who is currently campaigning in the southern atolls – asserted that MDP members would not retaliate with violence.

Two men on a motorbike reportedly threw the rock at a glass window of the meeting hall at about 7:45pm on Sunday night.

According to internet news outlet CNM, MDP activists were inside the hall finalising preparations for the opening ceremony scheduled for later that night. The rock however did not completely shatter the glass.

MDP presidential candidate Nasheed was due to open the meeting hall designated for supporters from the atolls of Shaviyani, Raa and Laamu at 10:15pm.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Nasheed said MDP’s opponents were resorting to violence as it was becoming clear to pro-government parties that they lacked support from the public.

As long as “traitor” Abdulla Riyaz remained Commissioner of Police, the country could not be at peace, Nasheed said, alleging that the police chief was one of the “main architects” of the “coup d’etat” on February 7, 2012.

Abdulla Riyaz, a former Assistant Commissioner of Police dismissed in the early days of the MDP government, was among three ex-servicemen that entered military barracks on the morning of February 7 to negotiate on behalf of mutinying police and soldiers at the Republic Square demanding Nasheed’s resignation.

Upon emerging from the military headquarters in front of the Republic Square, current Defence Minister Colonel (Retired) Mohamed Nazim – flanked by Riyaz and current State Minister for Home Affairs Mohamed Fayaz ‘FA’ – declared that Nasheed had been told to resign within the hour “without any conditions.”

The demand was “non-negotiable” and “not up for further discussion,” he added, before declaring that he was now in charge of the military and would soon appoint senior officers.

The three ex-servicemen then accompanied President Nasheed to the President’s Office under heavy military guard, where he announced his resignation at a televised press conference with the three former National Security Service (NSS) officers looking on.

Speaking at the jagaha opening on Sunday night, Nasheed said that the collective “hope and passion” of the Maldivian people were “more powerful than all their batons, pepper spray, iron armour and rubber bullets.”

“God willing, not a single MDP member will lift even the little finger in anger,” he said, adding that the party hoped to open eight meeting halls in Male’ in the near future.

As “every other house” in the capital would become a MDP jagaha before September, Nasheed claimed, “there are not enough rocks in Male'” to target all the meeting halls.

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Parliament rejects bill proposing enforcement of death penalty by hanging

Additional reporting by Neil Merrett

Parliament on Monday rejected 26-18 with no abstentions a bill proposed by government-aligned Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) MP Riyaz Rasheed to implement the death penalty by hanging.

The death penalty legislation was put to a vote to decide whether or not to proceed with the bill at committee stage.

Presenting the bill at a sitting earlier this month, the MP for Vilufushi said the legislation proposed implementing the death penalty by hanging if the Supreme Court upheld a death sentence passed by a lower court.

He contended that the death penalty would act as an effective deterrent to the increasing rate of premeditated murders in the Maldives.

MP Riyaz was not responding to calls from Minivan News at time of press.

Government-aligned Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Mohamed ‘Colonel’ Nasheed reportedly said he “will not vote to kill someone” at a time when the judiciary did not inspire public confidence.

“In reality, there are a lot of things I want to consider before I cast a vote that will allow a Maldivian citizen to be executed. Islam has determined penalties for certain reasons, to protect certain things. To protect property, life, religion, lineage and dignity. I don’t want a person to die because of a vote that I cast in favour of a law that does not protect these things,” the former MDP MP was quoted as saying by Sun Online.

The MDP meanwhile said today that there had been a “strong understanding”  among the party’s MPs participating in the vote to dismiss the bill.

MDP MP and Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said the party’s parliamentary group had opted to throw out the bill on the grounds that it would be “irresponsible” to approve such measures with ongoing concerns held by itself and independent experts over the functioning of the country’s judiciary.

Ghafoor additionally criticised the proposed bill as being irrelevant, arguing that the country’s draft penal code – a recent issue of contention between MPs and certain political parties – already included provisions for the death sentence as outlined under Islamic Sharia.

He said that with the implementation of the death penalty in the Maldives being a sensitive issue, some party MPs and politicians had preferred not to attend yesterday’s vote. Ghafoor said the vote highlighted the difficulties in the country of voting over issues requiring religious understanding.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) said no whip line has been established for yesterday’s vote, which was attended by only a limited number of its parliamentary group.

“Most of the PPM’s MPs were not in Male’, but at campaign locations [at the time],” the spokesperson claimed.

Implementation debate

The last person to be judicially executed in the Maldives was Hakim Didi, who was executed by firing squad in 1953 after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder using black magic.

Statistics show that from January 2001 to December 2010, a total of 14 people were sentenced to death by Maldivian courts.

However, in all cases, the acting president commuted these verdicts to life sentences.

In October 2012, the government announced its intention to introduce a bill to the People’s Majlis in order to guide and govern the implementation of the death penalty in the country.

As well as the bill proposed by MP Riyaz, in December 2012, former Attorney General (AG) Azima Shukoor drafted a bill outlining how the death sentence should be executed in the Maldives, with lethal injection being identified as the state’s preferred method of capital punishment

The Attorney General’s Office at the time said that it had looked to procedures followed by Egypt, Malaysia and the US in carrying out the death sentence, while also obtaining the opinions of religious scholars and lawyers when drafting the bill.

Minivan News understands that the bill submitted by the former AG remains open for comments on potential amendments.

The state’s stance to review implementation of death sentences has led to strong criticism from certain human rights-focused NGOs this year.

Speaking to Minivan News immediately following a visit to the Maldives in April 2013, Amnesty International’s South Asia Director Polly Truscott raised concerns about the recent drafting of new bills outlining implementation for executions.

She argued that even in practice, such bills would be deemed as a human rights violation, with the NGO maintaining that there remained no research to support the assertion that executing criminals served as an effective deterrent for serious crimes.

Truscott said that with the draft Penal Code also including provisions that would leave applying the death sentence to the discretion of an individual judge, the whole purpose of codifying laws would be undermined should the bill be passed.

She noted this was a particular concern considering the recent findings of various international experts such as  UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Judiciary, Gabriela Knaul, regarding the politicised nature of the country’s judicial system.

“To leave Sharia law to the discretion of individual judges is something we believe would be a bad idea,” she said at the time.

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MDP expresses concern with President Waheed’s appointee to JSC

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has expressed concern over President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s appointment yesterday of former Department of Judicial Administration (DJA) Spokesperson Latheefa Gasim to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), alleging the appointee had ties with the Jumhoree Party (JP).

In a press release yesterday (June 24), the party characterised Latheefa Gasim’s appointment as an attempt to “increase the political and other forms of influence of a particular group and promote their self-interest” through the judicial oversight commission.

“Latheefa Gasim is the wife of Mohamed Ikram, who is employed by Jumhoree Party presidential candidate Gasim Ibrahim as the head of V-media’s political department and a presenter of VTV, who campaigns for Gasim Ibrahim,” the party said, adding that Ikram was also a member of business magnate Gasim’s JP.

JP Leader Gasim Ibrahim is the parliament’s representative on the 10-member JSC, which consists of three judges from the three tiers of the judiciary (trial courts, High Court and Supreme Court); a representative of the President, the Attorney General, the chair of the Civil Service Commission; the Speaker of Parliament, a member of parliament elected by the People’s Majlis, a member of the public selected by parliament; and a lawyer elected by licensed practitioners in the Maldives.

Gasim, the JP MP for Alif Dhaal Maamigili, is the chairman of the Villa Group of businesses, which owns resorts, tour operators, a cement packing factory, a gas provider, an airline and several retail outlets.

The MDP alleged in its statement that Gasim has been “working ceaselessly” through the JSC to bar former President Nasheed from the upcoming presidential election on September 7, adding that the rival candidate has made public remarks to that effect.

Latheefa Gasim’s appointment to the commission has secured “two seats for the Jumhooree Party presidential candidate,” the press release continued, which has afforded the JP leader “further opportunities to advance his political and personal interests and exert extreme influence on the JSC.”

The press release also noted that Latheefa Gasim had made several statements to the media concerning MDP presidential candidate and former President Mohamed Nasheed’s trial at the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court.

The former DJA spokesperson was not responding to Minivan News at time of press.

Latheef Gasim’s appointment yesterday followed the removal of Mohamed ‘Reynis’ Saleem by President Waheed last week ostensibly over allegations that the lawyer commissioned gangs to retrieve money owed to him.

The President’s appointee on the JSC was summoned to the police for questioning over the allegations in May.

The Criminal Court meanwhile refused to grant police an arrest warrant to take Saleem into custody, a decision which was backed upon appeal by the High Court.

Saleem was the defence counsel of Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ahmed Nazim in criminal cases involving an alleged scam to defraud the now-defunct Ministry of Atolls Development.

The cases were dismissed by the Criminal Court shortly after the controversial transfer of presidential power on February 7, 2012.

Meanwhile, in her report to the United Nations Human Rights Council following a visit to the Maldives, UN Special Rapporteur on Independence of Judges and Lawyers Gabriela Knaul observed that the JSC had a “complicated” relationship with the judiciary, given that the commission “considers that it has exclusive jurisdiction over all complaints against judges, including over criminal allegations, while the Prosecutor General understands that the criminal investigation agencies have the competence to investigate criminal conducts by anyone.”

The special rapporteur stated that there was near unanimous consensus during her visit that the composition of the JSC – which includes representatives from all three branches of government instead of exclusively the judiciary as was the norm in other nations – was “inadequate and politicised”.

This complaint was first highlighted in a report by the International Committee of Jurists (ICJ) in 2010.

“Because of this politicisation, the commission has allegedly been subjected to all sorts of external influence and has consequently been unable to function properly,” Knaul observed.

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MDP Youth Wing President sues police for “unlawful” confiscation of mobile

The Youth Wing President of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), Aminath Shauna, is suing the Maldives Police Service (MPS) for the “unlawful” confiscation of her cell phone, reports local media.

Her mobile phone was confiscated following her arrest during a July 2012 MDP protest. As her phone was held against a court order, according to Shauna, she is seeking a Civil Court ruling that declares the police action was illegal.

“I was arrested on allegations that I obstructed police duty. After arresting me around 6pm, the [Criminal] court order to confiscate my phone was sought around 10pm,” Shauna told local media. “The court order’s date was stated as July 7, but I was arrested on July 13.”

MPS attempted to return her mobile after she filed the Civil Court case, however Shauna refused to accept the phone until the court issues its verdict.

“I said I will accept the phone only after the court makes a decision on the matter,” Shauna said.

“Moreover, only through the trial I came to know that the police are trying to place terrorism charges against me. But I was arrested on charges of obstruction of police duty,” she added.

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Lottery draw held for winners of flats under Veshi Fahi Male’ housing programme

A lottery draw among winners of flats in Male’ and Hulhumale’ under categories A and B of the Veshi Fahi Male’ housing programme took place on Sunday (June 23) to award and designate flats.

Deputy Minister of Housing Abdulla Muttalib told newspaper Haveeru yesterday (June 24) that the lottery draw took place for 100 flats in the A category and 540 flats in the B category.

He added that 100 flats in the ground floor of apartment complexes are designated for families who have dependents or children with special needs.

Muttalib also revealed that the ministry has reached an agreement with the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) to lower the advance payment from MVR 28,000 (US$1,816) to MVR 19,000 (US$1,232).

He added that agreements for the flats would be signed within the next three weeks.

While winners of flats in Male’ would be awarded the flats once construction in two areas of the capital was complete, Muttalib conceded that the work undertaken by India’s TATA company was completely stalled at present.

The Veshi Fahi Male’ de-congestion programme was a flagship project of the ousted Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) government under its manifesto pledge to provide affordable housing.

The project was launched on November 10, 2010 to ease congestion in the capital and develop the Greater Male’ Region, consisting of Hulhumale’, Vili-Male’, Thilafushi industrial island and Gulhifalhu.

Approximately 125,000 people are believed to reside in about 16,000 households in Male’ while the total number of households in the Maldives is estimated to be 46,000.

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PPM schedules Funadhoo island “mega-rally” for Thursday

The Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has been campaigning across Shaviyani Atoll this week ahead of attempts to hold a “mega-rally” on the island of Funadhoo on Thursday (June 27).

PPM MP Ahmed Nihan has said that a delegation including party presidential candidate MP Abdullah Yameen and his running mate Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed had so far campaigned on six islands in the atoll as part of the week-long trip expected to conclude Friday (June 28).

He said that MP Yameen has been travelling door-to door to meet voters and discuss his plans for economic development should he be voted president during September’s election.

Nihan added that the PPM had pledged would to put a high priority on economic development in Shaviyani Atoll, which he said lacked a regional airport that had in turn limited the local population’s access to the capital and other population centres.

He said that the party was already seeking to negotiate with the government for new resort developments in the atoll to facilitate jobs and economic growth to aid local development.

Nihan said that Funadhoo has traditionally been seen as a stronghold in terms of support for PPM founder and former Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s former party, the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) – now led by MP Ahmed Thasmeen Ali.

However, he claimed that during the visit, a large number of islanders had expressed support for Gayoom and the PPM, which he founded in 2011 after breaking away from the DRP.

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Pressure growing in PPM to quit coalition government: MP Nihan

Pressure is growing in the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) for its council to decide whether to continue backing President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s government ahead of September’s presidential election, a party official told Minivan News.

PPM MP Ahmed Nihan said the party has grown increasingly concerned at what it believed were “deliberate” attempts by President Waheed to try and discredit the party and its members to boost his own election campaign.

Nihan said that once senior party officials returned from campaigning this week in Shaviyani Atoll, he expected the PPM council would need to hold discussions on whether to remain in the current coalition government.

The ‘forward with the nation’ coalition backing Waheed dismissed the notion of a split within the government before voting begins, claiming that all parties were expected to stick with the present administration until September’s vote.

However, Nihan said despite the dismissal of several high-profile PPM members from Waheed’s government over the last week, the president had not attempted to make a single call to the party’s presidential candidate, MP Abdulla Yameen.

“We are a government stakeholder, yet not a single call has been made [by President Waheed] to Yameen,” he claimed. “This is the level of how the government operates now.”

Nihan alleged that the government was being run as if it was solely operated by the president’s Gaumee Ithihaad Party (GIP), rather than a collection of different parties.

PPM concerns

While not being able to speak for the PPM before an internal vote was taken, Nihan said party councillors and general members had continued to raise concerns about President Waheed’s conduct towards the party and its representatives in government.

He added that with PPM founder former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom expected to return from a visit to Malaysia around June 29, the issue of the party’s ongoing support for the current government would need to be discussed.

“I would hope a motion will be discussed concerning leaving the current government in the coming week after the campaign trips are over,” Nihan said.

“A lot of damage has been done, and there is a belief this has been masterminded by GIP loyalists to discredit the party in the outer islands. It has had the opposite effect though,” he added.

Nihan said a many concerns were raised by members of the perceived deliberate attempt to remove PPM representatives in the government “one by one”.

On Thursday (June 20), Sun Online reported that PPM member Abdullah Nashid was dismissed by the government over accusations he had been involved in corruption.

During the same week, the President’s Office announced it had dismissed Deputy Tourism Minister Mohamed Maleeh Jamal and Minister of State for Economic Development Abdulla Ameen from the government at the insistence of their former party, the DQP.

Former Deputy Minister Maleeh expressed his belief at the time that he had been fired because of his support for the presidential candidate of PPM, MP Abdulla Yameen.

On the back of the dismissals, the PPM told local media on June 20 that it would consider leaving the government should the party’s deputy leader and current Minister of Tourism Ahmed Adheeb be fired from his post.

On Wednesday (June 19), Adheeb was accused of running his ministry in an “unacceptable” manner by Mariyam Mizna Shareef who announced her resignation as minister of state for tourism, arts and culture in protest.

Contacted by Minivan News after announcing her resignation, Mizna declined to discuss her position further, requesting to stay clear of the country’s political arena and media attention.

“Political games”

Nihan today accused Mizna, who is the daughter of DRP Spokesperson Ibrahim Shareef, of playing “political games” in what he said was a bid to launch unproven allegations against Minister Adheeb to discredit him.

“Adheeb is the elected deputy leader of our party and is also a great young politician in the country,” he said, “[Mizna] was given her position as a present from [DRP Leader] Ahmed Thasmeen Ali who campaigned to get her the position.”

Nihan alleged that Mizna’s father, Ibrahim Shareef was seeking to blame any negative coverage of the present administration as being the fault of the PPM, as part of President Waheed’s aim of removing its members from the government.

He also accused Shareef of questioning the need to retain the PPM within the present government ahead of elections.

Despite the PPM previously raising concerns over what it claimed was President Waheed’s use of state fund and resources to give his own party an unfair campaign advantage, party officials have maintained that they would remain in the coalition as part of what it claimed was attempt to run the nation in a stable manner.

Nihan said today that the party would continue to look at whether it was in the best interest of the Maldivian people for the party to remain in the present coalition, before any decisions were taken by party members and senior officials.

Despite the PPM’s decision to stand directly against Dr Waheed in the presidential election, Abdulla Yazeed, a spokesperson on the media team of the president’s ‘forward with the nation’ coalition, today dismissed the likelihood of the PPM prematurely leaving the present government.

Yazeed told Minivan News that he did not believe a split in the current administration was imminent, adding that all parties were committed to ensuring the state continued to run effectively ahead of the upcoming vote.

Contacted by Minivan News today, DRP Parliamentary Group Leader Dr Abdulla Mausoom refused to speculate on whether the PPM would remain as a member of the current government up to September’s election.

However, Dr Mausoom dismissed the threat to the coalition’s campaign from the PPM standing as an election rival, claiming the MDP was the only “reasonable competitor” that stood a chance of beating President Waheed’s coalition in September.

He claimed that the party was also confident that no single candidate would have sufficient electoral support to secure a first round election victory, that voters disenchanted with the MDP candidate former President Mohamed Nasheed’s three years in government would look to President Waheed as an alternative to previous administrations.

President’s Office Media Secretary Masood Imad was not responding to calls at time of press.

Presidential candidates

Of the parties presently part of the coalition government, the PPM announced it would be fielding its own presidential candidate to contest the election after MP Yameen was declared the winner of a primary election against rival Umar Naseer in March this year.

Fellow government-aligned parties including the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP), the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and the religious conservative Adhaalath Party have all pledged to back President Waheed and his Gaumee Ithihaad Party (GIP) in the election.

The government-aligned Jumhoree Party (JP) meanwhile said last week that it would not make a decision on whether to join President Waheed’s coalition before its national congress scheduled for later this month, despite anticipating that it will field its own candidate – expected to be party founder and leader Gasim Ibrahim.

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MDP MP Jabir claims MVR 77 million in compensation for arrest

Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP and businessman Abdulla Jabir has filed a case against police alleging that his arrest damaged himself and his family, and claimed MVR 77 million (US$5 million) in compensation.

According to local media, the first hearing into the case was held at the Civil Court yesterday where the state attorney told the court that no court of law had declared that the arrest was unlawful.

Media reported that Jabir’s wife, former Attorney General and SAARC Secretary General Dhiyana Saeed, acted as his lawyer.

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