Minivan News rejects absurd claims published on the Adhaalath Party website on May 30 that we are running “a campaign” against corporate support of a cultural event organised by Islamic NGO Jammiyyathu Salaf, ‘The Call’ 2010.
The Adhaalath Party fails to distinguish between ‘coverage’ and ‘support’ of an event, in this instance a letter-writing campaign by feminist group Rehendhi. Minivan News has no links to Rehendhi and this represents a leap in logic akin to suggesting that by covering a tsunami disaster, we are promoting tsunamis.
The Adhaalath Party further claims that Minivan News is conspiring with Rehendhi to promote “national sissyness” and “lesbian relations among women”.
Minivan News has translated and published these allegations in their entirety, allowing our readers to make up their own minds about these ridiculous and bizarre claims.
We also understand that as homosexuality is a criminal offence in the Maldives, such false allegations are strong grounds for a defamation suit.
We were disappointed to learn today that DhiTV has aired this Adhaalath Party statement without contacting Minivan News for comment. ‘Both sides of the story’ is a central tenet of journalism and Maldivians have a right to demand a higher standard from their news media.
Furthermore, Minivan News also rejects DhiTV’s echoing of the Adhaalath Party’s claims that we are connected to the current government.
This is due to frequent confusion with the now defunct Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) newspaper ‘Minivan Daily’, a confusion DhiTV is aware of but has seen no need to clarify.
Unlike most media outlets in the Maldives, Minivan News has no active links with the current government, former government or big business interests, and is entirely self-funded through banner advertising. This allows us to report fairly and impartially on all issues affecting the Maldives, without fear or favour.
A squad of police officers yesterday destroyed the outer wall of Galolhu Masodige during a special operation.
The police squad, with their faces covered with black masks, and demolished the outer wall of Masodige making part of the house visible to people walking down the street.
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that police special operation was conducted in relation to the multiple stabbings that occurred in Male’.
He said that two men were arrested yesterday from Masodige.
”Police found sharp objects and weapons that could potentially used for assault and battery when police checked Masodige,” Shiyam said. ”We are checking several places in order to find people who violated laws and to find weapons used in assault.”
Police forced a Minivan News journalist out of the area and disallowed photos to be taken.
Photo: ‘The Day the Wall of Masodi Town Fell Down…’ by Hilath Rasheed
A Maldivian man who publicly declared himself an apostate during a speech by Islamic speaker Dr Zakir Naik on Friday evening has repented and offered a public apology on Television Maldives (TVM).
Mohamed Nazim gave Shahada – the Muslim testimony of belief – during a press conference held at the Islamic Ministry today.
He also apologised for causing “agony for the Maldivian people”, and said “major misconceptions I had regarding Islam have been clarified.”
He further requested that the community accept him back into society.
After describing himself to Dr Naik as “Maldivian but not a Muslim” on Friday night, Nazim was escorted from Maafaanu stadium by Islamic Ministry officials into police custody. Several officers were attacked for trying to protect Nazim when members of the crowd turned violent, calling for his death.
The following day the Islamic Foundation NGO issued a press release calling for Nazim to be executed under Islamic law if he failed to repent.
Apostasy is considered a grave sin under Islam, although scholarly opinion varies as to its punishment: in response to Nazim’s question, Dr Naik clarifed that the penalty was only death “if the person becomes a non-Muslim and propagates his faith and speaks against Islam. Just because a person who is a Muslim becomes a non-Muslim, death penalty is not the ruling.”
Speaking after the press conference today, Deputy Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Farooq told newspaper Haveeru that Nazim had reverted to Islam “on freewill” after the Ministry had sent two scholars to counsel him while he was in custody.
“[After] two days of counseling he said that his misconceptions had been clarified and that he wanted to become a Muslim,” Sheikh Farooq told Haveeru.
President of Islamic NGO Jammiyyathu Salaf Sheikh Abdulla Bin Mohamed Ibrahim told Minivan News he was very happy to hear of Nazim’s repentance and thanked God, adding that incident has “damaged the good name of the country.”
He further said that there were “many people trying to introduce other religions to the Maldives underground”, and that he would “release the names of these underground people at the appropriate time.”
”The incident was the result of a lack of Islamic studies in the school curriculum,” he said. ”That is one of the reasons why such things as this happen.”
The Adhaalath Party said it welcomed Nazim’s repentance and congratulated him for re-embracing Islam.
Police have meanwhile yet to reveal whether Nazim has been released from custody.
Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the court had decided that Nazim should be released, but he would not reveal whether police had yet done so.
“Police will analyse the situation,” Shiyam said, regarding Nazim’s safety.
A spate of recent stabbings has prompted President Mohamed Nasheed to condemn rising violence in Male’.
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said confirmed that yesterday afternoon a man was stabbed and injured in his chest and back, while two other men were stabbed on Saturday night.
Newspaper Haveeru reported simultaneous outbursts of violence near Athama Palace and Maafaanu Stadium on Saturday evening while the third victim was stabbed just outside Galolhu police station on Sunday. A 14 year old boy was also stabbed eight times on Friday evening, the newspaper reported, after he was reportedly mistaken by a gang for somebody else.
Haveeru reported police as saying the incidents were linked and involved the same gangs. Approximately 40 people were arrested for violent behaviour, police told Haveeru, expressing concern that they could only effectively combat such violence if severe punishment was imposed on those found guilty.
President Mohamed Nasheed condemned today string of violent attacks, saying he was “shocked and appalled”, and instructed Minister of Home Affairs Mohamed Shihab to make the matter “a high priority.”
Religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf has claimed that the current government of the Maldives is not eligible to import detainmees from Guantanamo Bay, economically and religiously, and settle them in the country.
Salaf, writing on the website raajjeislam, said that according to the religious and economic situation of the country, ”it does not seem to be a wise to take a step forward for such a move.”
”We have the threat that there are unknown allegations behind the government’s decision, although it is a must for Muslims to help Muslims,” Salaf said. ” In Islam there is a procedure arranged to follow when helping Muslims,” the group noted.
Salaf said it would be more appropriate for the Maldives to help the Muslims of a neighbouring country.
”There is no evidence to prove that the two inmates scheduled to be brought to the Maldives are really inmates from Guantanamo,” the NGO said, claiming to have evidence that would confuse [the people] as to the government’s sincerity over the issue.
Salaf claimed that the Maldivian government did not help two allegedly innocent Maldivians when they were arrested in Pakistan.
On 13 December, President Mohamed Nasheed in his presidential speech said that the Maldives would receive three inmates from Guantanamo Bay jail.
“If a Muslim does not have a place to live in freedom, we will help in whatever way we can. We don’t want anyone to suffer any harm. We know that the Maldives, in helping just three people from Guantanamo Bay, does not mean that either the Maldives or the world would be free of inhumane treatment,” he said. “However this jail, Guantanamo jail, is very symbolic.”
He said most of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay were innocent people caught up in the war in Afghanistan, and that offering assistance to other nations in whatever capacity was “a national duty.”
The President’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair is currently on leave.
President Mohamed Nasheed has said that one third of the Maldives population are poor people, despite the Maldives being a country rich with natural resources and able fulfill all the basic needs of the government.
Speaking at an information session yesterday on the Maldives’ social protection program, President Nasheed said that the country’s GDP showed that the country earned US$7000-US$8000 per head.
The only government could compensate for the disparity in incomes was through government aid, said President Nasheed, ”but there are a lot of difficulties for people to receive this money.”
President Nasheed said the government had introduced 10 types of direct aid to the people.
”When one’s salary has to be spent on shelter, it makes him lessen the amount of care given to a child,” President Nahseed said, ”and there will be no money to spend for the children’s education and no money to maintain good health.”
President Nasheed said that the government was seeking ways that would make its revenue to spend in other beneficial ways.
”Our former president spent Rf 500 million annually to operate the presidential palace,” Nasheed said. ”We decreased it to 50 million and used the left 450 million to introduce allowances for the elderly.”
He said there were 32,000 civil servants with salaries of Rf 5 billion.
”To determine whether it is wise to decrease that amount we know what it is being spent on,”‘ he said. ”Some of this could be used for social protection.”
He said the more the government decreased its expenditure, the more social protection increases.
”if we spent all the money on a block of lifeless concrete, it would not be beneficial,” he said, ”instead we shall spend it on the people.”
The Islamic Foundation has called for self-declared apostate Mohamed Nazim to be stripped of his citizenship and sentenced to death if he does not repent and return to Islam.
Nazim claimed he was “Maldivian and not a Muslim” during a public question-and-answer session with Islamic speaker Dr Zakir Naik, the first time a Maldivian has publicly announced he is not a Muslim.
According to the Maldivian constitution all citizens are required to be Muslim, and the country is always described as a “100 percent” Muslim country.
The 37 year-old angered many in the approximately 11,000-strong crowd with his statement during Dr Naik’s ‘Misconceptions about Islam’ lecture on Friday.
Dr Naik responded that Nazim had read the wrong books and “deviated from Islam”, and requested him “to read correct books on Islam, and Inshallah, you’ll come back to Islam.”
However Nazim did not relinquish the microphone and pressed Naik to clarify the penalty for apostasy.
“In Islam, there are many cases, it doesn’t mean death penalty,” Dr Naik explained. “But if the person who reverts who was a Muslim then converts to and becomes a non-Muslim and propagates his faith and speaks against Islam, and if it’s Islamic rule, then the person should be put to death. But just because a person who is a Muslim becomes a non-Muslim, death penalty is not the ruling.”
Nazim was escorted from the venue by police for his own protection, after members of the audience attempted to attack him.
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said two men who tried to attack Nazim were arrested after they attacked the police officers protecting him. Nazim himself “was not injured because police protected him,” Shiyam said.
He was taken to a police building where a crowd of protesters had gathered, calling for him to be punished. Shiyam confirmed that Nazim is now being held in an undisclosed location for five days while police investigate “in consultation with the Islamic Ministry and the Prosecutor General’s office.”
Today the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives issued a press statement calling on judges to give Nazim the opportunity to repent “and if he does not, then sentence him to death as Islamic law and Maldivian law agree.”
“The Islamic Foundation believes that the person who announces apostasy should be punished according to Islamic laws,” the NGO said, warning that Nazim represented “a disturbance to the religious views and the religious bonds that exist with Maldivians.”
“Hereby if this man does not do his penance and come back to the Islamic religion, the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives calls to take the citizenship away from this man as mentioned in the Maldivian constitution.”
If case crossed into areas not covered by the laws of the country, “then the judges should rely on Islamic law,” the NGO stated, as per article 142 of constitution which says judiciary shall look into Islamic shar’ia on matters not covered in law, and sentence accordingly.
“So it is requested that the commissioner of police run the legal research on this man and take this to the Prosecutor General’s office. We also request the Prosecutor General to go through this matter and to take this man to the criminal court for trial,” the Islamic Foundation said.
A government official involved in the legal process, who requested that his name and department be kept anonymous, said he was “really worried” and described the case as “a very sensitive subject”.
“Police are investigating the case,” he said. “My understanding is that the court authorities will give [Nazim] opportunities to change his mind. I think he will be given every opportunity to think about his decision.”
Minister for Islamic Affairs Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari told Minivan News that Ministry officials had acted quickly to remove Nazim from the venue “for his own protection”, and had now handed the matter over to the legal system.
“I don’t know if there is a penalty for apostasy according to Maldivian law,” he said.
The Adhaalath Party issued a press statement claiming that the act violated the constitution of the Maldives and called on the government “to strengthen Islam and protect the constitution.”
Religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf declined to comment on the matter during a press conference held today on another matter, however NGO Jamiyyathul Musliheen expressed “concern and regret” over the incident.
”Not a few number of Maldivian youths are moving further from the religion, and many of them are going renegade,” the NGO said in a press statement, adding that “it is a responsibility of the government to strengthen Islam in the country.”
President of the Human Rights Commission to the Maldives (HRCM), Ahmed Saleem, said “what happened was really unfortunate.”
“I think the best thing will be to talk to him and to make him understand the situation and the repercussions, talks which HRCM will welcome,” Saleem said.
He said he was unsure how the Maldivian government would handle the incident.
“I’m afraid of the reaction from the international community should we resort to harsh action,” he said. “I don’t think it would be in our interest – we have just been given a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. This is something we need to think seriously about before we start using harsh language.”
Minivan News contacted several local human rights NGOs however they had not responded at time of press.
A senior government source, who requested anonymity, said he felt the case “will be a real test of how the government will abide by its international commitments.”
Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair was on medical leave and unable to comment.
Minivan News was unable to reach Nazim himself for comment, however a person close to the matter described him as “a very sensible guy who will think of the people around him. But he will not give up on calling for people to be more honest about themselves. I think he will become a genuine refugee if he refuses to take back his words,” she said.
A transcript Dr Naik’s response to Nazim is available here.
Minister of Education Dr Mustafa Luthfy and Deputy Trade Minister Ahmed Inaz yesterday left the Gaumy Ihthihaadh Party (GIP) to join the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
Last week the MDP National Council announced it was tearing up its coalition agreement with GIP, and requested President Mohamed Nasheed remove all GIP ministers from public office. Economic Minister Mohamed Rasheed was sacked several weeks ago amid ongoing tension between the two parties.
Dr Luthfy, who was deputy leader of GIP, said he joined MDP not because he had been influenced or under threat of losing his job, but because he felt that it was “the best way to continue serving the people.”
”I discussed it with GIP Leader Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik before taking the decision,” Dr Luthfy said. ”He said it was sad, but said to do as I wished.”
Dr Luthfy said he did not condone criticising the government while he was a member of it.
”I do not know whether GIP might join the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP),” Dr Luthfy said, ”but I noticed that during a recent GIP rally held at Giyasudeen School, a lot of DRP members attended.”
He said that there was no split between the government and GIP, and that the tensions were rather between the two parties.
”The President told me I could stay in the position as an a individual,” he said, ”but I preferred to join MDP of my own wish.”
He said that MDP had invited him to join the party on several different occasions.
Vice President of the Maldives Dr Waheed Hassan Manik, who is also a key figure in GIP, said the decision by Luthfy and Inaz was their own and he had nothing to say.
He said their decision would not affect GIP and that he was not sad about it.
”[Luthfy and Inaz] discussed it with me,” he said. ”I told them to do as they wished.”
MDP Spokesperson Ahmed Haleem said both the Education Minister and Deputy Trade Minister had been serving the party unofficially long ago, in different ways.
”Now have they returned to where they belong,” Haleem said. ”It will be a progress for them.”
He claimed that GIP was now “close to joining DRP”.
”In my political experience I can say that it is very likely to happen,” he suggested.
Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan said this morning that his party had not been officially informed of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s decision to tear up its coalition agreement with Waheed’s party, the Gaumee Itthihaad Party (GIP).
Twenty-one members of the MDP’s national council voted in favour of the move, out of 23 present. The council also called on President Mohamed Nasheed to remove all GIP members from ministerial positions. Vice President Waheed and Education Minister Dr Mustafa Luthfy are the only two GIP members remaining in Cabinet, after Nasheed dismissed Minister for Economic Development Mohamed Rasheed several weeks ago.
“We no longer trust these guys,” Haleem said. “Our coalition partner is working with the opposition – I think [Waheed] will be joining [the opposition] Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) very soon. I hope so, it would be best for him.”
Haleem added that he hoped the president would “obey” the MDP Council and remove the GIP members from government: “I hope so. MDP’s national council is one of the most powerful arms of the MDP,” Haleem said.
Dr Waheed recently raised the ire of MDP supporters when he held an apparently clandestine meeting with senior leadership of the DRP, including Umar Naseer and MPs Ali Waheed, Ahmed Nihan and Ahmed Mahlouf.
“I think the political sitaution requires that we talk to each other and work together,” Dr Waheed told Minivan News today. “There are bills we have to get through [parliament], especially revenue bills to address the deficit. I believe it is important, and I think I am in a position to speak. I met with opposition MPs partly at their request, and I indicated I would meet them.”
He said he was surprised at the inflamed response from MDP supporters – “I did not realise this would attract so much attention from the press and MDP activists,” he said.
Dr Waheed said the reaction of both parties following the meeting was “not helpful.”
“Under the current circumstances everyone is trying to score political points,” he said.
GIP had not been formally informed of MDP’s decision last night to sever the coalition, he noted.
“If this is true then of course we are concerned. We believe we have a valid agreement to work with MDP together until the end of term.”
The removal of GIP members from government would be an “unfortunate” outcome, Dr Waheed said.
“I had expected some kind of discussion. Since we were not consulted when the Economic Development [Mohamed Rasheed] Minister was dismissed, I felt I had grounds to talk, especially since no reason given except ‘political circumstances’.”
Dr Waheed called for discussions, concluding that “we can’t go on pretending the country has no problems, because that will not solve them.”
The President has not yet said whether he will take the advice of MDP’s national council. Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair was not responding at time of press.
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