Tag: maldives news

Court action may postpone Addu Atoll city council elections

Planned elections to appoint a city council to serve Addu Attoll will be postponed if court action taken by some MPs to revoke the decision to treat the region a single city is successful, Haveeru has reported.

President Mohamed Nasheed has said that if the Civil Court moves to reverse the decision announced back in October to make Addu Atoll’s islands individual wards of a single city, elections would be postponed, according to the paper.

The Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) reportedly filed the case over concerns that the president may not be authorised to award city status to Addu on the grounds that the atoll may not appease the requirements outlined under the country’s Decentralisation Act.

However, Nasheed has said that the Addu city decision was made after consultation with government and opposition parties.

“I didn’t decide to give city status to Addu after waking up one morning,” he was quoted as saying in Haveeru.

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Arabiyya pupils’ rights case reaches Civil Court

The former Attorney General Azima Shukoor has filed a case in the country’s Civil Court over fears pupils may have been denied their rights, SunFM has reported.

According to the report, the case has been filed in court over concerns Arabiyya students may be loosing out on their rights in having to study in other schools due to structural concerns in their old building.

The report said that the case also alleges education authorities have been irresponsible over the treatment of students from Arabiyya School, reported SunFM.

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DRP requests EC to remove Umar Naseer from party membership list

The main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) has requested that the Elections Commission remove the name of Umar Naseer, its former Deputy Leader, from the party’s membership list.

The calls follow an escalating war of words between Naseer and the party’s current leader, Ahmed Thasmeen Ali, over the former deputy’s dismissal from the DRP late last year that more recently led to violent clashes at a meeting held at DRP headquarters.

Acknowledging the DRP’s request, Elections Commissioner Fuad Thaufeeq said that Naseer has also sent a letter to the commission in an attempt to counter the calls to remove him.

“The commission is now considering the matter and will go for a conclusion today or sometime tomorrow,” said Thaufeeq.  “Most of the time, these matters end up in the party’s favour.”

However, as the case has not yet reached a conclusion, Thaufeeq said the commission could not say anything on the case.

Umar Naseer was dismissed from his post by the party’s disciplinary committee back in December after he attempted to conduct a protest that was allegedly unauthorized by DRP leadership.

Naseer said in September that Thasmeen did not want him in the DRP. The former deputy leader alleged that Thasmeen was therefore attempting to dismiss him after the DRP council voted narrowly to move ahead with a disciplinary hearing.

Tensions have risen within the party between supporters loyal to both Thasmeen and Naseer, leading to some MPs including the dismissed deputy to fly out to Malaysia to meet with former president and DRP “honorary leader” Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Gayoom returned to the Maldives last week in order to try and reinstate unity in the DRP along with assisting its local council elections campaign.

Gayoom described the disputes in the DRP as ‘disputes’ rather than the formation of faction.

So far, Naseer has not accepted the decision of the disciplinary committee, claiming that the decision was against the party’s charter.

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Adhaalath Party joins political condemnation of Velezinee attack

The Adhaalath Party has today joined a growing number of political voices in condemning the attack on Presidential Member of Judicial Service Commission (JSC), Aishath Velezinee.

Velezinee was attacked yesterday morning in Chandhanee Magu, while she was walking down the street, leading to strong criticism from President Mohamed Nasheed and his cabinet.

Haveeru had reported that attackers travelling on two motorbikes came at Velezinee while she was walking down the street, stabbing her at three separate points in the back.

Police have said that no suspects have yet been charged in connection with the attacks, which they claim serve to highlight growing concerns over gang violence in the capital.

The religious Adhaalath party released a statement strongly critical of the perpetrators of the crime.

”The attack on Aishath Velezinee is a very degraded and an uncivilized action,” said the Adhaalath Party. ” The Adhaalath Party condemns this action in strongest possible terms.”

Adhaalath Party called on Maldivians to stop committing what it called inhumane activities.

”We also call on the concerned authorities to identify the attacker and to present them before justice.”

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that so far no persons had been arrested in connection with the attack and there were no updates on the case yet.

The police issued a statement today expressing concern over the rise in gang violence and called on everyone to co-operate with the police to curb the rise in gang violence in Male’.

”It is very concerning that the gang violence in Male’ is progressing and becoming more serious during a time  police is working to curb the violence under a three year strategic plan,” said police. ”These sort of crimes could be prevented with the co-operation of all institutes, independent commissions, politicians and citizens.”

The Maldives Police Service said that it would take any actions necessary against those committing such serious crimes and would not hesitate to bring them to justice.

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Immigration Ministry rethinks expatriate insurance amendments

Plans to begin requiring expatriate workers in the Maldives to enrol in medical insurance schemes from the beginning of the year have been delayed the Department of Immigration and Emigration, Haveeru has reported.

According to the paper, foreign workers already within the Maldives will also no longer be required to hold medical insurance by March 2011, due to a number of “requests”.

However, Immigration Controller Ilyas Hussein Ibrahim was quoted as saying that workers wishing to apply for work visas on a first time basis will be required to obtain insurance.  Ibrahim reportedly said that policies for determining whether suitable insurance policies were in place had not been decided upon.

“Because of the announcement, many people have begun insuring. It is something that must be done in the future. But right now only the new foreign workers are required to insure,” he told Haveeru.

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Dhiraagu attacks highlight Maldives’ cyber crime challenge

Dhiraagu has become the latest high profile victim of Maldivian cyber crime after continued attacks on the company’s servers during the last few days led to disrupted internet services for its customer; a development that police say serves to highlight concerns over attempts to disrupt the internet services and web sites of state institutions in recent months.

Dhiraagu’s Communications Manager Mohamed Mirshan Hassan said that the company had come under continual denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since Thursday that had impacted its web services in recent days. Although Mirushan claimed that Dhiraagu had been able to mitigate the impact of the attacks and maintain some web service, he said that the company could not guarantee the situation would not happen again after having experienced a number of similar problems with DDoS since 2009.

The Maldives Police Service today said that it has arrested four individuals suspected of involvement with the attacks after conducting special operations last night at addresses both in Male’ and Addu Atoll.

Three of the suspects were confirmed to be under 18 years of age.
According to police, the country has undergone a number of attacks on government and its own websites in recent months, which has led to specially trained officers focusing on trying to prevent criminal activity online.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that it had managed to apprehended a number of suspects through its own cyber crime team in relation to such attacks, which it said were suspected to be the work of local individuals rather than foreign bodies or groups.

“In previous cases [of cyber crime] we have found it is young people and teenagers that have been involved,” he said. “They often do not demand any reward or payment for the crime, but commit them out of their own interest and amusement. The police are working closely with government on this issue and we take it very seriously.”

In terms of prevention, Shiyam claimed that the police were able to track individuals suspected of conducting cyber crimes relatively easily, but suggested that prosecution remained problematic in certain situations.

“It is challenging, because we are treating cyber crime very seriously,” he said. “We are hoping that new regulations will be passed to help prosecute in the future.”

According to Dhiraagu, a DDoS attack commonly refers to overloading a system or server with information preventing it from functioning properly, recently seen with the difficulties in loading certain web sites. Mirashan said these attacks were equivalent to thousands of cars trying to travel all at once down the two way lane of Majeedhee Magu.

“Dhiraagu has been receiving these type of attacks before since August 2009, but this is one of the largest we have experienced, it is very organised” said Mirushan. “We have been working with our counterparts both in the country and overseas around the clock in order to try and minimise the impacts of the attack on our services.”

Mirushan claimed that similar notable DDoS attacks of late had included targets such as credit groups like Master Card and Visa along with other prominent organisations that had been shut down for prolonged periods of time in certain cases, highlighting the magnitude of disruption that can be caused.

“These are quite common attacks on big global networks. However, DDoS is not directly related to issues of online security,” he said. “They relate to huge amounts of data packages being sent to flood a network.”

According to a recent report by the BBC, online attack mechanisms such as DDoS have been adopted by politically motivated hackers or “hacktivists” to pursue vendettas against companies and groups such as those claimed to have opposed the controversial “whistle-blowing” website Wikileaks.

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UNDP hands over pearl culture project to Thulhaidhoo community

A joint venture to develop pearl culture in Thulhaidhoo, Baa Atoll, established by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture has been handed over to the island’s co-operative society.

The pearl culture project was first launched in 2008 after Thulhaidhoo’s islanders began expressing interest in the developments and the possible commercial opportunities available through such a scheme.

Dr Aiminath Jameel, acting Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture, joined senior officials of the UNDP in a special ceremony to hand over the project to local islanders.

During the ceremony, certificates were awarded to islanders who had completed training workshops concerning pearl culture management.

”We are surrounded by water, so we can benefit and improve our lives if we learn more about the sea,” said Dr Aiminath. ”I’m very glad that islanders of Thulhaidhoo have took the initiative and co-operated in the pearl culture project.”

Dr Aiminath noted that Thulhaidhoo was an island that has always been famous for handicraft.

”My advice to those who achieved the certificates is to make good use of what they learnt instead of keeping it filed,” she said, while praising the Marine Research Centre of the Fisheries Ministry and the UNDP for their work on the project.

Chairperson of Thulhaidhoo co-operative society, Mohamed Ali Manik, said the group would aim to deliver the knowledge of pearl culture to the next generation and urged all the islanders to take part in the project.

”This co-operative society is aimed to all the islanders,” Manik said. ”I urge everyone, especially young people to take part in the pearl culture society.”

After the ceremony, jewelry such as necklaces and rings made of pearl sourced from around Thulhaadhoo were viewed as a demonstration of the potential opportunities available from the project.

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President and MDP condemns attack on Velizenee

President Mohamed Nasheed, his cabinet and the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) have strongly condemned today’s attack on Judicial Service Commission (JSC) Presidential Member Aishath Velizenee.

Velezinee was taken to Male’s Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMM) this morning after being attacked in the streets.

Nasheed later visited Velezinee at the hospital while she was being treated for her injuries, according to the president’s office website.   The president later condemned the attack during a meeting of the cabinet and said that the government would take necessary measures to ensure such incidents did not occur in the future.

The Ruling MDP has also issued a statement today following the attack calling on political parties to resolve their disputes peacefully.

”Valizenee is a person that advocates freedom of speech, of gathering and the promotion of human rights,” said the MDP’s statement.

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Velezinee attack a “huge concern” for free speech: Dr Sawad

The stabbing this morning of Aishath Velezinee, Presidential Member of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) responsible for ensuring ethical conduct in the judiciary, has been condemned as an attack on free speech and law and order in the country, attorney general Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad has said.

Velezinee was taken to Male’s Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGHM) after she was stabbed in the back with a sharp object whilst out in the city this morning, police have confirmed.

The Maldives Police Service were unable to confirm if any suspects had as yet been apprehended over the attack and were continuing to investigate the case.

Speaking to Minivan News today, Dr Sawad said that the attack was a “huge concern” for the country. “Judicial abuse at any level cannot be tolerated,” he said.

Beyond the concerns held as a private citizen over an attack within the capital, Dr Sawad added that the assault on Velezinee had a direct impact on judicial proceeding in the country.

“The JSC is constitutionally mandated to oversee the ethical functioning of the judiciary, she [Velezinee] had been very vocal in her role and that is something that must be accommodated [in the courts],” he said “If we cannot express our opinions openly, than this obviously impacts the functioning of the judicial body and how it serves the public.”

Dr Sawad said that beyond his role as Attorney General, as a private citizen he was dismayed that “law and order in the capital could have deteriorated to such an extent”.

Haveeru reported that President Mohamed Nasheed had visited Velezinee this morning in hospital following the attack, which reportedly occurred on a junction between Maaveyo Magu and Majeedee Magu, expressing hope she would continue her work at the JSC.

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