A high court appeal by three men sentenced to jail for the violent protest at Himandhoo has failed.
Ahmed Ramzee, Ahmed Ali and Adam Mohamed, all from Himandhoo, were originally sentenced for up to 10 years each for their involvement in the protest in October 2007.
The 200 police and army personnel who travelled to the island in search for evidence related to the Sultan Park bombing the previous month were confronted by the islanders, who donned red motorcycle helmets and armed themselves with batons and knives and denied the authorities entry to the Dhar-al-khuir mosque.
In the ensuing skirmish, a policeman was taken captive and another’s hand was severed. Shortly afterwards a video discovered on an Al Qaeda forum was found to contain footage taken inside the Dhar-al-khuir mosque moments before it was raided by police.
Senior High Court Judge Ali Hameed today ruled that the actions of the three men during the protest qualified as ‘terrorism’ under the law of Maldives, and said that the case was not open to appeal. Reading the verdict, Judge Hameed said their actions were “against the public order of the country and weakened the religious unity of the people.”
“The [verdict] of the criminal court cannot be overturned,” he said.
In the appeal, the men claimed their actions against the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) were in “self defence”. Adam Mohamed and Ahmed Ramzy also told the court in previous hearings that their confessions had been extracted under duress.
At the time, Minivan News reported that Mohamed’s account tallied with other reports of abuse to have emerged from the police-run Dhoonidhoo detention centre. On 19 March 2008, he told the court he had been taken out of his cell at night during the investigation, handcuffed with his hands behind his back, and beaten in the football ground area.
Clemency
On 9 February senior members of the Maldivian government met with the 16 people arrested and sentenced for the Himandhoo protest, to inform them that President Mohamed Nasheed had made the decision to lessen their sentences under the forthcoming clemency bill.
“One criteria of the clemency laws is that [the defendant] must have exhausted all other avenues of appeal,” said the President’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair. “They are more eligible [for clemency] as a result of going through the [appeals] process.”
Zuhair said the accusation that the government was ‘releasing terrorists’ was unfair.
“I believe people cannot comment on the actions of the government without knowing the details of the matter,” Zuhair said. “There are complex issues being considered, such as the trial that was conducted under the previous constitution. The president has made it known he will alleviate their sentences.”
“This government came into power saying democracy would extend to religious matters,” Zuhair added.
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Where is Jeffery Waheed to comment on the so called "extremists"? Jeffery Salim Waheed please please please call these Himandhoo people extremist, terrorist, conservatives and blah blah..Please entertain us with your enlighted religious knowledge! Please shower us with your so called "moderate and Modern Islam" Please comment on this extremists!
The terrorist Mossad has assassinated a senior Hamas official. The green light is given the PM of Israel, himself. The most rogue terrorist state in world. A state that has violated numerous UN resolutions. A state that has failed to abide the Geneva Conventions. A state that committed war crimes. A state that has systemically killed many civilians.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/02/20102219289545873.html
Hi,
I hear that last week schools on Himendhoo banned children from singing their school song. Wonder whats coming next and whether this decision has anything to do with the talk of clemency for the Himendhoo terrorists.
Haha.. Aww, do you miss me?
I've had my say. I have a great amount of respect for Zuhair, but I disagree with current government strategy.
This is my response:
http://minivannewsarchive.com/politics/2010/02/14/comment-we-think-violence-is-okay/
Judge Hameed will be judged by Allah (swt) for his ruling.
The Judge could have supported either side of the argument since it all depends on how one views the argument as the incident took place during a dictatorship where the President played God with peoples lives.
However, the judge has given his ruling. So as Muslims what we can do is be patient as even that is a reward for us. So unlike the liberals we are patient and trust in Allah (swt) to choose what is best for us, when it is best for us.
Let us not be childish like the liberals in our society which cries about everything.
What happened to our beard frinds who always protect suicide bombers, Jihadists? Can you comment on this with some good verses?
Extremist terrorist!
Way to go mate! He does entertain us a lot!
One of your ex reporter is also is with this group.
Why don't Minivan talk about him.
So.. they kidnapped a cop and severed his hand?
Sounds like self defense to me.
Muaz MZ 'Judge Hameed will be judged by Allah'
Thank you for pointing out that the judge and everyone else in this matter will be judged by Allah and NOT by you or the crazy's in Himandhoo. So please, stop threatening people with hell fire, neither you nor me have any say in who goes to hell or not.
the people of maldives was terroirised ? yes. it came as a shock just to see these guys on tv battling our police and army. and with swords and helmets as self defence...and salute to high court
Minivan news - once again, please check your facts: was a policeman's hand really severed during the incident?
Minivan News acknowledges fallibility however we strive for accuracy and seek corroboration wherever possible. In this instance, Part 1 of this Al-Jazeera report on the Himandhoo incident appears to have footage of the limb at approximately 3:30.
Yes Allah (swt) is the best of Judges, but He also commands us to warn the ones that do not spend time reading and learning about their religion. Every Islamic scholar like Imam Ahmed, Bukhari, etc all suffered insults and accusations against them and were put to prison and some even died while in prison without a pen to write. Why? simply because they did not accept Muslims changing their religion to fit their desired lifestyle.
Please read more about Islam before advising those who studied it. It would not be logical for me to advise an economist about economy if I have no in depth knowledge about it.
@Shad - No believer really needs another to defend him or her because if we read the Quran properly and the Tafsir, we would understand the promise of Allah (swt) to protect those who love Allah and gives their time and life for the sake of Allah (swt).
Only reason some are giving warnings is because they love their religion more then others. Another reason would be cause they actually are patient enough to try and guide the ones that has not studied Islam in depth so that due to their lack of knowledge they do not say something against Islam which can easily put themselves in Hell.
I myself used to think just like many of you. So it really is a matter of education and learning more and more about who your Creator is really. Not just from other peoples mouth, but yourself since there are so many beautiful sources out there. Once you learn about the punishments of just the Grave, you would think of every action twice before acting, to make sure that it is one that pleases your Creator.
Also it will make you love those that love Allah (swt) more and hate those who hate Allah (swt). It is again logical since Islam is really logical. But people tend to say too much without really learning about it seriously. You cannot be a doctor, unless you really study medicine in depth. So it goes the same for Islam. It is easy to be a Muslim because majority of us are born one, but to be a believer
No matter how old or wise you might be in a society, it can be nothing compared to one that keeps learning every day about his Creator. Hence my respect is always with those that fear Allah (swt) and tells others to fear Him.
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Allah ordered that believers hold the life of the Prophet superior even to their own lives.
"The Prophet is more important to the believers than their selves, and his wives are their mothers."
Our valuing the life of the Prophet more than our own life is, of course, dependent on our great love for him. This is why the Prophet himself explained that he must be loved more than anyone or anything. In parallel with this, in one of the hadiths found in Bukhari13 the Prophet orders: "A person cannot be deemed to have faith unless they love me more than their mother, father, children and all people."
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http://www.lastprophet.info/en/prophet-muhammad-in-the-quran/why-we-should-love-the-prophet.html
Allah ordered that believers hold the life of the Prophet superior even to their own lives.
"The Prophet is more important to the believers than their selves, and his wives are their mothers."
Our valuing the life of the Prophet more than our own life is, of course, dependent on our great love for him. This is why the Prophet himself explained that he must be loved more than anyone or anything. In parallel with this, in one of the hadiths found in Bukhari13 the Prophet orders: "A person cannot be deemed to have faith unless they love me more than their mother, father, children and all people."
http://www.lastprophet.info/en/prophet-muhammad-in-the-quran/why-we-should-love-the-prophet.html
A good story to hear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKCi7h1p_6U
There is detailed video footage of the incident including interviews with some of the men involved in the incident, the islanders, the reporter who covered the incident and MNDF officials, on the Haveeru website. (http://www.haveeru.com.mv/video/#top) Unless something has been missed somewhere, there does not seem to be any mention of a severed limb - however, they do talk of a broken arm. And the videos do show the men inviting the police and reporters into the mosque to check it.
there are fundamental errors in this article. As far as maldivian law is concerned once the High Court "accepts" the case appealed by someone dissatisfied by a lower court decesion the appeal is not denied but accepted for hearings. It will be very confusing when you say it was denied appeal bec the case has been having hearings for months.
The other point to clarify is whether HC actually threw out the case? I heard (but cannot confirm) that the justices actually increased the sentences of the applants from 4 years to 10 years imprisonment. So you cannot say the case was thrown out. pls check yr facts