Tag: Independent Institutions Committee

President withdraws nominee to Police Integrity Commission

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has withdrawn the nomination of former Deputy Commissioner of Police Mohamed Rishwan to the Police Integrity Commission (PIC).

The nominee was sent to parliament after former chair of the PIC, Shahinda Ismail, resigned from the post in October citing the oversight body’s failure to hold the police accountable.

A letter informing the People’s Majlis of the president’s decision to withdraw the nomination was read out at the beginning of the sitting of parliament yesterday (December 31, 2012)

While reasons for the withdrawal were not specified in the letter, parliament’s secretary general said that the Independent Institutions Committee had requested the President to withdraw Rishwan’s name.

The committee noted that there were pending cases involving Rishwan. In October 2011, the PIC found that Rishwan had ordered subordinates to cut the hair of a number of youth in police custody while he was serving as deputy commissioner in July 2010.

Following its investigation, the PIC asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to press charges against the former deputy commissioner.

Rishwan retired from the police service in July 2011.

Special operation

In July 2010, police and the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) arrested almost 60 people, including children, in a joint special operation launched to curb the rise in gang violence.

Many arrested at the time claimed that their mobile phones and personal belongings were confiscated and were not returned when they were released.

Almost everyone arrested in the operation was released without any charges.

A number of those arrested claimed they were mistreated and abused in custody, including being forced to remove their clothes, blindfolded and beaten.

“I was arrested while I was on the way to Dharumavantha School to get a document,” one of those arrested told Minivan News at the time. “While I was waiting near the traffic lights on Sosun magu, two policemen and two MNDF officers told me to be freeze, came up behind me and handcuffed me and my friend.”

“I asked them on what charges they were arresting me, and where they were taking me, and they said they needed me to clarify some information.”

He said the officers pushed him into a police bus and blindfolded him with his hands tied with clips.

“They took me to a place and removed my silver ear-rings, my bracelets, necklace and sunglasses,” he claimed. “Then they took me to a place and removed the blindfold on my eye, and ordered me to remove my clothes. I refused, but I had no other choice so I did, and they told me to bend over. They harassed me verbally and physically.”

He claimed the officers involved were covering their faces.

“After checking me they blindfolded me again, and then took me to somewhere else. I asked them where they were taking me, they said that I should speak only when I am spoken to,” he said. “They pushed me into another room, where they trimmed my hair. When I tried to refuse, they hit and beat me.”

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Political parties bill passed with 10,000 member prerequisite

Parliament today passed the long-awaited political parties bill with a clause requiring a minimum of 10,000 members for registration.

Upon ratification, the bill will provide a three month period for any political party with fewer than 10,000 members to reach the required amount or face being dissolved.

The legislation was passed with 64 votes in favour and four against.

Article 11 of the bill states that at least 10,000 signatures would be needed to register a party at the Elections Commission (EC), which would be mandated to ensure that membership does not fall below the figure.

Parties unable to sign 10,000 members would be dissolved.

An amendment proposed by MP Ibrahim Muttalib to lower the figure to 5,000 was defeated 59-6 at today’s sitting of parliament.

Of the 16 parties currently in existence, only three have more than 10,000 registered members, including the formerly ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) as well as the government-aligned Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

According to the latest figures from the EC, the MDP currently has 47,192 members, DRP has 25,190 members and PPM has 17,900 members.

Business magnate MP Gasim Ibrahim’s Jumhooree Party (JP) has 8,931 members with 5,149 pending membership forms.

The religious conservative Adhaalath Party (AP) has 5,708 members, down from over 6,000 in February this year.

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik’s Gaumee Ihthihaad Party (GIP) has 3,427 members while the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) led by Dr Waheed’s Special Advisor Dr Hassan Saeed has 2,125 members.

Meanwhile, the legislation passed today also stipulates that the Male’ City Council (MCC) must provide a 1,000 square feet plot in the capital for parties with membership exceeding 20,000.  The plot would be used as an administrative office or meeting hall, for which the party would be required to pay rent.

Political parties were first authorised in the Maldives in May 2005 following an executive decree by then-President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Prior to the passage of the landmark legislation today, political parties were governed by a regulation.

The regulation required 3,000 members for registration and did not stipulate that parties whose membership falls below the figure would be dissolved.

In March, EC Chair Fuad Thaufeeq told Minivan News that these regulations were “vague” as parties were not required to maintain 3,000 members.

The review of the political parties bill (Dhivehi) was meanwhile completed by the Independent Institutions Committee on December 10. Following a preliminary debate, it was sent to the committee on April 19, 2010.

Writing in his personal blog (Dhivehi) in October, the committee’s chair MP Nasheed revealed that “a clear majority” voted in favour of requiring parties to gain 5000 members before it can be officially registered, and 10,000 members before becoming eligible for state funds.

At the time, Nasheed expressed confidence that the committee’s decision would not be overturned on the Majlis floor when the bill was put up for a vote. He noted that the clauses for membership numbers were backed by the main political parties in parliament.

“When the law is passed, the current registered parties with less than 5,000 members would be given a six month period to reach the figure. If a party fails to reach that figure by the end of the period, the particular party would be dissolved,” Nasheed explained.

The minimum number of membership was later raised to 10,000 and the period shortened to three months before the draft legislation was presented to the Majlis floor for today’s vote.

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Parliament orders Elections Commission to drop fingerprint verification for party membership forms

Parliament’s Independent Institutions Committee has requested the Elections Commission (EC) cease requiring fingerprints on applications for political party membership.

According to local media, the parliamentary committee today decided that no law or regulation existed that required the EC to request fingerprints to verify the authenticity of new party members.

The committee members questioned the efficiency of fingerprinting technology, arguing that no mechanism or database presently existed in the Maldives that could store the required amounts of information.

However, local NGO the Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN) told Minivan News that while it was unsure of the efficiency of the previous fingerprint system, fraudulent membership registration for Maldivian political parties remained a significant problem that needed to be addressed.

“The problem that exists right now is that there is a lot of fraudulent membership within political parties. Often, people are not aware they have been signed up,” MDN stated. “It is imperative that it is down to an individual to decide which party they want to belong to and no one else.”

MDN Executive Director Humaida Abdul Gafoor said it was vital that some form of verification mechanism was in place to ensure party memberships were genuine, adding that a bigger issue facing the committee should be finding an alternatives to the fingerprint technology, rather than simply halting it.

“We don’t know if the EC’s adoption of fingerprinting was a move in the right direction in first place,” she added.

Verification systems

Explaining the decision to discontinue the EC’s request for fingerprints, Deputy Chairman of the Independent Institutions Committee, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP Ahmed Sameer, said that the Maldives did not presently have a mechanism or system to collect and store such information.

“In regards to issues with the fingerprinting system, the EC, Department of National Registration and the Maldives Police Service all agreed they didn’t have enough records or verification systems available,” he told Minivan News.

The Department of National Registration, which had also been summoned before the committee, was reported to have confirmed that no fingerprint database presently existed in the Maldives.

Elections Commission President Fuad Thaufeeq was not responding to calls at time of press.

System critics

One critic of the EC’s fingerprint system is MP Ahmed Mahloof of the government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM).

Back in September, Mahloof alleged via local media that close to 8000 membership forms from his party have been rejected by the Elections Commission (EC) – mainly due to the quality of fingerprints appearing on the forms.

The MP claimed that the fingerprint issue had arisen because the EC did not have sufficiently modern machinery to look at the fingerprints, relying instead on the perception of its staff – drastically limiting memberships numbers for the party.

A spokesperson for the EC told Minivan News at the time that similar complaints had been received from other political parties including the Jumhoree Party (JP), Dhivehi Rayithunge Party (DRP), and the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).

“Party membership forms go through a 50 step verification process. We are doing this to minimise chances of fraud. After we introduced this procedure, we are no longer receiving any complaints from individuals who have been placed in parties without their knowledge,” the spokesperson said.

The EC accepted that did not have machinery to verify fingerprints, but claimed that it had been able to forward complaints to the Maldives Police Service, which was able to use its resources to look into the matter.

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Majlis Committee asks CSC Chair to resign within 14 days for alleged sexual harassment

The Independent Institutions Oversight Committee of the People’s Majlis has asked Civil Service Commission (CSC) President Mohamed Fahmy Hassan to resign within 14 days for alleged sexual harassment, local media has reported.

The police and the Independent Institutions Oversight Committee launched an investigation into the sexual harassment allegations against Fahmy in June after a female senior research officer lodged complaints with the two institutions.

MPs, who wished to remain anonymous, told Haveeru and Sun Online that a majority of the eleven member Independent Institutions Oversight Committee found Fahmy guilty of sexual harassment after summoning and interviewing Fahmy, the victim and several female employees of the CSC.

A vote on a motion urging action against Fahmy was split when five members voted for and against the motion, local media has reported. Chair of the Independent Institutions Oversight Committee Mohamed Nasheed cast the deciding vote, passing the motion to order Fahmy’s resignation within 14 days.

A source, who had knowledge of the committee sitting, confirmed the local media reports to Minivan News, but declined to comment further.

Fahmy and several members of the Independent Institutions Oversight Committee were not responding to calls at the time of press.

Haveeru previously reported that the alleged harassment occurred on May 29. Both Fahmy and the victim were summoned to the committee after a complaint was lodged in the first week of June,the report claimed.

Fahmy was alleged to have called the female staff member over to him, taken her hand and asked her to stand in front of him so that others in the office could not see, and caressed her stomach saying “It won’t do for a beautiful single woman like you to get fat.”

The alleged victim’s family reportedly called Fahmy about the incident, after which it is claimed he sent a text message apologising for the incident.  Reports at the time alleged the read, “I work very closely with everyone. But I have learned my lesson this time.”

In response to the allegations, Fahmy told Minivan News last month that he believed the female staff member made up the complaint upon finding out she had not won a Singapore government offered scholarship to the CSC.

He alleged the claim was politically motivated, arguing the woman would have otherwise filed the case with the police instead of parliament.

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Police acts on February 8 unlawful, Police Integrity Commission tells Majlis Committee

President of the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) Shahindha Ismail has told the Majlis’ Independent Institutions Oversight Committee that police actions on February 8 were unlawful, and that police officers had used undue force to disperse a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) demonstration.

Video footage of the February 8 demonstration show police in riot gear tear gassing and brutally beating unarmed civilians in front of Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) building.

The MDP took to the streets after former President Mohamed Nasheed claimed he was had resigned “under duress” following a police and military mutiny the previous day on February 7.

Responding to questions from MDP MP Ahmed Sameer, Shahindha said police had violated clauses 1, 8 and 11 of Article 7 of the Police Act. These clauses stipulate that police must respect and uphold fundamental rights of citizens, uphold and protect individual dignity, humanity and human rights, and must not under any circumstances subject any individual to inhuman, degrading or cruel treatment.

MP of the Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) Mohamed Hussein asked Shahindha which measures the PIC had used to determine whether police had in fact used excessive force.

“There is a specific act regarding the use of batons,” Shahindha said. “While watching live coverage of the protest, I saw a policeman stretch out his arm with a baton and hit a citizen on his head. That is indisputably unlawful.”

Shahindha said the PIC had immediately called police-in-charge at the time Abdulla Phairoosh and had asked that police show restraint.

“Phairoosh said he was not aware [of police brutality]. We also asked for the police to leave the site if they cannot act within the law. Phairoosh agreed. But we did not see that happen,” she claimed.

Moreover, Shahindha said the police had also violated Article 41 of the Police Act which requires the police to inform the PIC if a police officer causes any harm to a citizen due to use of force, or while individual is under custody.

But Shahindha noted police were fully cooperating with the PIC in investigations, and that the PIC was prioritising the investigation of the events of February 6, 7, and 8.

Responding to questions from MP of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Rozaina Adam, Shahindha said while the police had the fundamental right to disobey an unlawful command and the right to ask their commissioner to resign under such circumstances, she could not state whether police actions on February 7 constituted a police mutiny until investigations were complete.

Parties allied with President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan refute allegations of police mutiny, stating that police officers were exercising their right not to obey an unlawful command on February 7.

In addition to the PIC, the Independent Institutions Oversight Committee also met with the Human Rights Commission (HRCM) and the Prosecutor General (PG) to question them about police brutality allegations and the detention of Criminal Court Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed in January 2012.

Human rights violations

The HRCM told the Independent Institutions Oversight Committee that they believed human rights violations had occurred on February 8. HRCM said their monitors were active on the streets and had visited Dhoonidhoo Remand Center and the hospitals that day.

Speaking at a meeting held to mark the 79th anniversary of the Maldives Police Services, Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz said he would not conduct an internal investigation, saying that he had asked the HRCM to look into the matter.

But President of HRCM Mariyam Azra said the police had not asked the HRCM for a formal investigation into police brutality.

“We did not receive a formal request for investigation. However, in a meeting with the police commissioner, after we asked the police to conduct an internal investigation through the police’s professional standards unit, he asked us to look into it as well. We do not believe that is a formal request for investigation,” Azra said.

Speaking to Minivan News after the committee hearing, Shahindha said if the police conducted an internal investigation into brutality allegations it would increase their integrity in the public eye.

CNI not independent: PIC

DRP MP Visam Ali asked if the PIC would collaborate with the presidential Committee of National Inquiry (CNI), which is charged with assessing the facts regarding Nasheed’s resignation.

New President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan instituted the three member committee following international pressure for an independent investigation into the transfer of power. However, the CNI has come under fire from the MDP and local civil society groups for unilateralism and lack of independence.

“The CNI has said it is not carrying out a criminal investigation. All of the PIC’s investigations carry a criminal aspect. I do not see the point of joint-investigations with the CNI,” Shahindha said.

“I do not believe the commission is independent or impartial nor does it have the mandate to investigate the matter,” she added.

The PIC had now completed 90 percent of its February 6, 7, and 8 investigations, Shahindha said.

Although the PIC and HRCM said they would be looking into police brutality and human rights violations during the transfer of power, the commissions had previously told Minivan News they did not have the mandate to look into the legality of the transfer of power.

Footage of the MDP protest and police response on February 8, following the change of government

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MNBC cable severed during live telecast of parliament committee session

A camera cable of state broadcaster Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) was cut off during a live telecast this afternoon of parliament’s Independent Institutions Committee’s questioning of members of the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM).

The severed cable briefly interrupted MNBC’s live coverage and brought the meeting to a halt with vociferous objections from ruling party MPs.

When the meeting resumed, MPs of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) alleged that the cable was severed by Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) MP Ilham Ahmed.

The opposition MP for Gemanafushi was not responding at time of press.

MNBC One meanwhile reported that its journalists at parliament witnessed Ilham cut off the cable while other media outlets have reported that the MP was heard asking a DhiTV cameraman to identify the MNBC cables.

Following the incident, Independent MP Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed, chair of the committee, apologised to HRCM members for the disruption and explained that as Speaker Abdulla Shahid was at a Judicial Service Commission (JSC) meeting at the time, he had asked the military officers in charge of parliament security to “freeze CCTV footage of the whole premise for the past hour.”

Nasheed added that he had “formally lodged a complaint” with the senior administrative staff for an investigation into the incident.

However MDP MP Ali Waheed interjected that according to security personnel “all the cameras at the area where the cable was were not functioning.”

Cameras at the corridor and near the stairs leading up to the committee room were turned off, Waheed claimed.

Waheed alleged that PPM MPs Ilham and Abdul Muhsin Hameed were responsible, noting that the DhiTV reporter confirmed that the opposition MPs inquired after the MNBC cable.

MDP MP Hamid Abdul Gafoor proposed adjourning the committee meeting until the matter could be investigated and “the security situation here can be updated.”

Nasheed concurred that the meeting could not be continued in light of the “seriousness of the problems we faced today” and concluded the session.

The MDP parliamentary group has meanwhile filed the case with police this evening.

In November last year, an MNBC journalist accused PPM MP Ahmed Mahlouf of assault during a live telecast of the National Security Committee.

A number of MNBC reporters were also attacked during nightly opposition protests of the past two weeks.

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