Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ali Waheed has also reported the leakage of several document concerning the Guantanamo Bay detainees to police. The Foreign Ministry said it was reporting the matter to the police on Tuesday.
Press secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that Waheed was trying to escape after he was accused of being the recipient of a stolen secret document of the government.
Zuhair claimed Waheed had reported the case because ”he realised what he had done.”
”All the collaborators involved in the crime of stealing a government document and spreading it without clarifying its validity are also equally culpable,” said Zuhair. ‘They should be given the punishment that one receives for being a thief.”
Zuhair said the theft of the documents was a crime under articles 12 and 13 of the penal code.
”Politics is not an excuse for crime,” he said. ”Whoever stole the documents is a criminal shall be treated as a criminal.”
He said that government was not trying to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees into the country in secret.
”We will only bring him according to the law,” he said. ”What is the problem with it if he has a valid passport, the threat of being attacked if he goes back to his own country and he is a innocent Muslim?”
He said that Ali Waheed was aware the matter was not unlawful or dangerous, and dismissed counter-claims by the opposition as ”pure political circus”.
”That man [Waheed] has the look of a comedian,” Zuhair said.
Waheed, in a press conference yesterday, announced that he had reported the leaked document to police and said he had requested they investigate the case, so the government’s documents could be safely protected while the National Security Committee was investigating the Guantanamo Bay affair.
”I did not steal anything,” he claimed. “When I received government documents that I believed had the potential to harm the national security of the country I presented it to the national security committee to investigate,” he said.
”I do not believe that it is known as thieving. It was not leaked by my mistake.”
Foreign minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed has also reported the case to the police.
Dr Shaheed said the documents consisted of unofficial communications to the Maldives government from the US government, and a document sent to the Attorney General’s office by the Foreign Ministry.
Dr Shaheed said the documents also included an unofficial letter sent from the US discussing how a legal framework could be established to bring in the detainees.
Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair has recently said that the document was not leaked but was “deliberately stolen”, which he said caused “a lot of trouble” for the Maldives, by disrupting diplomatic relationships between countries.
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DRP is best known for stealing things during the past 30 years. No surprise on this one!
Press Sec...What an excellent point you have...How come no one realize all this time. PS really seem to be giving statements like that from a primary student. I wonder if he really understands who really he is and whose Press Secretary he is. He is definitely not MDP's press secretary.
Does PS really believe these kinds of statements will deviate public from what they already think. Good Luck.
Ha ha Baby Waheed..looks like the so called smart ass has made a blunder this time we guess. Now please get Shuaib Shah to fight for you in court. If he refuses , ask his wife ..For sure she will order him to save you...you know what I mean yeh !!!
Press secretary is loosing the battle, every day he is trying to spin the issue on the other way. But the real question is why the Government agreed these deals without respecting Maldives constitution.After making all the deals now trying to cover up everything.This shows the incompetency to govern.
"He said that government was not trying to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees into the country in secret."
Then why hasn't the government adequately informed the people of this?
Dr Shaheed has already told the Americans, that Maldivians will welcome the detainees.
I am yet to find a Maldivian who does not think this is Dr Shaheed's own thinking.
From all I am hearing, this is not what the Maldivians want.
If this is not done secretively, I think Maldivians will know when someone tries to find out what Maldivians want.
Ali Waheed should be removed from politics for indecent behaviour ages ago. This time he might just go get lost.
Waheed is not only a comedian but a political baffoon and a pure opportunist. He belongs to a particular category of humans that open their mouth before anything registers in their brain, if anything registers at all.
Regardless of national security concerns, a stolen document remains a stolen document. Does anyone still remember how Anni was convicted of "stealing" documents from Velaanaage?
Waheed better prepare to face the judges...
who ever leaked the documents should be protected under whistle blower laws. If the government did not do any thing illegal why the secrecy, why not bring all the evidence to the public lets have a public debate rather than the political circus we have right now ?
Whistle blowers law? for stealing government documents, correspondance with another country?
No, its true it was not a secret that Gitmo people were going to be brought over, what is not clear is how and what status they will have in this country.
The government needs to clear up all this issues.
Whatever ones views of this issue, there is no excuse for stealing sensitive government documents. A government can't leak like a sieve.
And Ali Waheed at the last moment reporting it to the police, smacks of desperation.
Let's say comedian Ali Waheed (remeber how he took that fall in parliament) finds a bag of gold coins that was mysteriously kept just inside his door. Let's say he stumbles onto them. If he isn't as dumb as he looks, he would be certain of one fact. That these does not belong to him. That he does not own them. That there would be a rightful owner. and that he should give them over to the Police or the Avashu Office. What does he do?? None of these questions occur to him. If he then greedily uses the gold coins, distributes it to his friends and has a general field day on a finders keepers basis, then he is culpable and guilty of partaking in stolen goods, as the rightful owner has already reported them as stolen. If he then later returns them, after his friends had reaped dividends on the gold, the crime becomes more complex. The bench book on petty theft states, that should reported stolen goods be discovered on the premises of an individual other then the owner/s, that individual is culpable of the crime unless that that individual is able to prove who kept it there. Once again the audacious Press Secretary has got it spot on and called the shots right. Honorable Ali Waheed is a collaborator in the theft of state documents.
Ali Waheed is a responsible citizen, a public figure and lawer maker of this Country. We expect him to follow the laws and report stolen Government property to the responsible authority, Maldives Police Service. You do not distribute these to the public domain even if you are in the opposition. He has not acted in a lawful or reponsible manner.
The fact that the government wanted to bring these detainees in secrecy without consulting with the people just shows how democratic this country still is.
@Robin
What if they are brought here . what is wrong with it. I am sure we don't loose anything , and pretty sure we will have more benefits if we can help on it. So what .
I am a Maldivian who agrees and welcomes the detainees to be brought. So here u find someone who agrees with Shaheed . Am sure you must have met many other people like me . dont talk bullshit.
keep positive u will find it much better and comforting when you look at the bright side.
And for ali whaheed , he is a immature clown . when i see him i remember of JOKER .
really Pathetic.
its a shame that our parliament have such immature people who thinks they really fit for politics.
Baby i have one thing to say Politics is not for jokers . you need to have some kind of Quality and thinking when you are a politician . Its not the place for your barbie doll fights. one of these days i hope someone will teach you whats politics .
I think its time to catch the thief who has started to get fever due to insecure feeling that there might be evidence he had a role in it.
Ali Whaheed its a joke when u complain .
it like
MISKITHU HULHU JEHI MEE HAA YAH VEE GOYH DHOA dhoa. haha. poor baby . hope u will get nailed soon. one way or the other. 🙂
Its a shame that we Maldivians entertain clowns like Ali Waheed, Nihan , Mahloof, Umar Naseer, Mavotaa and Ilaham. These jokers moving up to leadership positions in DRP proves the status of this party.