A court in Addu Atoll has extended the detention of four persons arrested for alleged involvement in illegal prostitution.
Three of the four suspects were arrested inside a salon named ‘Talk More’ that is based in Addu, while they were allegedly engaged in sexual activity.
Local media reported that the fourth suspect to be arrested in connection with the case was the owner of the salon.
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(0)Police have confirmed they are investigating allegations that a man currently being held in custody had sexually abused underage female relatives from his wife’s side of their family.
A police spokesperson told Minivan News that a man had been arrested after police received reports that he had sexually abused minors, whom local media claim are nieces of his wife that were under 16 years of age at the time that the abuse was alleged to have taken place.
According to newspaper Haveeru, the suspect, said to be living in Male’, had been handed over to police by family members for allegedly sexual abusing three nieces and his sister-in-law. The report claimed the suspect was attacked by family members on a boat in Male’, where he works as a captain, before being taken to police.
An unnamed relative of the family involved in the investigation reportedly told the family that the allegations related to a number of incidents thought to have occurred over years.
The police spokesperson was unable to reveal any additional regarding the alleged victims or if police would be relying on any forensic evidence or witnesses as part of their investigations.
“At present investigations are continuing and this is the only information we can release right now,” he said. “More details will be announced at a later date.”
The suspect at present remains in police custody, police added.
(0)Dislikes(0)Deputy Secretary General of the Commonwealth Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba is visiting the Maldives for a workshop to be held on government and opposition cooperation.
The regional Commonwealth workshop on ‘Government and the Opposition – Roles, Rights and Responsibilities’ will be held in the capital Malé from June 13-15.
Masire-Mwamba visited President Mohamed Nasheed who discussed the progress the country was making towards consolidating democracy, and said that his government is open to advice and suggestions about how this could be enhanced.
Masire-Mwamba also visited Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem, who said the Commonwealth could help to raise greater awareness of the challenges faced by small island developing states, and their particular vulnerability to global economic and environmental pressures.
Masire-Mwamba also held talks with the Speaker of the People’s Majlis, Abdulla Shahid, who is hosting the regional workshop, and said it would provide a platform for the cross-fertilisation of ideas and the exchange of experiences across the Asian members of the Commonwealth. In her meeting with the opposition leader, Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, Masire-Mwamba discussed the consolidation of political and democratic reforms in Maldives, and the role that an effective Opposition can play in a robust democracy.
(0)Dislikes(0)The first phase of the Gulhifalhu development project – including land reclamation and revetment – cost US$15 million, the company behind it has said.
Global Projects Development (GPD) held a ceremony and tree-planting ceremony on June 11 to present 37 deeds to people who had rented plots of land on the new island, which targeted warehouse development.
Haveeru reported CEO and Managing Director of GPD Sivarajah Manivannan as saying that the total cost of the project was expected to reach US$25 million.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Sri Lanka-based National Insurance Trust Fund (NITF) has announced plans to move into the insurance markets of the Maldives and Bangladesh after posting Rs. 2.7billion (US$24million) in profit over the last six months, local news reports have said.
The NITF has said that it has held talks in the two countries over re-insuring national providers and was expecting to enter both markets soon, according to a report published today in the Sri Lanka-based Sunday Observer newspaper.
Senaka Abeygunasekera, Chairman of the NITF, told the paper that a “large” number of Sri Lankan companies were now funding re-insurance plans abroad, including markets like India and parts of Europe.
(0)Dislikes(0)Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) candidate Nasrulla Ismail has won the seat for Kulhudhuffushi-North on the Haa Dhaal Atoll Council with 509 votes.
Ismail defeated Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) candidate Adam Masood Moosa who received 279 votes. 806 people voted out of 2000 eligible voters.
Haveeru reported that the by-election was held after sitting MDP candidate resigned for “medical and personal” reasons.
(0)Dislikes(0)Desperate to maintain its image as a tourist paradise, the Maldives is boosting co-operation with regional partners to combat the threat of militants, writes Berkshire Miller for current affairs magazine The Diplomat.
“Senior officials in Washington and New Delhi continue to express concern that madrassas funded by Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have the potential to radicalise Maldivian young people through jihadist doctrine. Such fears were given some credence in 2006, when three Maldivians were detained in Sri Lanka on suspicion that they were using the country to transit to Pakistan to join a jihadi training camp. It’s with cases like this in mind that the Maldives’ National Central Bureau – which heads up intelligence and national security operations – remains invested in its partnership with Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigations Department to enhance intelligence sharing on terrorism and national security issues.
“More generally, India is alarmed by the growing presence of radicalism in the Maldives, and has offered its experience in detecting and responding to terrorist attacks. But setting aside the more immediate benefits for it of doing so, the Indian government also likely sees its co-operation with the Maldives through the prism of its grander strategic policy of targeting Pakistani-based terrorism in the region. Over the past few years, the Indian Coast Guard has been continuing its efforts to train Maldivian authorities on ways to avoid maritime terrorist attacks through enhanced surveillance of sea lanes and increased monitoring at key ports.
“The Maldives has little history linking it to terrorism, whether international or domestic. Still, local and regional authorities aren’t taking any chances. After all, Maldivian citizens still recall the Sultan Park bombing in the capital of Male in the autumn of 2007. While no one was killed in the attack, a dozen foreigners were wounded, prompting Maldivian business owners and politicians alike to roundly condemn the infringement to the islands’ harmony and the threat it posed to tourism there.
“State law enforcement authorities quickly rounded up nearly a dozen suspects (10 of whom were Maldivian citizens) within the first few days following the Sultan Park attack. Investigators eventually traced the bombing back to the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, where al-Qaeda and jihadi groups were widely reported to have based their operations. Nine of the 12 suspects – all Maldivian – were arrested in the FATA region, but were later released due to a lack of evidence that they were tied to the attack. While no legal case was made against the ‘Maldivian nine,’ intelligence officials in New Delhi and Washington understandably felt something was amiss with Maldivians ‘vacationing’ in one of the most dangerous parts of the world.”
(1)Dislikes(0)A person declared a “dangerous criminal” by police has been sentenced to 15 days imprisonment, after he demanded the judge provide him the opportunity to present witnesses from his side, reported Sun Online.
Sun identified the person as Ahmed Shareef of Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll Rathafandhoo.
Shareef told the judge that the judge was ignoring his requests and giving priority to the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
He told the judge that he would not appear in court if the court did not appoint another judge to handle his case, and the judge replied that he would be summoned to the court even with force if necessary, reported Sun Online.
The judge said that if the accused had witnesses, he should have said so during the police investigation rather than exercising his right to remain silent. Ahmed Shareef and Madhih Mohamed, both accused in the same case, also used the right to remain silent during the police investigation.
The judge declared that both Madhih and Shareef would not get the chance to present any witnesses.
(0)Dislikes(0)Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom last night held a special rally to celebrate the seventh year of the former government’s reform.
Speaking at the rally, Gayyoom said the reform agenda he initiated seven years ago “can be perfectly successful and fruitful only after the DRP wins the Presidential Elections and reclaims authority.”
Gayoom said that then the people would come to realise the true values of democracy, as there would be no nepotism in DRP rule.
The former President claimed that under a DRP government people would be equal and there would “be no favouritsm,’’ according to reports in newspaper Miadhu.
Miadhu also reported that Gayoom criticised leader of main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, and called for primary elections to determine a presidential candidate.
In his speech, the former President also denied he was attempting to disunite the party or further his personal interests.
Leader of Peoples Alliance Party (PA) and half-brother of Gayoom, Abdulla Yameen, also spoke at the rally.
Yameen claimed the government was trying to influence the judiciary and called on people to “be cautious”.
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