Tag: maldives news

“Cucumber” censored in Islamic Foundation’s TV ad

The Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC) has censored the word ‘cucumber’ from an advertisement produced by the Islamic Foundation of the Maldives (IFM), due to the potential for public embarrassment.

At the beginning of the advertisement, Sheikh Fareed asks viewers whether Allah created “men or the cucumber” for women.

President of Islamic Foundation, Ibrahim Fauzy, claimed the statement was a voice clip from a sermon Sheikh Fareed delivered in 2002 in response to an article published in a Maldivian magazine, which reportedly claimed that cucumbers were “better” than men.

“After that sermon he was arrested, but it was a response to a statement in the magazine,’’ Fauzy said. “The magazine was registered with the then Information Ministry.’’

Fauzy said that when the word cucumber was removed from Fareed’s statement, it “no longer makes any sense.”

“They quit broadcasting the ad without even informing us. We noticed that the ad did not appear last night,’’ he said. “We went to the MNBC station to ask about it and only then did why learn why this was the case.”

Chief Executive of MNBC Mohamed Asif told local media that the advertisement had to be censored because of an “embarrassing phrase’’, and that the station had begun reviewing the matter after removal of the offending vegetable.

The advertisement was for Sheikh Fareed’s ”Farewell” sermon, to be delivered tomorrow night at the Artificial Beach.

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Maldives backs creation of International Human Rights Court

The Maldives has asked the UN Human Rights Council to consider an International Court of Human rights, offering redress for the victims of human rights violations and strengthening the international human rights system.

State Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Naseem spoke at the opening of the UN Human Rights Council and again at an event hosted by the Maldives yesterday, attended by over 150 diplomats, UN officials, and NGOs workers.

The event was organised by the Permanent Missions of Maldives, Switzerland and Uruguay, in cooperation with the International Commission of Jurists, the Panel on Human Dignity and the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, focusing on accountability for human rights abuses. Speakers noted that there was no way in which an individual whose rights have been violated can hold a State to account at international level, and discussed how such a court might function practice, as well as the challenges to its establishment.

Speaking at the event were Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, Commissioner and Rapporteur on Children, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; former Independent Expert of the UN Secretary-General for the study on violence against children; Professor Manfred Nowak, former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, former member of the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances; Judge Theodor Meron, former president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Judge on the Appeals Chambers of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the ICTY; and Judge Philippe Texier, Judge, Cour de Cassation, France, member (and former Chair) of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and Commissioner at the International Commission of Jurists.

The speakers noted that, under the existing human rights system, Asia was problematic because unlike Europe and South America, there was no regional human rights court. They therefore proposed that the UN return to the idea, first debated by the UN in 1947 but put on hold because of the Cold War, of establishing an International Court of Human Rights as “the final guarantor of human rights”.

In her address to the meeting, the Maldives Ambassador Iruthisham Adam said that it is vital, in countries suffering systematic human rights abuses, that individuals have recourse to effective remedy at international level.

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Maldives trounced in second-leg Olympic qualifier

Hong Kong soundly saw off the Maldives yesterday for a place in the second round of the Asian football qualifying matches for the 2012 Olympic Games in London, scoring three goals that allowed them ultimately to finish 7-0 victors over the course of two matches.

Three goals, all scored within the first half of the second leg match, allowed Hong Kong to confidently move into the next round of qualifiers to be drawn against other victorious teams from the around region at the end of the month.

Already four goals down from their first encounter in Hong Kong, any hopes for a Maldivian comeback were extinguished within twenty minutes of yesterday’s game when Lam Hok Hei netted his first goal of the match. Stephen Ha added to the score line four minutes later and a third was later claimed by Lam in the closing minutes of the first half.

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Civil Court overturns dismissal of female badminton champion from national team

Female badminton champion Neela Ahmed Najeeb has won the right to be reinstated in the national badminton team, after the Civil Court yesterday overturned the Badminton Association’s termination of Najeeb.

Chief Judge of the Civil Court Ali Sameer ruled that the Association’s termination of Najeeb on May 20, 2009, was against the Association’s own regulations, and ordered it to reinstate her within seven days.

Najeeb, formerly the only female badminton player on the national team, holds a string of championship medals and has competed in several international competitions. The 25 year-old was suspended from playing last year after clashing with her Indonesian coach, whom she alleged attempted to make her run for four hours as punishment for missing a training session – something she was physically unable to do at the time.

Najeeb and her lawyer Mizna Shareef of Shah, Hussein & Co, contended in court that Najeeb’s suspension contradicted the termination procedure of the Constitution of the Badminton Association, as she was not given a chance to defend herself.

“I think this must be personal – this is not what you do to an athlete. You don’t just terminate them,” Najeeb told Minivan News, in an earlier interview. “I think Maldivian players deserve better. If you have a problem with a coach, [sporting associations] are supposed to advise you – but the Badminton Association takes everything personally.”

Prior to her termination, Najeeb had been selected to travel to Greece on June 10, 2010 for a youth training session conducted by the International Olympic Committee, however this was scuttled by her dismissal as endorsement from the Association was required.

“Our argument was that Neela’s termination contravened the Association’s constitution,” Najeeb’s lawyer Shareef said today. “They argued that Neela was not terminated but suspended, following a meeting in October. But we have letter from May saying she was terminated – you can’t suspend someone you’ve already terminated, and the court saw right through it.”

Shareef speculated that Najeeb’s case could be the first time a Maldivian athlete has successful contested a case against a sporting association.

President of the Badminton Association Ali Amir said he was unable to comment on the outcome of the case as he had yet to be informed of it.

Najeeb meanwhile said she was looking forward to competing in the Maldives International Challenge in June.

“I think things will be different from now on. I want to get back to the Association and see my next target,” she said.

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Forty percent of women between the age of 15-25 are unemployed, says HRCM

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has published a report revealing that more than two thirds of the Maldivian population are unemployed, with only 110,000 of the country’s 350,000 population holding paid jobs.

Women are particularly affected, HRCM noted, with women holding only 37 percent  of those jobs. Forty percent of women between the age of 15-25 are unemployed, HRCM stated.

Of the 124 senior government positions, women filled 28 positions, HRCM noted. Females also hold 12.5 percent of roles in independent commissions, 3.85 percent in parliament, 1.9 percent in the judiciary, 2.3 percent in the military, and 1.6 percent in the police force.

“The government should give high priority to training [women] and conducting awareness programs to make women more active in employment,’’ said HRCM. ‘’It is necessary that there are job opportunities for females in the islands and opportunities for females to train for jobs at atoll and island level.’’

“Our goal is to establish a society where women and men are equal in civil, political, economic, social and cultural fields. The commission calls on everyone to give women equal opportunities in every area of life.”

HRCM also noted that women were outperforming men at school, but this was not reflected in their employment or positions in society.

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BBC team detained, tortured by Gaddafi forces

Three BBC journalists covering the civil unrest in Libya were arrested and tortured by forces loyal to President Muammar Gaddafi, before being subjected to a mock execution.

Soldiers fired shots past the heads of the journalists, and they were made to wear hoods and told they were to be killed. At one stage the journalists were held in a cage while Libyan captives around them them were tortured. All journalists were in the country with permission of the Libyan government.

Describing the other prisoners, Turkish cameraman Goktay Koraltan said “I cannot describe how bad it was. Most of them were hooded and handcuffed really tightly, all with swollen hands and broken ribs. They were in agony. They were screaming.”

UK national Chris Cobb-Smith said the three journalists were lined up facing a wall while a man put a submachine gun next to their necks and pulled the trigger.

A Palestinian reporter for BBC Arabic, Feras Killani, was interrogated and then taken to a carpark where he was beaten with a pipe and a long stick. Killani then had a mask taped to his face through which he struggled to breathe.

After the BBC and the UK Foreign Office intervened, a Libyan man “who spoke perfect Oxford English” arrived and signed the paperwork to release the three reporters.

“They took us to their rest room. It was a charm offensive, packets of cigarettes, tea, coffee, offers of food,” the reporters said.

The BBC team had been covering a battle 30 miles from the Libyan capital when they were arrested at a checkpoint.

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Municipality civil servant first to be suspended in Facebook blackmail scandal

A senior civil servant working at Male’ Municipality has been suspended by the Civil Service Commission (CSC), reportedly in connection with one of the explicit videos obtained by police from a Facebook blackmail ring.

CSC Commissioner Fahmy Hassan confirmed to Minivan News that the civil servant had been suspended pending an investigation into the offending video, which had been leaked to the internet and reported to the CSC.

“We do not have knowledge of how the video was released, or whether he was being blackmailed,” Fahmy said.

Fahmy noted that there had been previous such incidences that prompted investigations, and these were occasionally unproven.

Police arrested 14 people involved in the alleged Facebook blackmail ring last month, in which profiles featuring an attractive blonde woman in sunglasses were reportedly used to extract explicit photos and videos from those who befriended her. Almost 3000 people – mostly Maldivian – befriended the various fraudulent profiles, with names like “Angelic Sharrown” and “Lyshiaa Limanom”.

”While some of the pictures were taken of people while drunk, other pictures were taken without the consent of the persons,” police said, when the arrests were announced.

Some of the people in the videos appeared to be performing explicit acts in the presence of minors, police said, adding that this could lead to further investigations of those pictured.

”The case relates to the rights of many citizens and affects the social policy of the Maldives, and may also affect the safety of the society,” said police at the time.

Information gathered so far had revealed that people from all levels of Maldivian society were affected, “including underage females juveniles, young women, professional and semi-professional persons, and people of both genders working all across the country.”

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