Former President Mohamed Nasheed was prevented from leaving the country yesterday (December 21) to visit his ill father in Bangkok, Thailand due to a “technical problem,” the Department of Immigration and Emigration has claimed.
Nasheed was told by immigration officials on Friday morning that his passport was held because of a court order by the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court that had been sent to the department on December 18 imposing a travel ban on the former president.
The formerly ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential candidate is currently on trial at the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court over charges of illegally detaining Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed in January this year.
However, on December 18, the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court authorised the former President to travel overseas between December 19, 2012 and January 6, 2013. The letter granting permission to travel was signed by Magistrate Hussain Mazeed.
Following the incident on Friday morning, the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court confirmed to local media that the Immigration Department was informed of the decision on December 18.
In a statement later in the day, the Immigration Department said the court order lifting the travel ban was received and entered into the system.
However, Nasheed was told his passport had been withheld due to a “technical problem with the system,” the Immigration Department claimed.
“The issue has now been identified and fixed a short while ago,” the statement read. The department did not elaborate on the nature of the “technical problem”.
Controller of Immigration Dr Mohamed Ali told Minivan News today that the system error “affected both arrivals and departures from 7:30am to about 2:00pm.”
He added that the incident involving the former President was “the only case” of a passport being held due to the disruption.
“The system at airport did not show the release, while the release was entered on Wednesday (December 18). It was a simple system dependent decision by the duty officer at that time. Â We have apologised to [Nasheed] and all who were affected and even have a letter sent to him assuring that he can leave during the specified period,” Dr Ali said.
However, the Immigration Controller told newspaper Haveeru on Friday that Nasheed’s passport was held due to a court order.
“He cannot leave until the court orders [the passport] to be released. When he wants to go somewhere, the court will instruct us to release it within a certain period,” Dr Mohamed Ali was quoted as saying.
Nasheed was reportedly due to leave for Bangkok on a private visit ahead of his father’s surgery.
Former President Nasheed’s office meanwhile issued a statement contending the move blocking the former President’s departure was in violation of the constitution.
The statement noted that article 128 of the constitution entitles former Presidents to “the highest honour, dignity, protection, financial privileges and other privileges entitled to a person who has served in the highest office of the land.”
Moreover, article 41 of the constitution guarantees “the freedom to enter, remain in and leave the Maldives” to every citizen.
“This office condemns in the harshest terms the act by the current government to deliberately obstruct President Nasheed from leaving the country for his father’s operation,” the press release stated.
It added that the Immigration Controller’s claims in the media that a travel ban had been imposed by a court order on December 18 was a “deliberate falsehood.”
The Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court informed Nasheed’s lawyers on Friday afternoon that the Immigration Department was sent the court order lifting the travel ban.
The statement called on the government to “respect the constitution and immediately cease these attempts to harass and hassle President Nasheed.”
The former President’s office also called on the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court to take action against the Controller of Immigration for making false claims regarding the court.
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article 41 of the constitution guarantees “the freedom to enter, remain in and leave the Maldives” to every citizen.
Problem with Anni and his cult followers are they only read part of the constitution that they want to read and are in favor of them and rest of the constitution is useless.
Our constitution also says that there reasons and circumstances where the official can stop people caving the country too.
Nasheed had breached the constitution many times and there is an ongoing court case against this idiot.
However we have now leant that court had issued a letter to release his pass port to travel to abroad which I am sure immigration will honor .
Here immigration has issued a statement saying that his pass port was on hold due to some technical error which is quite possible since we are human being.
I do not see any issue with this and Anni should be considered on the same level as other Maldivian when it comes to abide the law.
Only he has some previllages since he held a Presidential position for some time regardless of his brutality and corruption .
Its Dr.Bagee Waheed stop him flying out the country the controller of Immigration and emigration have said that he only follow orders from Dr.Bagee Waheed and he dose not follow court orders.
Mohamed Naseed is not a foreigner to cancel a permit to leave the country.
So the new Nexbiz border contrail system works as designed.
It prevents opposition politicians from traveling. Good work
To Mody with Love:
Instalment 3: Mody, my love. No, I have not forgotten to be your devoted admirer although at times I have just a teeny little bit of troubel with your logic. Ofcourse 'Anni'should be considered 'on the same level' as other Maldivians, but what I don't get is how he is being held rsponsible for his actions, when people like you forget that your hero Gayoom should also be held resposible for thirty years of tyranny and corruption. But I won't go down that track.
So bck to my advice! I suggest you take some elementary lessons on how language works. For the sake of brevity let's just take the simple example of how you use the word 'Anni' as opposed to Nasheed. I believe 'Anni' is Nasheed's childhood pet-name. Because most Maldivians know this and because pet-names are quite common in our culture, the word ends up having connotations of closeness, a sense of the boy next- door, mixed with a hinf of endearment- all things that work positively for Nasheed.Now, I don't mind all this as you may have gathered that I rather like his way of things. But considering that your only objective in life is to air your pent up frustrations against this man, I think you should find an alternative word. The more you use the word 'Anni" the more it looks like you are undecided about your feelings about Nasheed. I am assuming that you don't want the intelligent reader to think that you have some secret and unresolved feelings of affection towards 'Anni'!You see Mody, my love, language is tricky. If you can't control it, it will control you and make you look an idiot and we don't want people to hone on to that, do we?
NextBizz system fail. BUt they donT wants invesstiget neXTbizz becoz they are BMW's liyanu Ilya-ASS and NAAzkee zaki coruptsiOn. bitg coRrupstion.
To Mody my sweet:
The bulge in my trouser laughs! at you ofcourse 🙂
Who the hell is this Modi? Very troubled guy I would say.
@Azimuth
Mody is the guy who lives in a cave worshipping the anti-democracy mob.
In primitive cultures you will find his type tied to a tree foaming at the mouth.
Mody is right, this guy Anni need to be kept isolated for national security reason, he is a virus to destroy public order.
Don't worry about that "mody". He used to comment here with another nickname; an annoying little critter who bangs on and on about the same crap like a broken record. Whatever nick he uses, the telltale sign is that this chap cannot write a single sentence of proper English. Let's not even start on his intelligence (or rather lack of it).
The Immigration Controller is on a damage limitation exercise. No one in their right mind believes a word coming out of his mouth. A "system error" from 7.30am till 2.00pm prevented just a single man from leaving the country and this man happens to be one of the most well known figures in the country right now.
Where was the "system error"? Inside the half-a-billion dollar state-of-the-art immigration system installed by Nexbiz? I don't think so. The "system error" happens to be inside the head of the Controller.
It was a deliberate and pathetic attempt at humiliating the former President. Tyrants always use the same tactic and tyranny cannot last forever. Nasheed has already shown the door to one tyrant.
Typical of this regime. One day it says Nasheed is banned from leaving the country the next it says it was due to a technical error. Waheed should be ashamed to play these games when his own family was at the receiving end of cruelty like this when his brother Naushad was not allowed to go to his mothers funeral even during Gayoom's regime.
As for technical errors, immigration has let a murder suspect leave the country and held back Pres Nasheed from visiting his sick father, can we really trust such a regime to implement the death penalty?
Before you know it some innocent would've been put to death and they will claim it was due to a technical error.
to Mody
You still write what your master Yamin tells you, what a puppet. don't even think any comments here will change any ones mind. Go do it in haveeru. might have some luck.
When Mr. Gazee was held you guys jumped around like goats who have over dosed chili, why not for every Maldivian who are held in custody.
yes I know here this media is run by Anni and his associates and majority of the comments are made by the victims of Anni disease .
I am not surprised to see the kind of feedback that will pour here in when ever a person makes a comments against the cult leader.
Dear Mody, I have no problem with you having trouble writing properly in English. After all it is not your mother tongue.
The Maldivian Constitution, however, is written in Dhivehi and I presume you would understand that.You quote the articel 41 quite clearly. But then you seem to have no idea what a court order means! The article 16 of the Constitution says that the rights stated in the Constitution can be witheld from a citizen only according to a law. Now which law states that "Anni" cannot travel out of the country when the court has already authorised the travel?? Which law states that the Immigration department can act in corruption to withold "Anni's" rights to travel alone, cite a technical error and get away with it?
Start talking logic and no one will bug you Mody.
To Mody with Love:
Instalment 4:
Never, never, show you are thrown off balance into an undignified and uptight mess (as you are doing here!)because someone disagreed with you. It shows desperation and narrow-mindedness and it does a lot of harm to your credibility. It is down-right ugly, Mody my love! You see Mody, people who can think for themselves do not panic when there is a different view point. In this context, may I draw your attention, lovingly of course, to one of your comments on 22nd of November, 'I am paid to comment here by thug Anni but I am not man without a brain to write ever he asked.' See, you let you passion confuse you (as you do here)which in turn destroyed the syntax and sadly the message. What exactly were you saying there, Mody my love? I am not a man? Hell, I don't care, I am pretty liberal and your sexual orientation is not our business. ( A word of advice though, the media in the Maldives, is perhaps not the best place to announce your intentions of coming out of the closet.) Or are you saying I am a man without a brain? Chill out Mody. IQ pre-occupations are all passe' but the trick is not to advertise your own stupidity, something you seem to specialise in!
Mody, this sort of confusion just won't do. Very soon, those people who pay you for your hard work,will take their business elsewhere. It's tough times and the word on the street is your friends are struggling to finance the little charade they call a government. So you need to sharpen up your act Mody, my love.
Perhaps I am hoping for too much. Thank you for giving me so many opportunities to laugh at the way the regime supporters' brains work. And speaking of brains, I read somewhere that the mind is like a parachute. It works best when it is open.
Get it Mody?
When dogs are on guard..and control for their masters humans can expect some trouble.
Was this the same kind of "technical problem" that allowed a Chinese person, wanted for murder, fly from airport even when the immigration was sent out a notice to apprehend him? I guess "technical problems" would continue to increase now.
@ mody.
"article 41 of the constitution guarantees “the freedom to enter, remain in and leave the Maldives” to every citizen."
factual.
"Problem with Anni and his cult followers are they only read part of the constitution that they want to read and are in favor of them and rest of the constitution is useless."
The selective reference by minivan (deliberately or not, neither you or I can tell) to quote article 41 and not the article which explains its limitations you have reflected upon would have been a strong argument had you not made a hypocrite out of yourself by making selective assertions yourself. Had the unfavorable articles in the constitution been regarded as "useless" by the "cult followers", they're still left with no choice but to abide by it. Your assumption that the rudely stereotyped supporters of Anni disregard and do not abide by the laws unfavorable to them by pointing to an omission made by the author of this news article is ridiculous.
"Nasheed had breached the constitution many times and there is an ongoing court case against this idiot."
You are poisoning the well by calling the former President an "idiot" by making an attack on his cognitive ability rather than his policies.
"However we have now leant that court had issued a letter to release his pass port to travel to abroad which I am sure immigration will honor .
Here immiration has issued a statement saying that his pass port was on hold due to some technical error which is quite possible since we are human being."
How exactly are you entitled or authorized to give such an assurance regarding a government body? And now you decide to talk about possibilities. It's possible that it really was a technical error or a deliberate attempt of harassment. But you ruled out the latter, simply because you believe it to be so.
The technical error refers to a a fault in their systems, not their "human being" workers.
"I do not see any issue with this and Anni should be considered on the same level as other Maldivian when it comes to abide the law."
Really? I see a lot of issues, and apparently so do you.
Yes, we are all equally bind to an imperfect set of laws made by ourselves, aren't we? Believe me, I hate it too!
"Only he has some previllages since he held a Presidential position for some time regardless of his brutality and corruption ."
The constitution you so strongly speak of and expect allegiance towards, also says that in its eyes, a person is innocent unless proven guilty. President Nasheed had not yet been proven guilty of "brutality and corruption: during the time frame of reference in which "he held a presidential position"