Human Rights Ambassador of the President’s Office Ahmed Ibrahim “Sandhaanu” Didi has called on Elections Commission (EC) President Fuad Thaufeeq to dissolve the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), calling it an “unlawful organisation which commits terrorist activities and attempts to undermine the powers of the state.”
“Fuad Thaufeeq must pronounce the MDP an illegal party and remove it from the political party registry immediately. They shouldn’t be allowed to exist,” he told a press conference on Monday afternoon.
“Article 27 and 32 of the constitution allows freedom of expression and assembly without any limits. However, we must bear in mind that we cannot exercise these rights in a manner which infringes upon the rights of others,” Ibrahim Didi said.
“The roads of Male’ have been in chaos for the past year. One of the groups is calling for early elections, which itself is against our constitution,” he continued.
“I see no reason for there to be dissenting political views. Former President Mohamed Nasheed handed in his resignation on live TV. There should be no questions around this.”
Ibrahim Didi stated that all concerned parties had initially accepted the findings released by the Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI), a Commonwealth-backed inquiry commission set in place through presidential decree by President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik.
“If some of these people later decided to go against that stand, we are not obliged to listen to them. If we are to go on like this, the world will come to believe we are fools,” Ibrahim Didi said.
He added the charges against former President and current MDP presidential candidate Nasheed will not become political “just because he and his supporters say so.”
“Even Almighty God loves all of his subjects. But if any of us sins, He will punish as is due. The same law of nature applies to the case at hand,” said the human rights ambassador.
Ibrahim Didi stated that the current MDP protests were unlawful as they are calling on the Prosecutor General (PG) to withdraw charges against Nasheed, which he said was unlawful under the Maldivian constitution.
“If in their protests, the MDP are calling for the charges against Nasheed to be withdrawn, their demands are unlawful as per the constitution. These charges are being pressed by an independent institution. They are calling to undermine the powers of this institution. So I must ask for this party, these people, to be arrested and detained. I am saying this because this party is trying to undermine the powers of the republic and the constitution.”
Ibrahim Didi alleged that MDP supporters had set to the streets “with one objective alone: to undermine the powers of our constitution.”
Ibrahim Didi further spoke about the importance of all political parties having the same views and objectives.
“I cannot believe, in fact, I do not at all want to believe, that there can be anyone with views opposing that of the government. There should be no opposition parties. Everyone should have the same views. There can, however, be parties created to hold the government accountable.”
Ibrahim Didi alleged that “more than political activities, [MDP] is creating havoc on the streets, setting places on fire and creating chaos.”
“Even when their presidential candidate is a criminal, they keep saying no, no, no, we still want him,” Ibrahim Didi said of Nasheed’s supporters.
Ibrahim Didi responded that he “personally held no doubts that Nasheed is a criminal”, when a journalist asked how he could refer to Nasheed as a criminal before the courts ruled on the case.
Elections Commission “disappointed”
President of the Elections Commission Fuad Thaufeeq stated that he was “deeply saddened that a person like Ahmed Ibrahim Didi would call for such an undemocratic act as terminating a political party.”
“The MDP is the largest political party with over 46,000 members. If we add together the membership numbers of the second and third largest parties, DRP and PPM, the total number is approximately equal to the membership of MDP as a single party. Is he asking us to take away the rights of this many citizens?” Thaufeeq said.
“Protesting is a constitutional right granted to all people. That is not a reason to terminate any party. The EC, to date, has not seen any reason to terminate any political party. We are also observing the activities of the parties,” Thaufeeq continued.
“I am appalled that Ahmed Ibrahim Didi would call on us to do such a thing. Since freedom of expression is a constitutional right, anyone can say what they please as long as it aligns with the constitution and Islamic values,” he said.
“Hence, Ibrahim Didi has a right to call for MDP to be terminated, and MDP has a right to call for Nasheed’s trial to be postponed. There is no valid reason here for a party to be terminated.”
No police brutality: HR Ambassador
Ibrahim Didi further stated that he did not believe that the police had committed any acts of brutality in the past year.
“I am very concerned that the Human Rights Commission released a statement saying police have used excessive force. If someone comes at police with a wooden club with excessive force, then police too will respond and go at them with excessive force. One can’t judge these actions unless they are there on the spot,” he stated.
“I saw on DhiTV today that Fuad Thaufeeq has said we can have a free and fair election if we can resolve issues between MDP and the police. This is a highly irresponsible statement,” he said.
“Anyone who speaks against the police are traitors to the nation. People who have problems with the police are all criminals. People from political parties will never have problems with the police,” Ibrahim Didi said.
Vice President of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives Ahmed Tholal said the commission had always called on people to demonstrate peacefully as allowed in the constitution, and the police to exercise restraint.
“Even in an instance where a demonstration becomes violent, I do not believe the state should respond in kind. None of our laws allow any form of violence. Should protesters get violent, then the state should only take proper legal action against the perpetrators. The state cannot at all respond with similar forms of violence as the perpetrators,” Tholal said.
Roles of the Human Rights Ambassador
Ibrahim Didi said that one could compare protests under past administrations to the current protests being held by MDP.
Asked by journalists if, as Human Rights Ambassador, Ibrahim Didi believed the December 2011 protests by the current government aligned parties could be termed “peaceful”, in which protesters uprooted trees and a policeman was attacked with fire, Ibrahim Didi stated that “we are not here to hold a hearing on this” and “we will need to review past protests before commenting on that.”
“Any persons who challenge the constitution, who challenge the judicial system, cannot be termed as a political party. They must be termed an unlawful organisation and must be removed from the political party registry,” Ibrahim Didi responded, when asked if the parties that participated in the December 2011 protests which had called to “topple” the then government should also be terminated for undermining the constitution.
Local media also asked Ibrahim Didi what he, as current Ambassador and previously a strong critic of Gayoom, had done to ensure that justice was delivered for victims of human rights abuses during Gayoom’s 30 year regime.
“I stand by everything I have said about Gayoom’s actions. Even though I am here as an Ambassador for Human Rights, I think it is better if those questions are asked of the commission Nasheed made during his administration to look into those very allegations.”
Ibrahim Didi concluded the press event by stating that he did not accept the judiciary was functioning, saying “these arsonists would not be walking around on our streets freely if the judiciary could perform right.”
“Sheer madness”: MDP
MDP Spokesperson Imthiyaz Fahmy said it was not at Ibrahim Didi’s discretion to terminate a political party, adding that such things were done under certain norms and procedures.
“The MDP is the party that stood up for Ibrahim Didi himself, when he was sentenced to life imprisonment for exercising freedom of expression during Gayoom’s brutal regime. And today has he no shame calling for this party to be terminated?” Fahmy asked.
“It is sheer madness to call for the termination of the country’s largest and first democratic political party. Terminating a political party in this manner is simply not possible in a democratic environment, it is like calling a square a circle. I cannot understand what kind of policies the man is following. It is sheer madness to make remarks like he has made today,” Fahmy said.
“He doesn’t understand the simple concept of the presumption of innocence, and has proceeded to call Nasheed a criminal. In fact, he has today called almost half the population criminals by saying anyone who has issues against the police are criminals,” Fahmy said.
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What a joke! A shame for the government to have such uneducated and retarded people in key position.
Ibrahim Didi, shame on you. You had no life, you no future, your family had no tomorrow till MDP got you out of jail.
Disgrace, disgrace...now you bow your head to the same person who put in jail!!!! shame on you, shame on you...people like you make the world and freedom fighters for democracy laugh.
How much are you paid to say such unreasonable, senseless things???? Go read some history to understand that there is no justification or law that can kick MDP or any other party out
Now I've seen everything. If everyone shared the exact same views, there would only be one party. This sounds like just another way to try and remove Nasheed from the elections, first attempts didn't work, now we call them (MDP) terrorists.
What a joke.
How is this idiot qualified to be a human rights minister.
Puppet Waheed puts forward another puppet...good job Waheed 😉
This Didi is even more of an idiot then i previously thought and he is holding the position of a Human Rights Ambassador? A nutcase in a government full of nuts.
The village simpleton strikes again
who needs a human rights ministry in the first place? why do we make these useless ministries? just to waste more money, no?
Terrorists?? Seriously? O_o
ha ha ha ha what a joker!! plzz someone help me out here......view only the sunny side of life...
"If someone comes at police with a wooden club with excessive force, then police too will respond and go at them with excessive force."
"If someone comes at police throwing with a cursed rooster, then police too will respond and throw back with cursed roosters with excessive force."
“Article 27 and 32 of the constitution allows freedom of expression and assembly without any limits.
However, we must bear in mind that we cannot exercise these rights in a manner which infringes upon the rights of others,” Ibrahim Didi said.
“Even when their presidential candidate is a criminal, they keep saying no, no, no, we still want him,” Ibrahim Didi said of Nasheed’s supporters.
Ibrahim Didi responded that he “personally held no doubts that Nasheed is a criminal”, when a journalist asked how he could refer to Nasheed as a criminal before the courts ruled on the case.
How about Articles 27 & 32 of the constitution now ???
How about "infringing upon the rights of others" ???
Oh People of Maldives. Please remember this guy Ahamed Did, is living a House belongs to one of his relation Call Aminath Didi. Without knowing her this did forged her mothers property deed on his name and taken half of the property on his name. How can he become a human rights ambassador.Shame on you.
Sandaanu Didi.
You are deaf and blind.
He was sentenced in Prison for life during Gayooms time, but he pleaded to Gayoom and was freed.
Hah
“Even when their presidential candidate is a criminal, they keep saying no, no, no, we still want him,” Ibrahim Didi said of Nasheed’s supporters.
Anni's crime is that he wanted to bring down a criminal that helped drug traffickers and child rapers go free.
Therefore, if stopping drug trafficking and child abuse is terrorism, then it is an honor to be a terrorist.
We shall strike terror into the hearts of drug traffickers and child abusers. And not even Sandhaanu can stop us.
If you're anti MDP or anti Maumoon or what ever anti you are, just stay one way and be true and honest to yourself. Dhefu Keheriyaka Nuvebela. One day you write Sandhaanu and create a havok in the country against Maumoon, even though he broke your's and our bones to shreds. Now that he's feeding you dollar by dollar, you are calling to create a brutal war against 150,000+ innocent civilians and bringing their lives to an end. Look, if Anni is a boogieman according to you, he did feed the poor, gave hope and elevated the status of so many ordinary Maldivians. Shame on you, Shame on your Sandhaanu books, shame on your history, shame on your present and future!!!
The ambassador seems to be very personal in expressing his ideas and opinions. Didi may have been too emotional due to the physical abuse during the early times of the MDP protest to pressure government to withdraw charges against Nasheed. On the other hand, it is wothy to note Nasheed's decission to take refuge in IHC. If this set a precedent there will be career politicians and gangsters who will follow suit to abscond justice.
•• Hope the action of these moronic people would not pave the way India to send troops. You never know tomorrow this self destructive psychopath will enter in to Indian embassy and India will send its troops to rescue Indian diplomats and ultimately will stay here to restore the democracy and this will not be pleasant for fishermen to have shadow of foreign force on them. Such eventuality is highly probable and then these monkeys will learn what is all about to have some alien force that will kick and urinate on locals. Wake up guy no America or UN will come to save you from India because India is simply supporting democracy in the Maldives.
Wake up idiots You can’t challenge democracy today, There has been much bigger strong countries like Iraq and Libya were treated as bunch of scavengers. The whole world knows Nasheed is the one who brought democracy and you have toppled him and now trying to harm him,
CORRECTION-----------------
India is testing the power-structure in Maldives. they want to see who is in charge; they will do business with whoever is in charge.
The idea is to show Nasheed is not in control of key dynamic elements which form the military and industrial firmaments of government. The idea is to show he has no future in Maldives. And once the Indian’s realize Maumoonism and Waheed are the monsters controlling everything, pulling all the strings; once they realize we are inter-connected to regional powers, then they will retailate by making peace with Anti-Nasheed elements now in control.
This is all the assurance they want, all they need. Because then they can do business. They cannot negotiate with a lone-gun in President’s House. Yet Waheed is not the lone-gun we wish he was. NAsheed with his 5000 rioters is the lone-gun you see.
And the Indian government is not a uniform bed of roses, it has various elements vying for control of it’s own power-structure. Extremists, Capitalists and psycho-nationalists versus the Congress Party. Therefore decisions take time to filter…………..
It is nevertheless clear who is in charge in India (R.G)… and this is where China is also banking with India. Similarly in Maldives, China is resting alongside Waheed (Maumoonism). This is where negotiations start you see.
And it is clear where this will lead. The human-rights minister is not really the human-rights minister, he works in a different capacity. Certain elemnts n India are under the impression that the Maldives is a tiny estate surrounded by resorts, with no imminent dangers to them. They feel we do not have super-computers hidden inside relevant ministries, because they have not see it (hehe). This is why they feel they can take us for a ride.
We have to show them we have guns, the right kind of guns. I
n any case there is an understanding, Nasheed remain a liability both to the Maldivian as well as Indian power structure, India knows this, we know this. India wants to see whether we have what it takes to extract this information from their mouths. We would then have proved we are relevant.
Both the Indian MEA, their fanatic media (which is controlled by Capitalists, and an aryan Indian middle class), and the high commission will be monitoring this website. They are analyzing the comments posted here also.
Stay this order.
Mr. Didi is equally qualified and to make pronouncements on human rights. Everyone whom you do not agree with should not be called names.
We have seen Dr. Shaheed make several crazy statements. The guy does not even have common sense. But just because he is known as a doctor, people think there is halo.
Why is there so much bias, If Didi was elected by MDP, he would be regarded as an Einstein.
NO ONE IS DUMB. AND NO ONE HAS SUPERIOR GENES. WE ARE ALL CREATED EQUALLY BY ALLAH.
OMG..never read anything as ridiculous as this!!!
He is definitely the wrong person for human rights if he has such subjective and shortminded views.
LOL
What a joke, Mr. Human Violated Ambassador? What an idiot? I believe this idiot is deaf and blind!
Ibrahim Didi should be quarantined at IGMH! He is suffering from FOOT-IN-MOUTH DISEASE!
What a gold medal idiot!
He is narrow minded, bias, uneducated and a dinosaur... He would make a perfect Supreme Court Judge!!!
Some crazy people in Maldives think that knowledge of human rights is so sacrosanct that only certain certain people affiliated with Gayooms foreign Ministry (now in MDP) can even comment on it.
I thank Mr. Didi for his finely eloquent words about the real human rights sentiments of Maldivains.
“Any persons who challenge the constitution, who challenge the judicial system, cannot be termed as a political party. They must be termed an unlawful organisation and must be removed from the political party registry,”
Good, very good. Let's start from here. PPM has been saying they actively instigated the fall of the democratically elected government of Nasheed on 7th February, by working at it from November 2008. So, as per Mr Didi, PPM and its supporters have been challenged and broken the Constitution since November 2008. PPM therefore needs to be removed from the political party registry.
Well, Didi must have had some serious brain damage from the torture he received under Gayyoom, for he seems to be showing all signs of someone with an IQ less than 70, i.e. a retard. None of the statements he made makes any sense! Well done to Waheed for selecting a retard for his "Human Rights Ambassador"; shows how much he regards Human Rights.
Didi is correct. MDP must be destroyed. They are evil and I heard some of they also pray to Shaitan. Nasheed is big criminal and his party is also criminal organisation. This government has the right to destroy both of them. We can do this.
MDP introduce drugs and other religions into Maldives. All this is against Constitution. MDP must be banned because they are criminals. President Waheed understands this as Didi has said.
now i want to read sandhaan..
make this guy a judge. he will do well.
idiot !
Human Rights = Freedom of Speech. this Didi is a total troll.
The only terrorists I see are Imran and co. Also, how are the words Human Rights even used before saying this guy's name. He is an utter idiot, and should not step within a 100 meters of anything to do with human rights.
Waheed should dismiss him if he loves the people of maldives
In Maldives Nasheed’s case has become the focal point to show that nobody is above the law even he is the person who had got respect by a very large amount of people. Here we forget that Anni has been a subject for many extraordinary things to happen. Jailed, attacked on the road, abused and dragged on the road all this drama is because Anni talks about freedom and democracy and who was the pioneer in to bring what we enjoy today to get a bit sense of dignity that was violated all in our history by the moronic people like who are in power now. Don’t we have a better person to test the judicial power? I think every ordinary Maldivian should rally behind Anni because Anni should get the highest respect in a society where human conscience and dignity flourish.
Some people blame Anni and MDP for political turmoil today but if we really think with clear mind, the whole problem is from those who are in power by force. They have started to challenge the democracy from the day one and have been creating mess in the country all the way up until today some in the name of religion and some to challenge Nasheed and some with fear that Nasheed could wipe out their iron fist legacy which they have projected as the champion of Maldives. I don’t know why the Maldivian publics support this bunch of mad people and want Anni to be their victim who gave us glimpse of hope when we were on the verge of point of no return to be vacuumed in to black hole. This is where I came to conclusion that the Fishermen are the most unreasonable and ignorant and unthankful people who use their brain only to clean their A****
When Zaki and Munnawar become the member of MDP then all the corruption and wrong doing was forgiven.
I guess MDP is a party where all sins will be forgiven and Nasheed is the man who has ultimate authority to forgive people of their signs and wrong doing.
I call up on all Maldivian to become the member of Nasheed regime if you ever want to get to the heaven.
When Reeco Moosa , Nasheed , Maria Imtyaz fahumee and Ali Waheed called to abolished some political part after 23rd Dec, biggest gathering in Maldives, it was Ok .
But when someone else called for that, it is wrong
Kuribee
are you saying 50,000 members of MDP are criminals?
People like you are the reason we are on the streets
What exactly is the job description of the Human Rights Ambassador?
Is he entitled to be given a pair designer glasses costing MRf 12,000 every 6 months at Government expense?
LMFAO... He really threw a good bone at us didnt he ? Look at all this emotional outpour 😛
what i'd like to see is to take the protest in the street when the sun is up not in the middle of the night. if you have arrest warrant you're not yet a criminal but close to become criminal. if your're avoiding the arrest warrant it means you're a coward close to become a criminal. actions shows the answer my friends.wake up & stop being fooled by false leaders.i don't want a leader running/avoiding the court of law and cowardly hiding under the skirt of IHC.
Anni has a right to evade summons from a kangaroo court. Don't we all know what these courts are? Self-preservation, not avoiding justice.
@Raa Be, Please don't drag India in this topic. Already so many of you are spitting on us, we don't want most mud on us. Both Waheed and Nasheed are Maldivians, please deal with them. Vote for the ones you like, stage demonstrations etc whatever. India gave Nasheed asylum in High Commission because they want to piss out Waheed just the way he has been with Indian government. But at end of day, I would prefer India just limits itself to business and diplomacy with this country - there is a much larger world out there.
It is true.
"I see no reason for there to be dissenting political views."
This is why the Maldives is circling the drain into ruin. The legitimate government has been overthrown by corrupt forces and now they're circling the wagons in order to consolidate their power. Good bye human rights, good bye tourism, hello plutocracy.
Political parties, commenters and human rights ambassadors calling each other dumb and idiots!what a shame for the country!