Police have announced that its branch in the island of Kulhudhuhfushi in Haa Dhaalu atoll has today arrested a 19 year old man accused of “forcefully committing illicit sexual acts” with a 15 year old girl.
Police stated that the man was arrested under a court warrant at 0940hrs this morning. Due to the status of the investigation, police have not yet revealed additional information regarding the case.
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(0)The Education Ministry has stated that while the administrative year began and schools opened on January 14, Quran teachers still remain unavailable for 12 schools.
Education Ministry Human Resource Director General Mohamed Saeed stated that while the state had sought to employ 69 Quran teachers, 56 persons had applied and all are now employed in different schools.
He stated that the ministry has now announced for 12 more teachers, and that the announcement will expire within the week. He explained that although separate Quran teachers have not yet been found for these 12 schools, Quran is still, however, taught as a subject in these schools too.
“While we are still seeking 12 teachers for these schools, we have made arrangement for Quran lessons to already be taught in these schools too. We are doing this by having either leading teachers or the Islamic Studies teachers provide Quran lessons for the meantime,” he is quoted as saying to local media.
Establishing Quran as an obligatory subject in all grades and teaching them in all schools is among the 100 day plans of the Education Ministry.
(0)Dislikes(0)The High Court has ordered the Hithadhoo Magistrate Court to review a sentence of a one year jail sentence it delivered on Ubaidhullah Hassan for his refusal to provide a urine sample.
The order was released after Hassan appealed the case in the High Court.
The High Court stated that the reasoning behind its issuance of the review order was that Hassan was not allowed to have legal representation in court. It stated that,although Hassan had initially declined from getting legal representation, he had later gotten a lawyer, even after which he was not given the opportunity to present legal representation in court hearings.
Hassan has also appealed that his arrest was arbitrary and unlawful, and that therefore providing samples requested for in regard to an unlawful arrest would itself be void, according to local media reports.
(0)Dislikes(0)A total of 181 complaints were submitted to the independent National Complaints Bureau concerning yesterday’s local council elections.
Bureau Chief Ali Azim informed the press yesterday that none of the issues raised could have a material effect on the outcome of any local council contest.
“Of the 181 complaints submitted so far, we have not identified any that could impact the outcome. But we are looking into it,” he said.
The most common complaint concerned the Elections Commission’s (EC’s) decision to display national identity card photos in the voter lists placed outside polling stations, Azim said.
EC President Fuwad Thowfeek told reporters yesterday that photos were included in the voter lists as a safeguard to prevent fraud.
In addition to a number of phoned in complaints, two women submitted complaints in cases where ID card photos were taken before they wore face veils, said EC member Ali Mohamed Manik.
Following complaints from women who wear the hijab, Azim said the complaints bureau brought the matter to the attention of EC members and “informed [polling stations] to cover with a piece of paper the photos of people who insist on taking it down.”
The decision to display photos also drew criticism from some religious scholars, with NGO Salaf preacher Sheikh Adam Shameem calling to punish those responsible.
Adhaalath Party President Sheikh Imran Abdulla contended that the practice was contrary to Islamic principles and infringed on the rights of veiled women.
Meanwhile, Azim revealed that complaints submitted through official complaint forms included 78 cases of voters registered for the wrong ballot box, one case of a voter’s name missing from the list, three cases of alleged illegal campaigning, six cases of ballot boxes transferred to a different location, three cases concerning assisted voting, two complaints concerning inmates, one case of a voter displaying a marked ballot paper, and seven complaints about the EC.
Phoned in complaints included 27 complaints concerning voter registration issues, two complaints from voters registered for the wrong ballot box, 11 complaints of deceased citizens in the voters list, one complaint of gender mismatch, three complaints of illegal campaigning, three requests to transfer ballot boxes, two complaints about the EC and 28 complaints about displaying identity card photos.
In addition, a complaint was made alleging that two pens with fading ink were used in a polling booth.
“Concerning that complaint, we have seized the two pens through the Maldives Police Service. We are considering verifying through forensic investigators in the country or abroad,” Azim said.
According to the police, three men aged 38, 42, and 48 were taken into custody in Addu City for allegedly displaying their marked ballot papers. All three have since been released.
Two men from Faafu Nilandhoo were also briefly taken into custody after attempting to prevent the closing of the ballot box.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Anti Corruption Commission has sent for prosecution a corruption case against a former Director of Southern Health Services Corporation (SHSC) Ibrahim Sabry.
The ACC stated that the case against Sabry is for the abuse of power to provide an undue advantage or benefits to a particular group.
The commission stated that it had found Sabry to be guilty of corruption in an investigation they conducted after receiving complaints that the SHSC had employed a group to build eight rooms in the Hithadhoo Regional Hospital without providing any information about the matter.
It detailed that the bid had been received a day after the deadline of August 28, 2011. After the bidders had failed to submit the proposal by the deadline, Sabry had unilaterally extended the deadline by a day. According to the ACC, Sabry admitted to it while providing a statement for their investigation.
The ACC further states that while two of the three parties who had submitted proposals had failed to meet the requirements, the SHSC had proceeded to accept and evaluate them. They stated that Sabry had also admitted to having advised the evaluation committee to score them as they saw fit even though the proposals did not meet with the defined requirements.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Maldives Broadcasting Commission (MBC) has ordered private broadcasters Raajje TV and Villa TV (VTV) to apologise for defamatory material and ordered the stations to broadcast live events with a delay to minimise future defamation.
The broadcast media regulator said Raajje TV had aired an opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) meeting on September 23, 2013, in which an MDP member had defamed the Supreme Court bench.
VTV is said to have aired material defamatory to MDP presidential candidate Mohamed Nasheed, MP Rozaina Adam, and Elections Commission President Fuwad Thowfeek during its daily talk show ‘Fasmanzaru’ on September 27, 2013.
MBC has ordered Rajje TV and VTV to broadcast an apology and to allow the wronged party to speak in their defense by January 31. Furthermore, VTV has been ordered to broadcast ‘Fasmanzaru’ with a broadcast delay and Raajje TV has been ordered to broadcast all political events with a broadcast delay.
Speaking to Minivan News, VTV CEO Ibrahim Khaleel said the MBC’s decision “limited the freedom of the press”, and that the station did not see any reason to air an apology.
According to Khaleel, MBC ordered VTV to apologise for comments made on air by MP Ilham Ahmed and MP ‘Redwave’ Ahmed Saleem.
“The constitution guarantees freedom of expression within the tenets of Islam and we, as a TV station, gave airtime to politicians to express their opinions. No one has said anything contrary to a tenet of Islam,” Khaleel argued.
If any party feels they have been wronged, then the laws allow them to pursue defamation charges or to seek compensation through other means, he added.
Deputy CEO of Raajje TV Yamin Rasheed also condemned the MBC’s decision as “discriminatory”.
“It is not fair when MBC only orders specific TV channels to air specific programmes or events with a delay,” Yamin said arguing that other broadcasters must also be ordered to broadcast all political events with a delay.
Yamin also expressed concern over MBC ordering the station to air an apology over an MDP MP’s comments. However, he said Raajje TV would broadcast an apology and would allow the Supreme Court judges an hour to speak in their defense.
MBC has previously ordered Raajje TV, Dhi TV, and Dhi FM to apologise for defamatory material.
Raajje TV was ordered to apologise in December 2013 for airing a report defaming the Supreme Court, but MBC said the report does not constitute a national security threat as alleged by the apex court.
Furthermore, in July 2012, MBC ordered Raajje TV to apologise for airing a report alleging that a policeman had stolen petrol from a motorbike, and in August 2012 the station was ordered to issue an apology on three consecutive nights for publicising Defense Minister Mohamed Nazim’s text messages
In March 2012, Dhi FM was similarly reprimanded for content aired following the overthrow of Nasheed’s administration on February 8, 2012.
(0)Dislikes(0)Following the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party’s (MDP) win in Malé and Addu cities, former President Mohamed Nasheed has predicted an MDP majority in parliamentary elections scheduled for March and threatened to impeach President Abdulla Yameen.
MDP appears to have won all six of the local government seats in Addu City and eight of the 11 Malé City seats. Results for the remaining 1083 island and atoll council seats are rolling in.
Speaking at a press conference tonight, Nasheed predicted the MDP will win approximately 700 of the 1100 local government seats and said he believed the Maldivian citizens continued to hope for an MDP administration.
“The Maldivian citizens still want an MDP government, and for Maldives to be ruled according to MDP’s philosophy. I would like to tell the Maldivian public, do not be disheartened. God willing, without much delay, we will take over the government,” he said.
Nasheed had lost November’s controversial presidential elections narrowly, winning 48.61 percent of the vote (105,181) to Yameen’s 51.39 percent (111,203) – a difference of just 6,022 votes.
The 2013 presidential elections were marred with repeated and controversial delays after the Supreme Court annulled a widely commended first round of polls.
The apex court then imposed a 16-point electoral guidelines on the Elections Commission (EC), which critics say limit the independent commission’s authority to administer elections and allow political parties and candidates to veto elections.
Nasheed’s threat of impeachment comes after allegations of electoral fraud involving fake national identity cards in the presidential polls.
Elaborating further tonight, Nasheed said: “There are many ways to legally change a government. One of them is through the People’s Majlis. I believe the local council elections indicate the direction the People’s Majlis will go. I believe Maldivians want an MDP majority in the country, and an MDP government in the country.”
“The laws state two methods for changing a government. That is through an election or through a no confidence vote followed by an election. If the Maldivian citizens give us a majority in parliament, then we will be forced to take that no confidence vote,” he continued.
Earlier today, Nasheed said the non-existent voters had been added to the voter registry as part of “efforts to rig the election through the Supreme Court.”
The Supreme Court’s guideline included a clause ordering the EC to discard its voter registry and compile a new list based on the Home Ministry’s Department of National Registration’s (DNR) database.
Speaking to the media this afternoon, Nasheed said the DNR’s list contained hundreds of eligible voters without photos.
“We suspect very strongly that those without photos are non-existent people. However, they voted in the presidential election,” Nasheed said.
EC President Fuwad Thowfeek told parliament’s Independent Institutions Committee on Thursday (January 16) that the first list with ID card photos provided by the DNR was missing photos of more than 5,400 people.
However, the DNR provided photos of about 4,000 voters two weeks ago, Thowfeek told MPs, which left the final voter lists without the photos of 1,176 people.
Asked if photos could have been repeated in the DNR list, Thowfeek said the EC could not check and verify the information.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Police Integrity Commission (PIC) has refused to investigate the confidential police forensic report – based on which the Supreme Court annulled the first round of the 2013 presidential election – because it could cast doubt on the legitimacy of the ruling, the Elections Commission has said.
Speaking at the People’s Majlis Commitee on Independent Institutions, EC member Mohamed Farooq said that the commission noticed serious issues in the Maldives Police Service (MPS) forensic report. According to Farooq, the EC found that many among the people who were considered deceased based on the forensic report were actually alive.
When the EC requested for the court’s permission to include those people in the eligible voters list, the court responded saying it did not declare anyone dead and the annulment of first round of elections was based on the police forensic report, Farooq said.
“Then we realised that it was more of a issue with the forensic report than the Supreme Court. And since it was prepared by the police, we submitted a complaint to the Police Integrity Commission, because they produced such a faulty report,” Farooq was quoted as saying in CNM.
Fraudulent allegations
According to Farooq, the PIC responded to the complaint saying that if a decision is made on the forensic report it could raise questions about the legitimacy of that case, and therefore the commission will not decide on the matter nor will they investigate the case further.
In the first round of elections former President Mohamed Nasheed of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) came first with 45.45 percent. President Abdulla Yameen of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) came second with 25.35 percent, and the Jumhooree Party’s Qasim Ibrahim came third with 24.07 percent of the vote.
Qasim subsequently filed a case at the apex court citing fraud and vote rigging in the election. On October 7, the Maldives Supreme Court annulled the first round.
The 4:3 verdict cited a confidential police report submitted to the court alleging 5,600 ineligible votes. It was said to be compiled by a team of MPS ‘forensic experts’ who worked inside the Supreme Court premises collecting and analysing evidence of the alleged vote rigging.
Later, when the People’s Majlis ‘241’ security services oversight committee requested for the report, then Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz declined. The parliament have still not officially received the report, however a copy of the document was obtained and published by Minivan News.
Report’s impact could be huge: MP Sameer
The report was later shared with the EC, who will now review it and submit a report to the People’s Majlis Committee on Independent Institutions.
Speaking to Minivan News today, the committee chair MP Ahmed Sameer said the group would review the EC report and take necessary action.
“The impact of this report is huge. If there is something wrong with the report we will have to look into it. It shall be discussed in the Majlis,” Sameer said.
The three dissenting judges in the Supreme Court case, Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz, Justice Abdulla Areef and Justice Muthasim Adnan in their dissenting opinion dismissed the confidential police report submitted by the Attorney General Azima Shakoor as invalid evidence as EC was not provided a right of response to the document.
The majority decision of court based on the secret police report cited 5,623 ineligible votes, while Faiz and Areef, after a comparison between the EC’s list of those who voted and the Jumhooree Party’s seven lists alleged of dead, underage, and repeated voters found only 473 cases (0.2 percent of votes) of irregular votes.
The two judges also stated that election laws do not allow for annulling the entire election in instances of fraud, and all three dissenting judges challenged the apex court’s constitutional jurisdiction over the case.
The confidential police report was also dismissed by the United Nations after an expert review of the document. “We feel confident in asserting that the election was all inclusive, there was no disenfranchisement and the quality of the voter register met international standards,” read a statement from UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco following his visit to the Maldives stated
Other local and international election observers, among them Commonwealth and Indian observers, also praised the conduct of elections, considering it free and fair.
Some people claimed to be underage in the secret police report were later found to be of voting age at the time, and some declared deceased in the report found to be alive.
(1)Dislikes(0)The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) suspects electoral fraud using fake national identity cards in last year’s presidential election, former President Mohamed Nasheed has said.
Speaking to reporters after voting in today’s local council election, Nasheed referred to the Elections Commission (EC) including ID card photos in voter lists used at polling stations.
“We now have photos of all eligible voters. [But] we can see people without photos in the eligible voters list. We suspect very strongly that those without photos are non-existent people. However, they voted in the presidential election,” Nasheed said.
Nasheed explained that all candidates were sent the marked voters registry after the election, which identifies those who voted.
“So we are very certain now that there was serious fraud in the presidential election,” he said, adding that there were discrepancies between the voter registry used in the presidential election and the one used today.
Nasheed said he believes that non-existent people were added to the database at the Department of National Registration (DNR) as part of “efforts to rig the election through the Supreme Court.”
On October 7, the Supreme Court annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election on September 7 based on a secret police forensic report despite international and domestic praise of a free and fair vote.
Subsequent attempts to conduct the polls were obstructed by the police after the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Jumhooree Party (JP) refused to sign the voters registry – a requirement from a 16-point guideline imposed by the apex court judgment.
Nasheed was narrowly defeated by PPM candidate Abdulla Yameen in the second round of the presidential election that eventually took place on November 16.
Yameen received 51.39 percent of the vote (111,203) whilst Nasheed polled 48.61 percent (105,181) – a difference of just 6,022 votes.
Total voter turnout was 91.41 percent (218,621), the highest since 2008, up five percent from 208,504 (86 percent) in the first round.
Nasheed meanwhile told the press today that discussions were taking place within the MDP on a course of action concerning the suspected electoral fraud.
“I believe we have to go to court, too. We have to raise our voices about this. We have to clearly find out what happened with this vote. We always suspected there was fraud committed through the Supreme Court. Now, God willing, we will be able to confirm with this information,” the MDP presidential candidate said.
He added that the party could not accept the results of the presidential election if allegations of fraud were substantiated.
EC President Fuwad Thowfeek told parliament’s Independent Institutions Committee on Thursday (January 16) that the first list with ID card photos provided by the DNR was missing photos of more than 5,400 people.
However, the DNR provided photos of about 4,000 voters two weeks ago, Thowfeek told MPs, which left the final voter lists without the photos of 1,176 people.
Asked if photos could have been repeated in the DNR list, Thowfeek said the EC could not check and verify the information.
Speaking to press following the closing of polls today, EC member Ali Mohamed Manik addressed the allegations of phantom voters on the DNR list.
Manik said he personally did not believe that the DNR “as the institution responsible maintaining information of all Maldivian citizens” would provide fraudulent lists to the EC.
He added that the EC has not attempted to verify the authenticity of the photos provided by the DNR.
Thowfeek noted that the commission was legally responsible for compiling the eligible voters registry prior to the annulled presidential polls on September 7 last year.
However, the Supreme Court ordered the EC to consider the DNR list as the only source in compiling the registry, Thowfeek explained.
He added that the EC was forced to consider the DNR list as legitimate despite errors, such as citizens deemed deceased while alive.
“So it has become difficult for us to say anything about the validity of the list,” he said.
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