Day: September 7, 2014

Missing journalist’s family concerned over slow progress in search

Missing Minivan News journalist Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla’s family has expressed concern over slow progress in the Maldives Police Service’s three-week long search.

The police released a statement on Thursday night claiming it had questioned 318 individuals, interrogated 111, searched 139 locations in Malé’s suburb island Hulhumalé and searched 267,197.5 square meters of ocean.

“These are just statistics. We want to find him. We want the police to tell us if they have leads, if there is progress,” Rilwan’s brother Moosa Rilwan told Minivan News today.

“We want to know what the results of these extensive searches are. It’s been a month, my family and I fear for his life,” Moosa said.

Rilwan was last seen boarding the Hulhumalé ferry on August 8 at 12:55am. Evidence gathered by Minivan News suggests Rilwan was abducted.

Abduction

Eyewitnesses told Minivan News they saw a man being forced into a car at knifepoint in front of Rilwan’s apartment building at the time he is expected to have reached his house. The abductors dropped the knife and eyewitnesses reported the incident to the police. Minivan News understands the police confiscated the knife from the scene.

The police have said they took in two cars and have conducted forensic tests. Samples have also been sent abroad for further tests. Meanwhile, four individuals’ passports have also been withheld in connection to the case.

According to Moosa, the police have so far refused to publicly comment on whether there is a connection between the abduction and Rilwan’s disappearance.

“If the incident is not connected to Rilwan’s disappearance, who was abducted? What did the police do on the night after the abduction was reported? Why have they taken in two cars in relation to Rilwan’s disappearance?” Moosa questioned.

“Why have the police withheld passports? Have they been questioned? Are the police not afraid these men may go into hiding in the country?”

The police’s statement raises more questions than answers, he added.

Extensive search

According to the police, a specialist crime command team consisting of police officers from the intelligence department, forensics department, marine police specialist operations and divisional operations are working around the clock on the case.

The team is analysing 719 hours of CCTV footage from 101 cameras at 48 locations along the route Rilwan is believed to have traveled in Malé on the night of his disappearance.

Police are also investigating 638,000 cellphone numbers that have hit cell towers along the same route, the statement said.

Some 18 vessels in Hulhumalé lagoon including Safari boats, all of the beach area and empty lots in Hulhumalé, eight houses in Malé’s, four locations and the waste dump in Malé’s second suburb island Villingili were also searched, the police said.

Rilwan’s family will continue to support the police in the search, Moosa said.

The Human Rights Commission has also released a statement noting that it had yet to be updated on the authorities’ attempts to locate the missing journalist, despite having made a request for information more than two weeks ago.

Pressure up

An Avaaz petition has been launched calling on the Maldives government to expedite the search to find Rilwan and to guarantee a safe environment for all journalists, human rights defenders and bloggers in the Maldives.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party has tabled the case with the People’s Majlis Security Services or 241 committee.

Minivan News understands Minister of Home Affairs Umar Naseer, Commissioner of Police Hussein Waheed and Minister of Defense and National Security Mohamed Nazim were summoned to the confidential committee hearing on Thursday.

Rilwan’s friends and family have also gathered 5000 signatures on a Majlis petition calling on the parliament to press for a thorough and speedy investigation.

The family has offered MVR200,000 (US$ 12,945) for any information on Riwlan’s whereabouts.

Maldives media have also called for a speedy investigation in a joint statement and have met with the Commissioner of Police, MPs from the ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives and MDP, Prosecutor General and Majlis Speaker Abdulla Maseeh regarding the case.

International organisations, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Committee to Project Journalists (CPJ) and the UNHCR, have expressed concern over Rilwan’s disappearance.

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MDP calls on PG to drop charges against CNM journalist Haseen

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has called on Prosecutor General (PG) Muhthaz Muhsin as well as the government to drop charges against Channel News Maldives’ (CNM) senior journalist Abdulla Haseen.

“We note with regret that this is the first criminal prosecution of a journalist since the adoption of a democratic constitution in 2008,” the main opposition party said in a press release on Wednesday night (September 3).

Haseen is currently on trial at the Criminal Court on charges of obstructing police duty during an MDP demonstration on July 21, 2012.

The former Minivan Daily reporter is accused of shoving police barricades at the Chandanee Magu-Orchid Magu junction and using obscene language to address riot police officers.

At the first hearing of the trial last week, Haseen pleaded not guilty and noted that he attended political rallies and street protests to cover them as a journalist.

“This is a charge raised deliberately by the state against press freedom,” Haseen told reporters after the hearing.

“And this is an opportunity to experience for myself how the Maldivian criminal justice system functions.”

The court granted a five-day period for Haseen to hire a lawyer.

In addition to Haseen, Abdulla Idrees of Gulfaamuge in Laamu Maavah and former opposition MDP MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor are also facing similar charges. The cases were conducted concurrently during the trial.

The next hearing of the case has been scheduled for September 28.

Press freedom

The MDP expressed concern with the filing of charges over two years after the incident allegedly occurred, noting that obstructing police duty was the most common charge pressed by the state.

“And we note with concern that Abdulla Haseen is being prosecuted at a time when the media in the Maldives is facing serious challenges with journalists assaulted, television stations torched, death threats made against journalists, personal safety of journalists lost, and a journalist believed to have been abducted,” the press statement read.

The party added that the Maldives has plummeted in press freedom indexes of international media organisations and called on the state to ensure security for media personnel.

The Maldives dropped to 108th place in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Index for 2014, marking a decline in press freedom for the third consecutive year.

In February 2013, opposition-aligned private broadcaster Raajje TV reporter Ibrahim ‘Asward’ Waheed was nearly beaten to death, while the station’s offices and equipment were destroyed in an arson attack in October.

In June 2012, two men slashed the throat of freelance journalist and blogger Ismail Hilath Rasheed with a box cutter.

Prior to the country’s first multi-party democratic election in 2008, the Maldives was ranked 104th – an improvement on its 2007 ranking of 129th. The country’s ranking in 2009 and 2010 reflected dramatic improvements in press freedom – including decriminalisation of defamation,  rising to 51st and 52nd respectively.

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ADK waste found on street

Waste from the ADK private hospital in Malé such as syringes, gloves, and blood samples has been found on nearby streets, reports newspaper Haveeru.

Residents of the neighbourhood informed the local daily that seeing waste lying on the street was a daily occurrence.

The items are often left behind when waste is taken away twice daily on a pickup, the residents explained.

“Test tubes are crushed underneath motorbikes and blood is seen, spilled on the street. They take away the waste in ordinary disposal bags. The place reeks of foul stench when they do,” a resident was quoted as saying.

ADK Managing Director Ahmed Afaal told the newspaper that while hazardous waste was disposed in Thilafushi under strict supervision, other materials not considered hazardous were taken out with regular trash.

He conceded the possibility of such waste having spilled out on the street.

“People involved in waste disposal in Malé are not professionals. Therefore items used in the hospital, though nonhazardous, could have spilled out on to the street. As there are no professionals providing waste disposal services, we are unable to dispose of the waste in the most efficient manner,” he was quoted as saying.

He added that the hospital – the largest private hospital in the Maldives – had not received any complaints regarding waste on the street.

“We try to do this properly, without any harm coming to locals. We will look into how that took place,” he said.

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Oil leak from Singapore Airlines flight disrupts airport operations

The runway at the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) was shut down for an hour and half last night following an oil leak from a Singapore Airlines flight.

According to online news outlet CNM, the Singapore Airlines flight SQ451 encountered a hydraulic problem during landing, causing oil to spill on the runway.

Passengers were evacuated after the plane was moved to one end of the runway. The incident reportedly disrupted airport operations last night.

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Emails hacked at foreign ministry

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) have begun investigating hacking of emails at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the weekend, reports CNM.

An official at the ministry said its emails were attacked by hackers. However, measures were promptly taken once the hacking attempt was discovered, the official said.

According to CNM, the ministry has been preparing for a visit from a foreign dignitary.

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Police disposes of 36 motorcycles

Police have disposed of 36 impounded motorcycles and six four-wheeled vehicles on Saturday (September 6) for the first time under the land vehicles law.

The vehicles were destroyed with an excavator at the Gaakoshi waste yard in Malé.

Malé City Council Director General Abdul Hameed Ali – a member of a committee formed between the council, transport authority, and police – told newspaper Haveeru that some of the vehicles disposed of yesterday included motorcycles impounded ten years ago.

Hameed said the committee hoped to dispose of vehicles in the tow yard once a month following due procedure allowing owners to reclaim the vehicles.

In July, police have announced that 722 vehicles impounded for illegal parking will be disposed of as no one has come forward to claim ownership of the vehicles.

The impounded vehicles included 156 motorcycles, 560 bicycles, and six four-wheelers (cars and pickups).

Police noted that only five vehicles were reclaimed by their owners from the tow yard following the last announcement.

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Tourism Minister Adeeb appointed chairman of SEZ investment board

President Abdulla Yameen has appointed Tourism Minister Ahmed Adeeb as the chairman of the board of investment created last week under the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Act.

Along with Economic Development Minister Mohamed Saeed as vice chairman, the rest of the members are Fisheries and Agriculture Minister Dr Mohamed Shainee, Environment and Energy Minister Thoriq Ibrahim, and Youth and Sports Minister Mohamed Maleeh Jamal.

The five-member board is authorised to grant approval for applications by developers to establish a zone, issue permits and investment licenses, and formulate rules and policies for the operation of SEZs.

Additionally, the board would monitor and review progress of investments, assess risk damage and liability, determine rates of fees and charges, and sign investment agreements between the government and developers.

The board would be assisted by a 17-member technical committee comprised of government officials as well as representatives from the private sector.

Following criticism from the opposition over the appointment of ministers to the board – who contended it was unconstitutional – President’s Office Spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz Ali put out a press statement yesterday (September 6) insisting that the board was instituted in line with laws and regulations.

Article 136(a) of the Constitution states, “A member of the cabinet shall not hold any other public office or office of profit, actively engage in a business or in the practice of any profession, or any other income generating employment, be employed by any person, buy or lease any property belonging to the state, or have a financial interest in any transaction between the state and another party.”

However, unlike boards of state-owned enterprises, Muaz stressed that the ministers on the board would not receive any form of remuneration, noting that it was “a governing board”.

“Therefore, the Maldivian government condemns misleading statements from some politicians made for different political purposes concerning the president forming the board of investment and appointing members,” read the press release.

SEZs

Under the SEZ Act, each zone would be granted to a developer – following evaluation of a proposal – to take overall responsibility for management and operation. Once a permit is granted, finding and choosing investors is left to the developer.

The investor would then be issued a license once the developer submits its agreement with the investor to the board.

The investment agreement signed between the board and the developer would include details of the investment, its value, proposed business activities, details of incentives, compensation formula, dispute resolution mechanisms, rights and obligations of the developer, as well as other terms and conditions.

Speaking at a forum on state broadcaster Television Maldives (TVM) last week, Adeeb said the SEZ law allows the government to offer incentives and “for the first time” negotiate directly with investors, who preferred “a one-stop solution” for applications, permits and licenses.

While US$5 billion has been invested in tourism since 1972, Adeeb suggested that even if one ‘mega project’ such as iHavan “takes off” with more than US$1 billion worth of investment, the economy would be transformed.

The iHavan or ‘Ihavandhippolhu Integrated Development Project’ envisions an international shipping and commercial hub with a container transhipment port, bulk-breaking and warehousing, oil storage and bunkering facilities, an international airport, a cruise liner terminal, a yacht marina, real estate development and ‘vertical’ tourism services.

The project aims to take advantage of the strategic location of the Maldives’ northernmost atoll on a major shipping route – through which more than 700,000 ships carry goods worth US$18 trillion a year – and develop 5,700 hectares of land along with deep natural harbours.

Opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed has, however, dismissed SEZs and the touted mega projects as “castles in the air” whilst his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has warned that the law would pave the way for money laundering and other criminal enterprises, undermine local councils, and authorise the president to “openly sell off the country” without parliamentary oversight.

Speaking at the forum, MDP MP Fayyaz Ismail said large investments could not be secured while foreign businesses did not have confidence in the judiciary.

Fayyaz argued that the SEZ law lacked provisions for oversight and adequate legal protection for investors as well as controls for the inflow and outflow of money, relying solely on the benevolence and integrity of the government.

Addressing allegations concerning criminal enterprises and gambling in SEZs, Adeeb referred to President Yameen’s assurance that investments would not pose a threat to either Islam or Maldivian sovereignty.

“We don’t sell our daughters or women, do we? A clean tourism has been introduced in the Maldives without any prostitution,” he said.

If sound policies to favour local contractors and create jobs for youth are implemented, Adeeb suggested that investors could be brought in while “protecting our religion and traditions.”

“I don’t think gangs or black money are created by a law. It is done outside the law,” he said.

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