Category: News in Brief

Maldivian woman arrested in Trivandrum in drugs case

A Maldivian woman has been arrested in Trivandrum for a drug related matter, reports Haveeru.

The woman was arrested on June 4 in a case relating to drugs that were found on an Indian police officer on the run from the authorities and living on the second floor of the same house, Haveeru reported, citing Maldivian Consul in Trivandrum Mohamed Rasheed.

Haveeru identified the woman as 29 year-old Niuma Zeenath from the island of Manadhoo in Noonu Atoll.

“The drugs were confiscated from the police officer’s apartment. The woman was arrested as she rented the apartment to the police officer,” Rasheed told Haveeru.

Consulate authorities had been in contact with the woman, he added.

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51 year-old arrested for allegedly molesting nine year-old

A 51 year-old man has been arrested for allegedly molesting a nine year old girl in Addu Atoll, reports Sun online.

Sun reported that police told the paper that the man will be summoned to court to extend his detention.

The paper also reported that the man was unknown to the girl’s family.

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Filadhoo councilor files suit for unfair dismissal after blowing whistle on bestiality

Head of Filadhoo Council in Haa Alif Atoll Mohamed Vijan, who was recently dismissed, has filed a lawsuit against the island council claiming that his dismissal was unlawful.

He told the media that the no-confidence vote taken against him was not conducted accordingly to the law.

The council forwarded a no-c0nfidence motion against Vijan after he told local media some islanders were committing bestiality with goats and that the owner of the goats had complained to the council.

The council dismissed his allegations as an attempt to give the island a bad reputation and filed the no-confidence vote.

The day after media reported on the issue, the goats were found killed.

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MP Sameer takes MDP parliamentary group leader role: Haveeru

MP Ahmed Sameer will succeed ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik as the Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) parliamentary group leader, according to local media reports.

Haveeru has said that Sameer, who serves as the MP for Dhidhoo, Haa Alifu Atoll, was appointed to the position yesterday, despite earlier reports that an election was to be held for the post on Wednesday June 22.

The position of MDP parliamentary group leader was left vacant after Moosa Manik was appointed to serve as the party’s acting chairperson during a national council meeting held at Bandos Island Resort over the weekend.

A spokesperson for the MDP was unavailable for comment on the news of Sameer’s appointment at the time of going to press.

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IFM organising ”greatest enemy” sermon

The Islamic Foundation of the Maldives (IFM) has said it is organising a lecture by Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed Ahmed at Artificial Beach, entitled the ‘Greatest Enemy’.

The sermon will be delivered on Friday July 8 at 8:45pm, the IFM said.

”IFM activists have begun working on  the lecture and activities are underway to prepare the advertisement banners. A total of 47 banners will be put up at different locations in Malѐ, Villimalѐ and Hulhumalѐ,” said the IFM.

”More activities are expected to commence on the return of Ibrahim Fauzee, the organisation’s president who is currently in Malaysia participating in the International Da’wah Training Programme.”

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Adhaalath Party reschedules congress over space concerns

The Adhaalath Party has reportedly postponed the date of a key congress set for July until later in the month after facing issues in securing a venue suitable in size to host the event.

The congress, which will see the group’s recently appointed new leadership take their oaths of office as well commencing elections for other senior posts, is now expected to take place between July 17 and July 20 at Dharubaaruge, according to the Haveeru newspaper.

The Party’s Registrar Dr Mohamed Muiz told the paper that the decision had been taken to postpone the event – originally scheduled to begin July 4 – after fears that refurbishments to the initial host venue would not be completed in time.

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Planned Maldives Islamic channel launch to be reviewed next year

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has said it will review the possibility of launching a Maldives-based Islamic television channel next year to ensure that the technical demands required for the endeavor can be met.

Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Mohamed Didi, told Minivan News that the postponement of plans to begin broadcasting an Islamic TV channel in the country were not so much an issue of budgetary limitations – but that of human resources.

“If we were to start this channel we would need human resources and the technical staff to support it,” he said. “We have spoken to the Maldives National Broadcasting Corperation (MNBC), who can supply this, so we have the technical capacity, but we need to think how we will move ahead.”

Didi said that broadcasting a new tv channel in the country was “not an easy task” and there were concerns that the project needed more extensive planning.

“If we rush [starting the channel], we might not be able to sustain it so that is why we are waiting until next year,” he claimed.

Didi added that the exact nature of how the channel would operate and the duration of its programming on a daily basis had yet to be finalised and would be a key part of any ongoing talks.

Meanwhile, Miadhu has reported today that Islamic Affairs Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Baari believed repeated postponements of forming the channel were related to low budgets and ongoing legal action regarding the control of state media.

According to the report, Rf2 million from the Zakat fund had been allocated to fund the proposed Islamic channel, but the money has now been transferred instead to a scholarship programme.

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MDP sets afternoon deadline for parliamentary group leader applications

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has set a deadline of this afternoon for accepting applications for the role of its parliamentary group leader.

According to Haveeru, the party has given potential candidates until 2.30pm today to register their interest in the role ahead of an election scheduled for Wednesday.

The MDP’s previous Parliamentary Group Leader, ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, resigned from his post after being selected as the party’s acting chairperson for a year during its 91st national council meeting held at Bandos Island Resort over the weekend.

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