Tag: crime

Shahum and Shimaz appear in court, deny murdering Ahusan

Ibrahim Shahum Adam and Hassan Shimaz Mohamed Suad have denied in court charges that they murdered 21 year-old Ahusan Basheer in March, reports Haveeru.

The prosecution alleged that pair stabbed Ahusan near the junction of Majeedhee Magu and Alikileygefaanu Magu on March 17 at 3:20am. He later died during treatment at Indira Gandhi Memorail Hospital (IGMH).

Shahum and Shimaz were given 10 days by the judge to appoint the services of a lawyer, on their request. The judge said the court would consider the prosecution’s request to keep the men in custody until a verdict was reached.

Haveeru alleged that on conclusion of proceedings Shahum threatened a journalist, and warned the reporter not to publish a story.

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Masked men rob Marble Hotel of Rf100,000

Police are investigating the theft of Rf100,000 (US$$6485) from Marble Hotel, after a group of masked men broke into the building and threatened the receptionist with an axe early this morning.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the men entered the hotel’s lobby around 4:00am this morning, threatened staff and took the money from a small safe in the hotel.

Shiyam said police were investigating the possibility than the men knew about the safe and its contents prior to the robbery.

A staff member at the hotel told newspaper Haveeru that the thieves broke the lock on the main door.

“One forced an axe to the neck of the receptionist while another person had his knife pressed against the other side of his neck. The group also robbed the receptionist’s wristwatch,” Haveeru reported the staff member as saying.

Police are currently investigating CCTV footage of the incident, but have yet to make any arrests.

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Court extends Gabarey detention

The Criminal Court yesterday extended the detention of Ibrahim Abdulla ‘Gabarey’ by five days after police arrested him again following his release by the court earlier this week, reports Sun Online.

Gabarey is among “nine most dangerous criminals” identified by police last week and detained in a special operation to curb gang violence following the fatal stabbing of a 21 year-old in the capital Male’ on March 16.

Police records show that Gabarey had been arrested 14 times in the past for various offences, including violent assault.

Deputy Prosecutor General Hussein Shameem meanwhile revealed at a rare press conference yesterday that police had forwarded 40 cases involving the nine, 17 of which were ongoing at court.

Guilty verdicts were issued for nine of these cases, said Shameem, while seven were not proven.

Apart from insufficient evidence, Shameem revealed that eye witnesses retracting or changing their statements at trial was  one reason for acquittals.

However, he added, two witnesses to a murder were successfully prosecuted for perjury after they were found to have given false testimony.

The Prosecutor General’s Office was greatly assisted by recently enacted legislation outlawing gang activities and possession of weapons, said Shameem, as possession of knives and swords could not be prosecuted before the new laws came into effect.

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Parliament cancelled over ‘lack of work’

Today’s main parliamentary session was cancelled the basis of there being no work on its agenda.

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Dr Abdulla Mausoom has meanwhile claimed that the Majlis was nonetheless “on track” with its legislative duties and was being unfairly criticised for a perceived spike in gang violence across the country.

Speaking to Minivan News, Dr Mausoom claimed that despite the cancelation of a scheduled meeting in the Majlis’ main chamber today, committee work was still continuing in the parliament, which he believed was playing its part in pushing legislation to allow law enforcement officials to deal with violent crimes, despite certain “public perceptions” to the contrary. The opposition party MP claimed that parliament was stepping up its workload to ensure the government, as the country’s executive branch, had the right powers and capabilities to uphold the law.

While alleging that current statistics indicated that there were an estimated 460 people on the country’s streets who should be held in custody over their suspected involvement in criminal activity, Mausoom said he believed that national media had incorrectly created an impression that potential parliamentary failings were solely responsible.

“There are people who have been sentenced [for criminal behaviour] that are currently out on the street. There is a public perception that a lack of legislation has led to this,” he said. “The media perception is that more legislation is needed to do their work and that they have to be detained somehow. However, I do not think this is the case.”

Mausoom said that the formation by the president of a National Crime Prevention Committee and the passing during the current parliamentary session of a number of bills, such as measures to punish individuals carrying items that can be used as weapons, served to highlight that the Majlis was working to try and deal with public concerns about gang violence and other major crimes.

“MPs and opposition parties have made agreements to try and work together to ensure major bills are passed quickly,” he said. “Two of the bills currently in the Majlis relate to criminal process and witness protection, but these will take time as they are very technical.”

Mausoom added that he understood possible frustrations from the public that parliament’s main session had been cancelled and would not reconvene till next week after Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim said that certain MPs wishing to present bills to the floor were unavailable to do so today.

However, Mausoom claimed that “public perceptions” about the cancellation of today’s main session and wider concerns that MPs may not be acting professionally were failing to address wider societal problems concerning crime that he believed represented a failure of the government to deal with the issue.

“The Majlis is not the executive [governing] branch, we are the legislative branch,” he said. “My question to the government would be; what is the missing piece of legislation that is preventing you from doing your jobs and protecting people?”

Mausoom’s comment come after parliamentary speaker and fellow DRP MP Abdulla Shahid told Minivan News last month that he believed that while the Majlis had become much more productive in the number of bills and legislation it was passing, the institution had still failed to live up to public expectations.

“The three branches of government are trying to deal with a situation where, as in any transition, the expectations of the public are at a very high level. When you have a new democracy come in, citizens will be wanting things to change overnight. [These expectations] have been seen in many countries,” the speaker said at the time. “The challenges that we have here – with the judiciary and parliament – are not because we are unable to perform, but that we are unable to perform to the expectations of the people.”

Shahid accepted that subjects such as outlining a clear and clarified penal code, as well as an Evidence Bill to support judicial reform and policing, were vital areas needed to be addressed by MPs, with partisan behaviour between rival parties within the Majlis creating the impression that there was no interest in having such bills passed.

In order to facilitate a faster moving reform of criminal legislation, Shahid claimed that talks had been opened during March between the various political stakeholders required to finalise any agreements.

“I met with party leaders and also the chair of all the committees yesterday (March 30). There is the general desire amongst the leadership to find ways of increasing the productivity rate of the house. We feel even though we continue to do work ahead of what any other parliament had done, still we are far behind in meeting the public’s expectations,” he added.  “The reality is that we need to meet these public expectations. The committee chairs have given me an agreement that they will try and finds ways of fast tracking many of the bills, while political parties supplied an agreement that on issues on which they may disagree, they will endeavour to deal with the technical and more mundane bills faster.”

Aside from MPs working along partisan lines, Shahid said that the issue of language was another significant challenge for members to overcome – especially in translating very technical proposals relating to legal definitions into Dhivehi from other languages.

While other Commonwealth countries were able to take existing legislation and adapt the document accordingly, the Speaker took the example of the Penal Code. In its original English draft, put together by Professor Paul Robinson at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the code was said to have perfect sense, yet the Speaker said it did not translate directly into the Dhivehi language.

The speaker’s comments were generally shared by certain local NGOs like Transparency Maldives, which claimed that it believed parliament was additionally failing to meet its responsibilities as set out in the national constitution.

Aiman Rasheed, Projects Coordinator for Transparency Maldives, told Minivan News earlier this month that although it accepted that there had been improvements within the effectiveness of the Majlis concerning the amount of legislation passed, the NGO was concerned that parliament had failed to work independently and pass vital bills such as a national Penal Code.

“Shahid is right when he says that parliament has failed to meet public expectations,” he claimed at the time. “It is not just in meeting public expectations that the Majlis has failed in, but constitutional expectations as well.”

Rasheed said that although parliament was holding the president and the executive accountable for their actions, he believed that there was a failure to review legislation in terms of financial and political impacts before it was being passed from parliamentary committees back to the Majlis.

Rasheed said that the NGO had spoken with 15 MPs from across a number of political parties including the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and the DRP as part of a project called Parliament Watch designed to try and put a spotlight on governance and political decision making. From these discussions, Rasheed claimed that the NGO had uncovered a wide consensus of concerns over parliament’s ability to review and research the legislative process.

“All the parliamentarians that we have spoken to said that they believed that the current set up is not sufficient for parliament to meet its constitutional requirements,” he said. “There is no proper system of review mechanisms [within parliament].”

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Mahlouf submits resolution to delay parliament’s recess until critical bills are passed

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Mahlouf has submitted a resolution to the parliament to delay its recess until parliament concludes the Criminal Justice Procedure Bill, Evidence Bill, Parole Bill, Amendment to Children’s Act, Amendment to Gang Violence Act and Crime Prevention Bill.

Mahlouf told Minivan News that he presented the resolution in the hope that MPs will hasten their work and put more effort to pass those bills as soon as possible.

”The crimes occurring in the Maldives are now a very big concern for the citizens and they have expectations from the parliament,” Mahlouf said. ”I think the parliament should pass these bills before going to recess, which will play an important role to curb the gang violence and crime at the same time.”

The parliament is scheduled to go on recess on the first of next month, he said.

In parliament today Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Parliamentary Group leader MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik presented the Criminal Justice Procedure Bill to the parliament.

The bill consisting of 229 articles and was drafted well, said Mahlouf.

”Although there might be some amendments that should be brought, I think the parliament should shorten the preliminary debate and pass it,” he said. ”Such bills often get politicised, but these are bills that need to be passed soon.”

He added that he fully supported any bills presented to the parliament if it will benefit the citizens, regardless of whether they were submitted by MDP.

Mahlouf recently resubmitted a resolution cutting a controversial Rf 20,000 committee allowance for MPs, which had originally been submitted by MDP Chairperson and MP Mariya Ahmed Didi. Mariya was forced to withdraw the amendment after the MDP Parliamentary Group voted that she do so.

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MATATO calls for reviews of resort security

Bolstering security at the lucrative island resorts scattered across the Maldives poses an urgent challenge for government and industry amidst growing national and international crime, the Maldives Association of Travel Agents and Tour operators (MATATO) has claimed.

Mohamed Maleeh Jamal, Secretary General for MATATO, said today that despite a relatively low number of security breaches at the country’s resorts, wider societal issues such as gang crime, piracy and terrorism needed to be hastily addressed by tourism operators and authorities.

The concerns echoed recent comments made to the media by Dr Mariyam Zulfa, Maldivian Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, over fears that rising levels of national crime are beginning to impact the country’s secluded resort business. The tourism industry has this year witnessed a number of isolated criminal incidents at the country’s resorts culminating last week in an attempted robbery at Baros Island Resort and Spa, and the death of one of the attackers.

The Tourism Minister said that while the industry had been working to be proactive in recent weeks to outline new measures alongside police and private companies that are designed to strengthen security against a number of potential “internal and external” threats, the recent robberies and reported presence of piracy in Maldivian waters has made addressing these issues more urgent.

Responding to the Tourism Minister’s concerns, Jamal said that the entire industry would need to face up to addressing preparatory measures for resort security as it outlines a fourth tourism master plan that will cover the tourist sector’s work from 2012 onwards. The current masterplan is said to relate to vital initiatives to develop the country’s travel industry from 2007 up until this year.

“We fear there is a big challenge ahead related to security,” said Jamal.

The MATATO secretary general added that it would be vital to protect the Maldives’ main tourist selling points such as natural beaches and the peace and security afforded by a policy of providing a single resort per island.

“If we lose just one of these factors the Maldives will lose out as a destination,” he said. “We are a hospitable people and we welcome visitors with a smile and we expect record visitor numbers in the coming years.”

Jamal claimed that the full potential of an expected increase in visitor numbers could be disrupted on the back of continued reports concerning local crimes and regional issues like piracy.

The MATATO secretary general added that the security issues currently being faced were potentially a short-term challenge for the industry to overcome.

“We see the importance of collaborations with the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and police to step up patrols across the country’s islands,” he said.

Jamal additionally stressed that the recent concerns were also related to wider societal issues such as drug abuse across the country inhabited islands that would reacquire a more “holistic” approach to prevent criminals from targeting resort islands, though he added that MATATO would also look to speak with property owners for their own suggestions for dealing with any possible threats.

“We are very fortunate here in the Maldives that the resorts are isolated – although there have been a number of incidents they are well managed by the resorts,” he said. “Yet 99 percent of the country is water, this creates a huge task to manage and police.”

Jamal was confident that the Maldives’ tourism industry had in the intervening decades since its inception proved to be capable to adapting in the interests of security as well as profitability; from moving towards the use of supposedly safer sea plane transportation rather than helicopters, or adopting en mass more efficient fire safety procedures in the 1990’s.

“In the past we thought that it may natural disasters that would be are biggest challenge, yet in terms of adaption, although terror threats may not be immediate, more preventative measures need to be in place,” he claimed.

Jamal claimed that despite potential concerns from the presence in neighbouring waters of Somali pirates – whose suspected presence in the Maldives has yet to lead to any attacks – the number of the threats at present facing the industry had remained limited.

Ministerial concerns

After announcing concerns to the media this week about the possible impact criminal activity could have on tourism in the Maldives, Dr Zulfa told Minivan News today that she was referring particularly to the proportional rise in crime and gang behavior in society rather than the tourism industry alone.

However, the tourism minister herself accepted that recent reports of attempted robbery at Baros and a violent theft at Kihaadhuffaru resort in January this year, as well as the potential in the future for attacks from piracy and terrorists had brought an additional sense of “urgency” to addressing security issues.

She added that extensive discussions on the issues of security and safety would form the basis of meetings scheduled between the tourism industry and security officials next month (April 6 to 7).

“The [crime] issue is of a serious concern to me, though is proportional to what happens in the country at large rather than resorts alone,” she said.

Zulfa claimed that in the interests of trying to be proactive in protecting security, the country had been “working for some time” on developing new measures to protect resorts and bolster existing security systems that are in place in the country.

The tourism minister added that ultimately, the government alone could not handle the entire burden of dealing with security challenges and that various stakeholders – from resort companies to airport operators – had so far been very cooperative in trying to ensure they were not “easy” potential targets for criminal attacks.

“As industry representatives we will all be getting together on the April 6 and 7 to have extensive discussions with police and security authorities to address these urgent issues,” she said. “Papers have been earmarked looking at a number of issues including internal and external threats as well as public safety in areas such as watersports and resort design.

Taking the example of safety, Zulfa took the example of large resorts where people might be more isolated and ensuring that mechanisms were in place to ensure guests and staff were able to be assisted efficiently and quickly.

“We are looking to be proactive and have been wanting to do this [outline amended security and safety policies] for some weeks,” she said.

Not all stakeholders within the tourism industry have shared concerns over security though.

Workers’ perspective

Maroof Zakir, Vice President of the Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM), told Minivan News that although it had not been consulted on the amendments to security in the Maldives, it had not received any complaints from its members concerning fears about safety or security.

“We haven’t had any complaints about security fears from our members, I would say this is not a big problem for resort staff at present,” he added.

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Shahum arrested on an uninhabited island in Meemu Atoll

Police have arrested Ibrahim Shahum Adam, 20, G.Kouzy while he was on an uninhabited island in Meemu Atoll.

He was arrested this morning around 7:00 am, said police on their website.

According to police, four others who were with him on the island were also arrested.

Police have been searching for Shahum for the investigation of the death of Ahusan Basheer, Seenu Hithadhoo, Varudhee who was allegedly murdered by a gang on March 17.

Previously police has appealed the public to report sightings of Shahum after the murder case and also warned the public not to confront him as ‘’he is too dangerous.’’

This is the second murder charge against Shahum. He was recently arrested in connection with the murder of a 17 year-old boy near Maaziya football ground in Maafannu.

Shahum was arrested and kept in detention for six months and was released by the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court Abdulla Mohamed.

Judge Abdulla said that Shahum had been kept in detention six months for investigation and that no probable evidence was brought against him to further hold him in detention and queried the police as to why their investigation was not concluded after six months.

Police answered that they were unable to conclude the investigation as the Health Ministry had not provided the medical-legal report on the death of the 16 year-old boy.

Keeping someone in detention for six months for not getting a response from the health ministry was ‘’too much’’, said the judge, explaining that there were rights of persons kept in detention and released him.

Ahusan Basheer was murdered last Thursday in Alikileygefaanu magu, one of the main roads in Male’.

Local media reported Basheer’s family saying that he was not dead when he was first taken to Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), and that inside the vehicle on the way to the hospital he had told the police officers who attacked him before dying.

Basheer’s family also said that according to sources at IGMH Basheer’s body was left in the Accidents and Emergency Room without any treatment provided for more than an hour, because the hospital wanted to identify who he was and to contact his family.

His family told local newspapers that he went out late that night to buy a cigarette and that was the last his family saw him alive.

After the death of Basheer, police conducted special operations in Male’ to curb the rise in gang violence in Male’ and arrested 47 persons who were not related to the murder case, according to Chief Judge Abdulla.

Most of the persons among the arrested 47 were brought before the court with no probable grounds to be arrested, he added.

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Gang murders 21 year-old man near Alikileygefaanu Magu in Galolhu

A group of men stabbed a 21 year-old man to death last night near NC Park in the Galolhu district of Male’.

Police said the incident occurred around 3:30am in the morning in Alikileyegfaanu Magu. The victim was identified as Ahmed Basheer, 21, of  Hithadhoo in Addu Atoll.

”He was stabbed four times in the back and three times in the chest,” police said in a statement.

Local media has reported that Ibrahim Shahum, who was recently charged in a murder case and released by the court after being kept in detention for six months, was sought by the police in connection with the murder last night.

Police have asked the public to report sightings of Shahum to police, and also warned people not to confront him.

A person familiar with the case told Minivan News that the death was a result of gang rivalry last night occurred between two groups in Male’ located in Maafannu, and that Shahum was not affiliated with either of the groups.

Although Basheer’s house is in Galolhu near NC Park, he said, he was affiliated with persons living in Maafannu ward.

”He is not affiliated with persons nearby his house and they do not have issues with him,” he said. ”He was attacked in a confrontation that occurred between two groups in Maafannu.”

In an effort to reduce violence in the Maldives, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Rasheed has presented an amendment to the Clemency Act during last week Tuesday’s parliament session, requiring the death penalty to be administered where the sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court.

In 2010 the Criminal Court issued a death sentence to a person found guilty of murder.

In last year’s death penalty verdict, the judge referred to article 88[d] of the Constitution, which stated that cases of murder should be dealt accordingly to Islamic Shariah, and that persons found guilty of murder ”shall be executed” if no inheritor of the victim denies the murderer to be executed, as according to Islamic Shariah.

According to MP Rasheed’s proposed amendment, if the Supreme Court upholds a death penalty ruled by a lower court, or if the Supreme Court itself serves death penalty to a person, the death penalty shall be executed.

Rasheed said he felt he had to present the amendment because of the increase in assaults and murder cases, which had “forced the living to live amid fear and threats.”

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Significant increase in drug charges against juveniles last year, says Juvenile Court

The Juvenile Court has observed a “significant increase” in the number of juveniles charged with drug offences last year.

”In 2009 there were 22 drug-related charges in the court concerning juveniles, while 34 such cases were presented to the court last year,” said the Juvenile Court in a statement.

The court said it had also observed a rising number of charges of drug dealing against minors, with nine cases sent to the court in 2010, an increase of three on 2009. Of the nine cases, three youths were found guilty.

‘The court added that 10 juveniles were brought to the court for extension of detention on charges of possessing illegal drugs for dealing, suggesting that this was “very concerning ” as it was “a sinister crime in nature that serves high penalties.

Juvenile Court said that it was very important for parents to prevent their kids from committing such crimes and urged everyone to pay more attention to juveniles.

Furthermore, the Juvenile Court said, that there were people in society “who are behind the crimes committed by juveniles.”

Police statistics for 2010 showed that most arrests made across the Maldives in 2010 were for drug offences (1153), assault (941) and theft (773), and that most of these were first time offenders.

While the bulk of those arrested were young men aged between 17-23, key crimes committed by minors (aged under 18) were assault, theft and drug offences – albeit with an overall decline in 2010 on 2009.

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