Two Maldivian men were arrested from Hulhumalé for allegedly engaging in homosexual relations.
According to CNM, police arrested the pair around 8:45pm near the Hulhumalé pump station. The suspects were aged 21 and 23.
Sodomy is a criminal offence in the Maldives.
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(0)The Adhaalath Party has called on the authorities to investigate and prosecute the Maldivians responsible for a video filmed at the national art gallery depicting Austrian models with body paint.
The video was filmed in March by Austrian company WB Productions as part of an installation art project on violence against women.
The video also shows some models posing with a dead octopus on the beach while others posed topless with body paint and coir rope.
In a statement released yesterday, the religious conservative party condemned the MNCCI for inviting “people who work across the world to spread sinful [behaviour],” calling the incident “an atrocity” committed with the intention of turning Maldivians against Islam.
The Austrian team was invited by the vice-president of the Maldivian National Chamber of Commerce and Industries (MNCCI) Ismail Asif as part of his fourth annual exhibition on women and children’s rights.
(0)Dislikes(0)The government has brought in four paramedic ambulances to the Maldives yesterday.
State minister for health Hussain Rasheed told Haveeru that the government plans to introduce paramedic ambulance services in Malé, Laamu atoll, and Addu City.
The health ministry signed an agreement with the State Trading Organisation (STO) in November 2014 to bring in 54 ambulances for use in the atolls.
The health ministry said at the time that the ambulances would cost US$2.5 million.
Then-acting health minister Mohamed Nazim had said at the time that the government will provide an ambulance to all inhabited islands by June this year.
4 paramedic ambulances arrived ! 52 new ambulances will arrive shortly for islands. #ShukuriyyaaRaeesYameen pic.twitter.com/Fy2VxiF8eI
— Ibrahim Rasheed Wajd (@IbrahimRasheedW) May 22, 2015
The ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has won a by-election held yesterday for a vacant seat on the Gaaf Dhaal Vaadhoo island council.
PPM candidate Naushad Waheed won the by-election with 329 votes against independent candidate Abdulla Rasheed, who got 309 votes.
A second by-election was also held on Saturday for a vacant seat on the Raa Angolhitheemu island council with three independent candidates contesting.
The winning candidate, Mohamed Ibrahim, received 101 votes, while the second placed candidate, Aishath Inasha, received 92 votes.
Both by-elections were called when independent councillors resigned from the five-member Vaadhoo and Angolhitheemu island councils.
The Vaadhoo council currently has four independent councillors and one PPM councillor, while the Angolhitheemu council has four opposition Maldivian Democratic Party councillors and one independent councillor.
(0)Dislikes(0)This article is by Isha Afeef
I volunteered on Saturday to help fundraise for the Nepal earthquake relief effort in Malé. It was heart-warming to see the immense public support for the event. People of all ages stop by the donation box where I sat, from children with fistfuls of coins to a sick elderly man who stopped by the Galolhu football stadium just to donate. Some migrant workers also chipped in.
The Maldivian Red Crescent (MRC) and the Maldives Medical Association (MMA), have now collected more than MVR1.7million (US$109,677).
Nearly 9,000 people have died since an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale struck Nepal on April 25. Another tremor measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale struck on May 15, leading to more deaths.
“When the international appeal with the lists of items and funding that Nepal needed came out from International Red Crescent, we evaluated we could deliver at our capacity, and decided that it was funding,” MRC president Ali Nashid said.
“Our sum had to be realistic. We considered two main things: the economic state of the country, and that the donors we would be asking for funds would also be assisting with our projects in the future. So we set a target of $200,000,” he said.
The MMA was the first to take the initiative, as many of its members had gone to medical school in Nepal. The MRC’s volunteers walked door to door in Addu City and Fuvahmuah Island this month, while others in Thaa Atoll Veymandhoo and Meemu Atoll Kolhufushi held children’s evenings to raise funds.
Dhiraagu and Ooredoo set up a system where customers could donate via text messages.
On Saturday, the Maldives media held a telethon. A children’s evening was held at Malé’s Raalhugandu and a music show was held at night. Fund boxes were placed at the Galolhu Stadium and ten other locations in Malé. The veterans of the Maldivian national football team and MPs also played a football match.
At the fund box at Galolhu, people who stopped by were warm and sincere in their well wishes. To me, it showed how dear Maldivians hold the values of generosity and kindness, and how willing Maldivians are to help people affected by natural disasters, no matter where disaster strikes in the world.
Mothers donated multiple times on behalf of their children. One elderly man stopped by with a Bangladeshi man who works for him. When the expatriate worker donated, the elderly man stepped up to the box and made a generous contribution. He said he was very sick, but that he had not been able to resist coming to the stadium to make a donation with his own hands.
Hundreds also bought tickets to watch the football match between the veteran Maldivian national football team and the Maldives’ parliamentarians.
“Our main focus now is to make sure that every penny reaches Nepal Red Crescent, and we will be accountable for it,” Nashid said.
The MRC estimates the final figure to reach MVR1.9million.
A young MRC volunteer, Ahmed Shamau said, he, too was moved by the extraordinary display of kindness by the public. “It’s shown strength, all these people uniting for humanity.”
“When the Tsunami struck the Maldives, Nepal was one of the countries that contributed to help us. And now that they’re in need, we’ll do the best we can in our capacity,” he added.
The chairperson of the MRC, Mohamed Junaid, thanked all of the volunteers.
“The biggest role in these efforts in being done by these dedicated individuals. We had over 50 responses to the call for assistance by Malé branch alone. And we are proud to say that our volunteers work just for humanitarian values, as seen by their dedication to the telethon in these past four days.”
Two MRC volunteers who work with the regional disaster response team are in Nepal at present. Mariyam Aisha, the first female volunteer to be deployed on a regional mission, reached Nepal on May 16. Moosa Shifaz has been active in Nepal since May 2.
Junaid says Aisha and Shifaz are “an inspiration.”
Fund-raising activities will continue till May 27. Here are the MRC’s bank details if you wish to make a donation.
BANK OF MALDIVES
7701-176022-001 (MVR)
7701-176022-002 (USD)
Maldivian Red Crescent
MALDIVES ISLAMIC BANK
9901-01-55500036-100 (MVR)
9901-01-55500036-200 (USD)
Maldivian Red Crescent
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(0)Dislikes(0)A video of an art exhibition on violence against women, which depicted scantily clothed women with body paint and some posing with a dead octopus, has sparked controversy.
The project was commissioned in March by the vice-president of the Maldivian National Chamber of Commerce and Industries (MNCCI) Ismail Asif as part of his fourth annual exhibition on women and children’s rights.
The first half of the video shows female models, who work for the Austrian company WB Productions, at the National Art Gallery with traditional Maldivian dress painted on to their bodies.
The second half shows some models posing with a dead octopus on the beach while others posed topless with body paint and coir rope.
Maldives Art Gallery & Experimental Bodypainting Trip
Projects in the field of bodypainting is what we do. About 2 months ago we were invited to fill the Maldivian National Art Gallery with painted bodies. ///////////////////////More about the exhibition: In the week from 7th of march 2015 "WB Production" is invited with a team to the Maldives to be part of the Installation Art Project by Ismail Asif in the Maldives National Art Gallery. It's his 4th annual exhibition about "Abuse of woman and children" in his country.It's also the first time he incorporated Bodypainting into his art. The design of the Bodypainting was taken from the Dhivehi Libaas, the traditional Maldivian dress, elaborately adorned with a gold and silver neckline called Kasabu Bovalhu.Every day protests out on the streets against the government were almost knocking the plan of an indeed nervous looking Mr. Asif off.The team of WB Production with Alex and Anna Barendregt, Aga Glińska, Anna Tuzańska and Vitaliya Abramova is very thankful to be part of this great experimental trip and very glad that the exhibition in the end did happen. WHAT A trip ;)www.wb-production.com
Posted by WB Production – event.lifestyle.media on Wednesday, May 20, 2015
The video was uploaded on May 20 on Facebook and has been viewed more than 53,000 times.
CEO of WB production Alex Barendregt said: “Our team was able to be part of a very intense art exhibition in the Maldivian art gallery. Why intense? Because for the first time we did incorporate body painting in a very strict conservative Muslim country.”
Many praised Asif for the controversial exhibition, but others said the video contained “pornographic material.” Some censured Asif for what they called double standards, claiming he had criticized former president Mohamed Nasheed’s government for allegedly secular policies.
Asif was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.
“Great work. Nice to see the artist who was happily branding the jailed president Mohamed Nasheed’s government as un-Islamic taking the daring step to hold a body painting exhibition in Malé’s Art Gallery. Sadly even for watching this video us mere locals would be arrested and charged with having pornographic material,” Munshid Mohamed said on Facebook.
Nasheed is currently serving a 13-year jail term on terrorism charges. His trial was widely criticized for lack of due process and triggered daily anti-government protests for three months.
Another expressed concern over the national gallery allowing Asif to hold an exhibition that “pushed public norms of decency,” despite having rejected art work by Maldivian students depicting Nasheed as a hero for an exhibition on the country’s golden jubilee of independence.
One asked: “What would have happened if this had happened during president Nasheed’s time?” Many of Nasheed’s supporters feel his opponents unfairly targeted them by branding them as un-Islamic.
Mi ves Raees Nasheed verikamuga vee kameh nama.. pic.twitter.com/CQ5qxVtQ08
— #FreeRaeesNasheed (@sofu_sasoo) May 23, 2015
Others expressed concern over artists using an octopus in the photos, to which WB productions replied: “Don’t worry, it was a dead octopus from the market, and later one of our friends took him home to cook as millions other people do.”
A supporter of the exhibition, Faiyal Ahmed said: “Nice stuff, if this is what locals are calling shooting a porn video I think we should educate them more.”
(0)Dislikes(0)The Maldives Food and Drug Authority (MFDA) has warned against drinking some Life brand bottled water following complaints over the presence of dust and odors.
“We have noticed undesirable smells and dust in some of the Life water bottles produced and sold in the Maldives,” the MFDA said in an alert yesterday.
The authority has warned against selling and consuming bottles labeled Batch 226. All of them are 1.5 liter bottles.
However Happy Market Pvt Ltd which produces Life says its water is safe for drinking. Life is one of the three locally produced brands of water.
A significant number of households in the Maldives now drink bottled water. Exact statistics are unavailable.
Neither MFDA nor Happy Market revealed details of how many bottles were produced under Batch 226.
The MFDA said it is “investigating the matter with further research and laboratory tests.”
Happy Market’s Ahmed Suad said the company has documents proving Life water is safe for use.
“All of our bottled water batches are approved by the authority [MFDA]. The statement is worded in such a way that it causes panic,” said Suad.
But MFDA’s Director General Shareefa Adam said the authority does not approve every single bottle of water.
“We do factory audits and give approvals to the factory. We also conduct random samplings. But we don’t test every single batch, it is not possible to do so,” she said.
The MFDA’s preliminary review noted odors in the bottles which means the water does not meet standards set by the World Health Organization, she added.
Meanwhile, one Twitter user who drinks Life water regularly says he has not had any reactions.
I’ve been drinking #life #water pat 3-4 days from batch number 226. Insha Allah I’ve not had any illness or reactions pic.twitter.com/YletzveN5u
— Vaail Hussain (@VaailHussain) May 23, 2015
Expressing concern over religious and social divisions in the Maldives, the Islamic ministry has warned the public against “words and actions that upset social and religious customs.”
In a statement on Thursday, the ministry stressed “age-old Maldivian unity” and said any act that may disrupt religious unity is an offense under the Religious Unity Act of 1994.
“The ministry has noted a spread in words and actions that create social and religious divisions and ideological differences. This has disrupted age-old social order and social customs. Such actions that are contrary to Maldivian customs and public interest facilitate divisions, quarrels and social unrest,” the statement read.
“We take this opportunity to remind and advice [the public] that any actions that undermine religious unity, sovereignty and independence of the Maldives is prohibited under Article 4 of the Religious Unity Act.”
The Islamic ministry’s media official, Ibrahim Abdulla Saeed, declined to reveal details of actions or words that have caused concern.
“This is just a reminder,” he said.
The religious conservative Adhaalath Party, which was controlled the Islamic affairs portfolio in successive governments, split from the ruling coalition in March and launched an antigovernment campaign over the imprisonment of ex-president Mohamed Nasheed and ex-defence minister Mohamed Nazim.
Several scholars have since condemned what they call President Abdulla Yameen’s growing authoritarianism and warned of Allah’s wrath over “injustice and brutality.”
Islamic minister Dr Shaheem Ali Saeed resigned in early May shortly after Adhaalath president Sheikh Imran Abdulla’s arrest hours after he led a historic antigovernment protest on May 1.
Imran remains in police custody.
(0)Dislikes(0)A group of people dragged a police office into a private residence in Malé and beat him severely last night.
A police media official told Minivan News that the policeman was forced into a house near Petrel café in Machangoalhi ward and beaten at around 11.10pm.
“He was taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital for treatment. He suffered injuries to the head and had minor cuts and bruises,” police said.
The injured officer has since been released. No arrests have been made yet.
Two police officers were assaulted during an anti-government protest on May 1. The two were taken to Sri-Lanka for further treatment.
Some 14 individuals have been arrested over the May Day assault.
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