Tag: maldives news

New regulations on resort rent and lease periods will bring changes

President Mohamed Nasheed has said that government will amend the Maldives Tourism Act, reports Miadhu.

The president said that once the taxation bill and the resort rent and lease bill become legislations, there will be major changes to the tourism sector.

President Nasheed added that according to the ‘Third Tourism Master Plan’, the government is working on increasing bed capacity to 36,659 beds by 2012. He said the Maldives must not only target the high-end market, and announced the government will begin to create a mid-market.

Both the taxation and the Tourism Act amendment bill are being examined by the People’s Majlis.

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One of ‘top six’ drug dealers found innocent by criminal court

The Criminal Court has ruled that Adam Naseer of H. Reendhooge is innocent of dealing drugs, despite being labelled by the government as one of the country’s ‘top six’ drug dealers and a police investigation lasting nearly a year.

Police searched Naseer’s home in Addu Atoll on 30 June 2009, where they found over Rf6 million (US$461,500) in cash and a tin containing drugs outside his house.

He was later arrested in early July in Addu Atoll, but “he wasn’t in prison the whole time,” explained President’s Office Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair. “On several occasions the court has delayed his imprisonment until the hearing.”

Naseer’s arrest last year was a big break for the Prosecutor General’s office and the police, who had been leading an investigation and following Naseer for months.

Naseer had also been arrested in 2007 on drug dealing counts and later on counts of bribery and giving false information to the police, but he was released due to lack of evidence.

In his verdict, Judge Abdul Baary Yousuf said there was not enough evidence to prove the money had come from dealing drugs. He added that the drugs could have been placed outside Naseer’s house by anyone and did not necessarily belong to him.

Zuhair said Naseer “is still considered to be a top drug dealer. He was caught red-handed.”

He added that although the executive and legislative branches have been reformed with the change in government, “the justice system is still going the way it was in Gayoom’s time” and “many of the judges are sympathisers of Gayoom.”

Ahmed Adam, program coordinator for Journey, an NGO with a mission to help addicts maintain their recovery and to raise public awareness on drug issues, said “these people shouldn’t be on the streets. If they’re not behind bars, what will happen?”

“The judge should ask where all this money came from,” added Adam.

Only one witness claimed the drugs belonged to Naseer. Under Shari’ah law, there needs to be at least two witnesses to prove a person guilty, annulling the witness’s testimony.

Deputy Prosecutor General Hussein Shameen said “he should not released, but… the court has acquitted him.”

Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizzu said he had no comment on Naseer’s release, but added that his office would “appeal [the case] to the High Court.”

Two of the ‘top six’ have now fled the country. police are still investigating the remaining three suspects.

President Nasheed has previously said that while the government knows the identities of the top six drug dealers, their arrests would appear politically motivated as they included political opponents.

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Four foreigners arrested loading 240 bottles of alcohol into Lily van

Four foreigners carrying 240 bottles of alcohol were captured by police on Friday night near the T-Jetty area in Malé.

They were caught loading nine cases of alcohol into a van registered to Lily Enterprises.

The van and the alcohol are now under police custody and the foreigners are under arrest.

Police would not give any details as the case is still under investigation.

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President speaks of Shari’ah law in the Maldives

President Mohamed Nasheed marked the occasion of the Prophet’s (PBUH) birthday and spoke of the history of Shari’ah law in the Maldives during his weekly radio address on the Voice of Maldives.

President Nasheed said Shari’ah law has a unique position in the Maldives, as it’s among the few countries that have practised Islamic law uninterrupted for a long period of time.

“Since the conversion to Islam about 900 years ago, the Maldives has continuously practised Shari’ah,” said President Nasheed.

He said other Muslim countries have practised limited Shari’ah, like Egypt, who adopted the Napoleonic Code after Napoleon’s invasion, and Malaysia, adopting English common law.

The president also mentioned the importance of Islamic scholars who served as chief justices in the Maldives. Historically, they have been the highest authority of Islam, and ensured the continuity of the practise of Shari’ah.

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President to give address tomorrow at People’s Majlis

President Nasheed will deliver a presidential address tomorrow at the People’s Majlis.

The president’s address will be delivered at 10:00am tomorrow, marking the first parliamentary session for this year.

President Nasheed declared 1 March a public holiday last week to commemorate the first sitting of the year of the People’s Majlis.

The presidential address will be webcast live via the President’s Office website

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Ministry of Health criticises media for misinforming public

The Ministry of Health and Gender has issued a press statement criticising the media for its standards and ethics when reporting on abuse cases, especially those involving children.

Police and the ministry last week confirmed they were investigating a “very serious” case of child abuse, in which which four children were taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) by ministry workers to undergo medical examination.

Deputy Minister of Health and Family Mariya Ali said at the time that all details of the case were being withheld for the protection of the children.

“We have the children’s best interest in mind, and that means we cannot give out any information that might put them in danger,” she said.

The ministry’s statement today claimed that the media had recently written stories misinforming the public “particularly relating to abuse cases”, and criticised the publication of stories “before the ministry releases information [about them]”.

“The media should keep to its professional standards and work to the ethics of journalism, respecting privacy,” the ministry said, referring to article 12 of the the Children’s Law, under which children’s names, ages or addresses should not be made public in the instance of abuse.

President of the Maldives Journalism Association (MJA) Ahmed ‘Hiriga’ Zahir claimed that “the media is respectful of these things. It is not appropriate to reveal this information”, but acknowledged that in the past there were instances in which the victim’s father’s or family name has been released to the public, making it easy for the victim to be identified.

“There needs to be a fine balance when dealing with these issues,” Hiriga said, adding that he still believed the public had a right to know about such cases.

He echoed Mohamed Shihaab of Child Abuse Watch Maldives, who last week said that while he understood the authorities’ fear that evidence would be corrupted, or that the families of the abused children would suffer if their identities became known, “the incident needs to be reported. It’s important that the community knows that something like this is happening,” he said.

Ahmed Rilwan, media officer for the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM), said the “general viewpoint of the Commission is that there is nothing wrong [with the media reporting these cases].”

“So long as it is done responsibly, the reporting itself is not a problem,” he said.

He added that these cases should be reported without revealing identifying information that could “revictimise the victims”, and agreed that that the media has previously made more information public than it should.

Minivan News’ reporting of the ministry’s statement highlighted some of the difficulties faced by the media in obtaining accurate and timely information from ministries and organisations.

Media Coordinator for the Ministry of Health and Family, Yasir Salih, refused to comment on the ministry’s press statement, saying he is “not supposed to talk on behalf of the Ministry.” He added that he “directs people to relevant departments and officials” but is not supposed to give information.

According to Yasir, “sometimes our officials are busy and unable to give interviews and comments.”

Deputy Minister of Health and Family Mariya Ali did not respond to requests for comment at of time of publication.

Senior Social Service Officer at the Department of Gender, Fathimath Runa, said she would not be able to speak on the issue until she was “better informed on the issue”, but had not responded to Minivan News at time of press.

President of Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM), Ahmed Saleem, said he was not the appropriate person to talk to concerning the question on whether or not the media should report child abuse cases.

Hiriga said he believed the ministries and government institutions should implement “proper mechanisms to regulate information” which is released to the media, in a bid to prevent confusion and misinformation being leaked from other sources.

“Various ministries are trying to influence the media,” he suggested. “They have no right to intervene.”

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Maldives donor conference ‘not a begging bowl’ says Shaheed

The IV Maldives Partnership Forum, or donor conference, is to be held on the 28-29 March at Bandos Resort and Spa will focus on attracting foreign investment rather than donations, said Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed.

“You can do business here and make a profit,” he claimed, while still helping the country improve its infrastructure and economy.

“We don’t want to become mendicant people with a bowl begging for some money. We have interests to promote here.”

“A lot of countries are required by the UN system to focus their assistance on certain countries,” he explained, mainly those in the Least Developed Countries (LDC) list.

Until the Maldives graduates from the LDC list at the end of 2010, other countries with higher GDPs are encouraged by the UN to offer investment and concessions to the Maldives.

“The [donor countries] have their own internal policy requirements to fulfil by focusing on countries who are vulnerable, like island states,” explains Dr Shaheed.

“At the same time,” he adds, “there are those who are keen to promote certain causes or issues, such as human rights. They want certain opportunities to promote those issues.”

Dr Shaheed added that “a lot of countries want to invest in a stable Maldives. A stable, prosperous Maldives is a market. An unstable, impoverished Maldives is a liability.”

The invitations “are being sent out” and ministers are travelling to world capitals to begin lobbying, including Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, Kuwait City, Riyadh and Doha.

The Forum will address five key areas:

Macro-economic Stability

For there to be macro-economic stability in the country, the government “hopes the parliament, when they come back, as a first order of business, will look at the taxation package and actually pass it.”

The government is currently working in partnership with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the economic development programme. Dr Shaheed says “it is very important that we make that programme succeed.”

He added that for the IMF programme to work, it is crucial for the taxation bill to be passed.

Public Reform

“Again this is linked to the IMF program,” says Dr Shaheed, “because we need to cut down expenditure.”

Part of this public reform is the very controversial policy of cutting down the number of public servants.

“We won’t just sack them,” he says. “We are going to restructure some of the government bodies into complex entities, like the media sector.”

There will also be some retirement packages available, as well as study and training packages.

Governance and Democratisation

“This is a very broad area,” Shaheed explained. “We need an oriented look at division, and how to increase capacity [in government agencies].”

All areas of government must be studied extensively to make sure they “function better”.

Climate Change Adaptation

Dr Shaheed said the most important issues concerning climate change are renewable energy and eco-degradation (for example, waste management). It also includes building “more sea walls, jetties and harbours.”

Social Development

The government will be “targeting the vulnerable of the population, like children, young girls, and old people” as the main recipients of the benefits of social development.

It will also deal with the health and education sectors, which it hopes to improve.

Past Forums

Dr Shaheed said the first forum, held in 2007, “was a time when a lot of questions were asked about where the Maldives was headed.”

The focus was on the reform program, which he claimed was “a very good forum to bring the donor community, the recipients, and policy makers together on the same page.”

For this year’s forum, the minister says “we have projects in place, so we have a much clearer idea of what we’re going to do.”

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President meets with founders of Mission Maldives

President Mohamed Nasheed met with the founders of Mission Maldives yesterday afternoon.

Mission Maldives is a voluntary organisation created by three British nationals. Its stated aim is to make voluntary programs in the Maldives more easily available and affordable.

Mission Maldives’ aim is to bring volunteers in the most needed areas, which are those currently lacking in suitable skilled and educated staff.

According to President Nasheed, the government has priority toward promoting greater involvement and contribution of volunteers in the socio-economic and political development of the country.

The organisation already has begun a number of programs with schools in the Maldives.

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