Opposition joint coalition will deliver “shocking message” to government

The Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has announced it will hold a “special protest” this evening together with coalition partners, to deliver “a shocking message” to the government.

Ali Solih, DRP Media Coordinator, said that the protest would be held at the Artificial Beach tonight and that the leaders of the four opposition parties will be present at the protest.

”Leader of People’s Alliance (PA) , leader of Dhivehi Qaumy Party (DQP), leader of Jumhooree Party (JP) and leader of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) will address the people at tonight’s protest,” said Solih, ”and they will deliver a shocking message to the government.”

JP leader Gasim Ibrahim and PA leader Abdulla Yameen, both high-profile businessmen, were recently accused by the government of vote buying and treason. However Supreme Court has since ruled that their arrest was unconstitutional, after a panel of five judges decided that there was not enough evidence to keep them under house arrest.

Solih claimed the protest would show the government “the unity of the opposition coalition.”

”Due to the weather, not many islanders will be able to participate in this protest,” he said, ”but it will be a mass protest.”

Solih said that the party had requested the municipality council provide a ground for it to hold meetings, but that the council had not given an appropriate answer.

Deputy Leader of the DRP, Umar Naseer, said tonight’s gathering would not be a protest “but a rally where the leaders of four parties will address to the people.”

”It will start at 8:45pm,” he said. ”This rally is to let the government know that they have failed and that they should resign now.”

He said that the rally was “not scheduled to turn into a protest.”

On May 13, DRP held a protest against hiked electricity tariffs, titled ‘Red Notice’. The protest was dispersed by riot police outside the State Electricity Company (STELCO) building, and several DRP MPs, protesters and police were injured in the scuffle.

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Leading cephalopod researcher doubts Octopus Paul has psychic powers

“I don’t believe in it personally,” said Dr Mark Norman, Museum Victoria’s head of science, when asked to comment on Octopus Paul’s psychic powers.

“But having said that I don’t want to underestimate how amazing these animals are and how clever they are… they’re doing pretty well for a super snail relative.” he said.

“They can recognise individual people in a crowd, they can do really clever things like learn to unscrew the lids off jars to get prawns out of the inside, they can collect up half coconut shells and carry them around like portable armour and jump inside if something comes along.”

Octopuses can also mimic other sea creatures, according to Dr Norman. “And because they’ve got no hard shell, an animal that’s a metre across could squeeze through a hole the size of about a 20 cent piece, they can squeeze their eyes out of shape and pull their soft brains through the middle of these holes.”

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Octopus correct: Spain wins World Cup moments short of extra time

Spain has won the World Cup for the first time in it’s history, scoring only a single goal in the final against the Netherlands, four minutes from the end of extra-time.

Moments before the World Cup was to be decided by a penalty shootout, Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta slipped the ball past Dutch  goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.

“It’s incredible,” Iniesta told AFP. “What a joy especially when you see how we won it.

“There aren’t the words to describe what I am feeling. After my goal, I thought about my family and all the people who I love. But the victory is the fruit of a lot of work.”

Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk added: “The best team won. I am disappointed. It is a world championship and we have just lost a final.”

Uruguay striker Diego Forlan was awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the 2010 World Cup.

Rising star Thomas Mueller finished the tournament as the top-scorer after golden boot rivals David Villa and Wesley Sneijder both failed to score in Sunday’s final. FIFA also named him as the best young player of the tournament.

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Australia’s longest bridge opened

Australia’s longest bridge, 2.7 kilometres long and linking Brisbane to Redcliffe, was opened on Sunday. The bridge cost $315 million and was completed on time and on budget, according to Main Roads minister Craig Wallace.

Built using 120,000 tonnes of concrete and 10,000 tonnes of steel, it has three lanes for vehicles, a pedestrian path, a bikeway and fishing platforms.

The duplicated bridge is constructed to last 100 years and withstand a one-in-2,000 year storm, says Queensland state premier Anna Bligh.

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Criminal Court suspends police lawyers in Majlis corruption cases

The Criminal Court has suspended the two police lawyers who prosecuted the cases of Majlis members Gasim Ibrahim, Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and Ahmed Nazim.

Inspectors of Police Mohamed Riyaz and Mohamed Jina were suspended for contempt of court.

The Criminal Court informed police of the decision in a letter sent to Police Commissioner on Sunday, according to a police media official, but the official refused to comment further.

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Supreme Court orders release of MPs

The Supreme Court of Maldives has overturned a High Court ruling to keep MPs Gasim Ibrahim and Abdulla Yameen under house arrest for 15 days, ordering the immediate release of the high-profile businessmen and minor opposition party leaders.

Yameen and Gasim were detained pending an investigation into alleged corruption, bribery and treason.

A legal team led by former Attorneys General Azima Shukoor and Dr Hassan Saeed, representing the MPs, appealed the High Court decision last week on the grounds that the arrest was unlawful as Gasim was taken to the police station “to clarify something.”

Today’s ruling invalidates both the Criminal Court order to keep the MPs under house arrest for three days and the High Court ruling to extend the period to 15 days.

Chief Justice Abdullah Saeed said there was no room to uphold the lower court rulings granting the police authority to arrest the MPs.

The panel of five judges on the interim court concurred that the evidence presented was not sufficient to keep Gasim and Yameen under house arrest or in custody.

Speaking to press after the verdict, former Justice Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed and Dr Hassan Saeed said the ruling was “a victory for separation of powers in the Maldives.”

“Both of them were arrested in violation of the constitution and today this has been proven,” the Dhivehi Qaumee Party leader said.

Mulaku MP Yamin told reporters that the highest court of appeal in the country has ruled that police disregarded the law and the constitution in arresting the MPs.

“This is a victory for the Maldivian people, a complete victory,” said Gasim.

Crowds of PA and JP supporters gathered outside the former presidential palace Theemuge that houses the Supreme Court and High Court, to celebrate the ruling.

The leaders of the opposition People’s Alliance and Jumhoori Party (Republican Party) was arrested on 29 June in the wake of the en masse resignation of the cabinet, who claimed that opposition MPs were obstructing the government with the passage of laws intended to wrest executive power from the president.

The first hearing

At last week’s Supreme Court hearing, police requested that the court abolish provisions in the parliamentary rules of procedure that restrict the detention of MPs.

Ibrahim Riffath, Deputy Solicitor General advocating on behalf of the police in his personal capacity, argued the provisions were unconstitutional as article 88(a) of the constitution only grants authority to the People’s Majlis to formulate regulations for its administration and that MPs’ privilege could not be extended through such regulations.

According to local newspaper Haveeru, another point of contention at the hearing was interpreting article 45 of the constitution, which states everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained, arrested or imprisoned except as provided by law enacted by the People’s Majlis in accordance with article 16.

Article 16 restricts Majlis to enacting laws that could limit rights and freedoms to any extent only if demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

Grilled by the judge, Mohamed Jinah from police said the law referred to in article 45 was the Police Act, which grants police extensive powers for criminal investigation.

However, former AG Hassan Saeed said it refers to the Criminal Justice Procedures Act, which was being drafted at the same time as the constitution.

Hassan Saeed said the Police Act does not specify how arrests and detentions should be made.

Asked whether such a law existed, he answered no.

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Seventy-eight year-old man arrested for abusing 12 year old disabled girl

A 78 year-old man has been arrested for allegedly abusing a 12 year-old disabled girl last Friday on the island of Inguraidhoo in Raa Atoll.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that an elderly man was arrested in connection with a child abuse case in Inguraidhoo.

”We can’t provide further information regarding the case,” he said.

An islander familiar with the matter alleged that the girl’s mother sold her to the old man, “because the girl is a disabled girl and she cannot even attend to school,” he said.

”The islanders say that her mother gave her to the old man for some amount of money. Both of them were taken to Inguraidhoo police station, and police have now released her mother.”

He said the old man was not a man from the island but said he used to visit Inguraidhoo.

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Millions of rufiya and a 100 foot fiberglass fishing boat to join JP: leaked letters allege corruption

Letters sent by MDP MPs to President Mohamed Nasheed containing allegations of corruption against Jumhoree Party(JP) leader MP Gasim Ibrahim have been leaked to the press.

Gasim is currently under house arrest, charged with bribery and treason.

The documents are addressed to the President and signed by ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MPs  Mohamed Nazim, Ahmed Easa, Mohamed Gasam, Mohamed Rasheed, Mohamed Shifaz and Ilyas Labeeb.

In one of the letters, Madaveli MP Mohamed Nazim claims that Gasim offered him a 100 foot fibereglass fishing boat and Rf4 million to join the JP, adding that the offer was unlawful and could be considered attempted bribery.

In his letter Kedhikolhudhoo MP Ahmed Easa alleges that Gasim offered him Rf5 million to defect from MDP to the JP.

The letter from Mohamed Gasam, MP for Thinadhoo, claims Gasim had offered him “many rewards” to recruit him away from MDP.

In a letter signed by Hulhu-Meedhoo MP Ilyas Labeeb, the writer mentions that Gasim offered him Rf5 million to buy and construct a house in Hulhumale’.

Press Secretary for the President’s Office, Mohamed Zuhair, said that he could not confirm whether the letters were genuine, or that the letters were the same as those received by the president.

‘’Similar complaints were forwarded to president by several MPs,’’ said Zuhair. ‘’I cannot confirm whether the [leaked] letters are the actual letters.’’

Zuhair said that police were currently investigating the allegations of corruption against the opposition leaders.

Spokesperson for the MDP parliamentary group, Baarah MP Mohamed Shifaz, one of the MPs whose name was on one of the leaked letters, revealed that the leaked letter in his name was an edited version of the letter he actually wrote.

Shifaz said that the middle paragraph of the leaked document in his name was edited.

‘’I did not mention any amount of money Gasim offered me,” Shifaz said. “I wrote that he had offered me different amounts on different occasions.”

‘’I did send a letter to president last month, because of a rumor that circulating in those days that I was about to join the JP,” he said. “It dragged me into a situation where MPs almost lost confidence in me, and I thought the president might feel the same way. So I sent him a letter to make him confident that I would not leave MDP.”

MDP’s Council adopted a resolution late last month to terminate its coalition agreement with JP.

Gasim did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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Maldives leading winner in 2010 World Travel Awards for Indian Ocean region

Maldives is named as a winner in many categories of the Indian Ocean section of the 2010 World Travel Awards, based on voting by thousands of travel agents.

Cocoa Island won the award for the Indian Ocean’s leading boutique hotel, and Maldives is the leading cruise and honeymoon destination, Baros won the leading hotel award, and Conrad Maldives Rangali Hotel is the leading resort.

W Retreat and Spa is the leading spa resort, and Vermillion International Travel won the award for leading travel agency.

Adaaran Prestige Resorts won the leading water villa group category and Baros Residence is the leading villa.

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