Category: News in Brief

HRCM’s report on Judge Abdulla case sent to PG

The Human Rights Commission of Maldives’ (HRCM) report into the detention of Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed has been completed and forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s (PG) Office, Sun Online has reported.

“We received the report from HRCM after office hours yesterday. We are assessing the report now. We have requested them to send the statements and evidence in relation to this case,” an official at the PG’s official told Sun.

HRCM member Ahmed Abdul Kareem told Sun the decision on whether to disclose the report to the media had not yet been made.

The PG will now decide on how to proceed with the charges against former President Mohamed Nasheed in relation his role in detaining judge for 22 days at the Maldives National Defence Force’s (MNDF) training centre at Girifushi.

Judge Abdulla was arrested by the MNDF on January 16 this year, in compliance with a police request. The judge’s whereabouts were not revealed until January 18. He was released the day the presidency changed hands.

The charges against Nasheed state that the Judges detention were in violation of the constitution.

Former President Nasheed gave his testimony to the HRCM in March, saying: “The Home Minister wrote to the Defense Minister that Abdulla Mohamed’s presence in the courts was a threat to national security. And to take necessary steps. And that step, the isolation of Abdulla Mohamed, was what the [Defense] Ministry deemed necessary.”

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Government to upgrade all ID cards to smart cards

The Home Ministry has announced that all national ID cards are to become smart cards, containing fingerprint information.

State Minister for Home Affairs Ahmed Fayaz said that discussion were under way with the Department of Planning as well as the Pension Administration Office to determine the best way in which the changes can be implemented. The new smart cards are to replace the old ones as they expire.

Fayaz is also reported as saying that the ministry may collaborate with the police of the National Registration to obtain this information.

Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel Ahmed is reported as saying that a list of 23,000 people awaiting new cards when the current government came to power has been reduced to around 3,000, with 1,000 cards nearly ready for distribution.

It was reported that the additional information would make the cards multi-functional, potentially doubling and insurance cards and driving licenses.

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Dr Didi “very likely” to leave MDP

In an interview with local newspaper Haveeru, former Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) President Dr Ibrahim Didi said he was considering his position with the MDP before saying that it was “very likely” he would be seen in another party.

“We have to leave, when the time to leave the party comes. I believe that the time has come for me,” Didi told Haveeru.

He added that he was currently discussing his decision with many people and, should he decide to leave, he would work for the party “which has the nation’s best interests at heart”.

Didi, who was unanimously voted out of his former position by the MDP’s national council on April 30, said that he had stayed with the party “in order to expose the undemocratic nature of the party’s inner workings.”

In the weeks since his deposition, Didi has challenged the legality of the process which brought about his removal. His complaint to the Elections Commission however was dismissed, a decision which he alleged to Haveeru “involved foul play.

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President’s Office announces National Awards launch, new appointment

The President’s Office has announced that the National Honours Committee will open nominations tomorrow for the 2012 National Awards presentation.

The National Honours Committee is expected to provide further details about the awards themselves during a press conference scheduled for tomorrow.

The President’s Office has also announced the appointment of Hinna Khalid to the position of under secretary.

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Pole-and-line improvements needed to match demand with sustainability: FIS

Improvements must be made to traditional pole-and-line fishing fisheries practices to ensure the fast-growing demand for this kind of tuna can be met sustainably, founding member of the International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF) Dr Shiham Adam has told global seafood industry website Fish Information & Services (FIS).

Also the Director General of the Marine Research Centre in the Maldives, Adam spoke at the INFOFISH World Tuna and Trade Conference in Bangkok this week. He highlighted that pole-and-line tuna fishing is vital to many disadvantaged rural areas because it alleviates poverty within fishing communities.

In the Maldives, 30,000 people – a large percentage of the working population – are employed by the tuna industry. The average monthly income is about US$900 compared to the country’s minimum wage of around US$250, he said.

“We will channel our resources to support pole-and-line fisheries to get market access, improve post harvest and quality control, and eventually increase environmental performance of these fisheries so that they may qualify to be sustainably and environmentally certified,” Adam said.

While the livelihood of many pole-and-line fishers is currently in jeopardy, IPNLF has identified that end markets can help, so the Foundation is encouraging buyers to put into practice long-term contracts, facilitate capacity building, knowledge and business literacy transfer.

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US Embassy hold information session for police on democratic rule of law

The US Embassy in Colombo has conducted an information session on democratic rule of law for senior officers and management of the Maldives Police Service.

The session was held at Iskandar Koshi in Male by the US Embassy’s Senior Foreign Affairs Officer in Colombo, Christopher A. Corpora.

In a statement police said topics examined during the session included the differences between democratic rule of law and authoritarian rule of law, challenges faced by new democracies in upholding the rule of law, and the effects of this on crime.

The meeting was also attended by Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz.

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Controller of Immigration Ilyas transferred to Defence Ministry

Ilyas Hussain Ibrahim has been replaced as the Controller of Immigration and Emigration by Dr Mohamed Ali, who has been serving as Chief of Staff at the President’s Office.

Ilyas was on Thursday appointed as Minister of State for Defense and National Security.

Ilyas is currently under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in relation to the awarding of the contract for a new border control system to the Malaysian firm Nexbis. The ACC told Minivan News that the case has been forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s (PG) office.

The Nexbis case intensified this week as ACC officials raided the offices of the Immigration Department, eventually seizing laptops after alleged obstruction by department staff.

Former Immigration Controller Abdullah Shahid again voiced his disapproval of the project on Thursday.  Shahid, who served between Ilyas’s two stints as controller, has been a long-time critic of the deal.

Shahid questioned the expense of the project, alleging that a free system could have been acquired with assistance from the Indian government, according to local newspaper Haveeru.

“A group of Indian experts had come to the Maldives and conducted and completed their surveys in a month’s time. If I was controller today everything would have been installed by now. Let me tell you something. Those experts from India would not even have to be given a cup of coffee on the expense of the Maldivian government,” Shahid told Haveeru.

It emerged last week that the first of three phases in implementing the Nexbis project had been completed, despite repeated delays pending court rulings.

However, Shahid insisted that no work had been carried out during his time as controller.

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Speaker no-confidence motion scheduled for hearing on June 5

The Secretariat of the Majlis had announced that a no-confidence motion against Speaker of the House Abdulla Shahid has been scheduled to be heard on June 5, the day after the parliament reconvenes, reports Haveeru.

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) passed the motion on April 17 alleging that Shahid had been making decisions relating to significant parliamentary issues without discussing them first with various political parties.

The motion was signed by 27 of the MDP’s then 32 representatives in the Majlis. The MDP currently has 31 members in the house after Shifag ‘Histo’ Mufeed defected to the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

The party claimed that Shahid had been acting outside of his mandate by deciding to suspend certain parliament regulations, whilst opting to follow others that were alleged to be to his personal benefit.

Haveeru reports that the Parliament’s general committee must now decide on the number of MPs that will be involved in that debate, the extent of that debate and the time allowed for the debate.

The speaker has been targeted by MDP protesters following the motion, with large groups gathering outside Shahid’s residence to call for his resignation on April 21.

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Entrenching the culture of violence among children in paradise: CRIN

February 7 and 8, 2012, was the beginning of a very violent period in the recent history of the Maldives inflicted by its own people, the police and the army, on unarmed civilians, writes former Deputy Health Minister Mariya Ali for Child Rights International Network.

The first democratically elected president was deposed in a coup d’état on February 7. Since then non-violent protests have continued mainly in the streets of the capital city, Male. So far, 412 people have been detained as political prisoners.

Testimonies of male and female detainees confirm that varying degrees of physical, mental and sexual abuse were perpetrated by the police. Violence from the police has been witnessed by children either through their families being directly affected by it or via images on television. Children who witness violence are traumatised with varying degrees of psychological damage that they carry throughout their lives.

This year, the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) celebrated Maldivian Children’s Day in their full army clothing, with a designated area created to look like a war zone, and with officers helping children to hold real firearms correctly in their hands and showing them how to use them. Although the MNDF declared that the firearms were not loaded, it failed to recognise the timing and the symbolic message behind the event.

Against the backdrop of continuing violence, growing religious extremism in the island paradise, combined with the message from the current President Mohamed Waheed – “Be courageous. Today you are all mujaheddin [those who fight jihad] who love the nation” – children are internalising the use of violence as a norm.

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