Police yesterday (28 September) arrested a man from the island of Manadhoo in Noonu Atoll on charges of molesting a 17 year-old girl in the island.
Police said that the man, 39 years old, said that he was arrested after an arrest warrant was obtained while the man was on the island.
According to police, Lhohi Magistrate Court in Noonu Atoll have extended the man’s detention period to 15 days for the investigation of the case.
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(0)Police have said that an officer was attacked last night at about 12:15am by a group of people.
According to police, the group attacked the officer while he was on duty walking near FDI photo studio on Fareedhee Magu.
Police said the officer was injured and his phone was also damaged in the incident.
The police are now looking for suspects involved in the case.
Local media also reported an officer being struck by a motorcyclist on Lonuziyaarai Magu.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) has called on the Supreme Court and state institutions to ensure that Maldivians will not be denied the right to vote guaranteed by the constitution’s Article 26 and the International Convent on Civil and Political Rights.
It also called upon these institutions to ensure there will be an election within the duration stated in the constitution.
The HRCM also called on everyone not to pave way for unrest and to hasten all work that has to be done to uphold the constitution.
The commission also called on EC to solve all the issues with the voters’ registration.
HRCM called on the authorities to take legal action against those to pose death threats and threats of violence, calling on everyone to give high priority to national interest.
(0)Dislikes(0)“The creation of new islands could make up for the loss of land in the Maldives due to sea level rise, a study published in the journal Geology suggests,” reports Tamarra Kemsley for Nature World News.
“Regional island building consists of lagoons filling with sand taken from the surrounding coral reefs. As this happens, plant and animal life take root.
By studying the history and timing of this process throughout the area, researchers concluded that the continued accumulation of sand within the reefs found inside Maldivian atolls offer an opportunity for future island development.
Smaller reefs where the lagoons are nearly filled in, the study showed, are most likely to give way to islands — a process that could happen within 100 years if provided with enough sand.
The findings further suggested that these smaller islands could then grow into structures that could then be inhabited even as sea level rise reduces the land available on other islands.”
(0)Dislikes(0)The Criminal Court has released six persons arrested during the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) protest calling for presidential elections, on condition that they do not participate in protests for two months.
A police spokesperson today told Minivan News that, as of this morning nine protesters were in police custody.
”The court extended two person’s detention period to 15 days,” he said, adding that they were arrested on charges of objection to order and obstructing police duty.
In a statement issued last night (28 September) police said that a total 15 persons have been arrested following unrest in Male’ since September 23.
Police said three were arrested without any conditions, and that the court had extended the detention period of six persons.
Police Spokesperson said that last night seven others were arrested in addition to the 15 persons mention in the statement issued.
”15 is the total amount of persons that were arrested,” he said. ”Some of them have also been released without being taken to the court.”
MDP protesters took to the streets following an injunction issued by the Supreme Court regarding a case filed at the court by Jumhooree Party- led by unsuccessful first round candidate Gasim Ibrahim – to annul the poll on allegations that there had been major issues with the voter registration, and that the Elections Commission had changed votes.
After the Supreme Court issued the injunction, pro-MDP supporters have been protesting everyday near the Supreme Court and other areas of Male’.
MDP has also questioned the legitimacy of decisions made by the Supreme Court as certain judges on the bench have been accused of misdeeds, most notably Justice Ali Hameed who remaind subject to an ongoing investigations into leaked video tapes appearing to depict him engaging in sexual relations with foreign women.
Pairs of large white underpants – similar to those worn by the figure in the sex video – have become a common theme in the last week’s protests.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Maldives Ports Workers Union (MPWU) has taken strike action today following the Supreme Court’s decision – backed by the government – to postpone the second round of the presidential election.
“We are taking our constitutional right to give a message to the government,” said Ibrahim Khaleel, President of the Maldives Ports Workers Union.
Around 90 of the union’s 490 members opted not to come into work for today’s morning shift, though Khaleel pointed out that workers would return to work for the later shift.
“There is not much work there today, but next week we have a charter boat with more than 300 containers. If we are not given an election date, we will stop any future operations. We are just giving that message.”
“The ports union will do this again and again if they do not listen to us,” said Khaleel.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to give a verdict on its election annulment case today – filed by the Jumhooree Party (JP) after its defeat in the first round earlier this month.
After the Elections Commission expressed its intention to go ahead with the polls – scheduled for yesterday (September 28) – the court issued an order to security forces to halt proceedings by force if necessary.
Khaleel said a decision was made not to picket outside the ports today, alleging the port’s management “sent thugs” to attack union workers picketing the port earlier this year.
He argued that police protection had been requested on this prior occasion, but had not been forthcoming.
Both the MPWU and the Tourism Employees Association of Maldives (TEAM) joined forces in May this year to demand amendments to the recently enacted Freedom of Assembly Act.
Clause 24(7)b of the law prohibits any gatherings at the country’s ports, airports, or resorts, without police authorisation – a clause the unions have claimed effectively banned strike action.
After TEAM’s call for “prolonged strikes” last week should the presidential run-off be delayed, Minivan News has received reports of a number of politically motivated dismissals in some of the country’s resorts, in what some staff described as a “firing spree”.
Import dependency
Vice President of the Maldives National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) Ishmael Asif warned of the likely impact such strikes could have on the country.
“As a country that relies heavily on imports for all of its needs, a ports strike could have severe impacts on business in the country,” he warned.
As small island state with with a land mass of only 115 square miles, the Maldives has near-total dependency upon imports for basic foodstuffs and commodities, as well as goods used to supply the country’s luxury tourism industry which is indirectly responsible for 90 percent of the economy.
The country’s “excessive reliance on imports” was discussed in a recent government report into economic diversification, which noted that the country’s current account deficit had grown to US$600 million (27 percent of GDP) in year 2012.
“The import dependency continues to grow. The CIF [cost, insurance, and freight] value of merchandise imports has increased from us$120 million in 1990 to us$1.5 billion in 2012,” read the report.
It also noted that the country imported over 90 percent of foods in 2012 – worth US$318.9 million – resulting in “huge implications for food security as well as inflation.”
Male’s port – managed and administered by the Maldives Ports Ltd (MPL) company – handled 580 ships in 2012, processing over one million tonnes of freight.
Current MPL CEO Mohamed Latheef told Minivan News today that he was unaware of any strike activity.
The MPWU staged a small strike last year after it alleged the MPL had removed the workers’ television after they had used it to watch the Maldivian Democratic Party aligned Raajje TV. MPL claimed the disagreement was a misunderstanding.
That strike received high-profile backing from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).
(0)Dislikes(0)This article first appeared on Dhivehi Sitee. Republished with permission.
Saturday dawned as crisp, sunny and beautiful as any other day in the Maldives. The clear blue skies belied the dark cloud that descended over a majority of the country’s population after the beleaguered Elections Commission announced shortly before midnight on Friday that the Supreme Court, and other allied state institutions, had left it with no choice but to call off the second round.
What the Elections Commission has been forced to call off is hope — the expectation that democracy will be restored in the Maldives on 11 November 2013.
For 19 long months, a majority of Maldivians have dedicated most of their lives to winning back democracy from the authoritarian gang that came to power on 7 February 2012. The fight has been all-consuming and has affected every single Maldivian one way or another.
In the immediate aftermath of the coup came the violent confrontations with the security forces. Hundreds were beaten up, arbitrarily arrested, detained without charge, and ordered to obey, or else. Basic human rights—freedom of assembly and expression—were rolled back. Foreign ties were broken coldly, with little care for international norms or the inevitable consequences. The economy suffered blow after blow, leading to bankruptcy with little hope for recovery in the foreseeable future.
Working with unscrupulous ‘religious scholars’, intense nationalism was promoted in parallel with virulent xenophobia against any foreign actor that promoted democracy. Ties with autocratic regimes were fostered, along with relations with international gangsters known for drug trafficking and money laundering. National assets were sold off and deals made with unscrupulous foreign governments that spoke democracy but acted with nothing but their own national interest in mind. Unexplained murders, gang-related crimes, drug abuse and sexual offences increased exponentially.
The international community’s decision to condone the coup and endorse it as ‘a legitimate transfer of power’ was a major blow, but not enough to kill the Maldivian people’s desire for democratic governance. In the face of intense pressure from the international community to obey, to put stability before rights, to follow ‘the democratic process’, combined with brutal force by domestic authorities, the street protests could not be sustained. But supporters of democracy did not give up. Led by Mohamed Nasheed and the Maldivian Democratic Party, Maldivians channeled their frustrated hopes into campaigning for a democratic election instead of protesting on the streets.
MDP’s presidential campaign has been an exemplary democratic exercise – the ‘costed and budgeted’ manifesto it brought out in August this year is the embodiment of a majority of Maldivians’ hopes and dreams for the future. It is based on views and opinions gathered from people on every inhabited island and it envisions a future in which the Maldivian people will, at long last, be empowered to work for their own socio-economic progress under a government that a majority of them have elected of their own free choice. Of course, it is naive to think that every desire would be fulfilled, but at least everyone was asked what they wanted, everyone had a say, and everyone could take ownership of their own future. No such bottom-up exercise has ever been conducted in the long authoritarian history of the Maldives.
On 7 September, 88 percent of the electorate turned out to vote. 45.45 percent of them voted for Mohamed Nasheed, 25.35 percent for Abdulla Yameen, 24.07 percent for Gasim Ibrahim, and 5.13 percent for Mohamed Waheed. Nasheed did not get the 50 percent plus one needed for an outright win, but the Maldivian map, from north to south, was all yellow at the end of voting that day. Most people in all atolls bar two want a democratic government led by Nasheed.
The authoritarians know this, always did. Plan B was there from the start – let them have their vote if they must, but the results will always be ours, as we want it. Over a thousand observers, local and foreign, verified the election as free and fair. Except for minor errors, expected in any election anywhere in the world, it went without a hitch. Only 25 percent of the Maldivian people want Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s autocratic rule to continue. That’s when the stubborn septuagenarian called in all the stops and brought into full play the dregs of dictatorship that continued to infect Maldivian democracy throughout the three years or so it lasted.
Gayoom has played his old house-boy Gasim well. Taking full advantage of Gasim’s indignation about not having received the votes he paid for, Gayoom has dictated most of the Supreme Court bench – the most corrupt of the many corrupt state institutions – to rule in Gasim’s favour, bringing the Maldives to where it is today: a constitutional vacuum into which Gayoom can effortlessly step in and ‘rescue’ us from ourselves. If Gasim thinks that Gayoom will let him take the president’s oath on November 11, he is an even bigger fool than he has repeatedly shown himself to be.
The Supreme Court did not just issue an injunction against the second round, it also ordered the security forces to act against anyone who tries to go ahead with the polls. One can only imagine the elation of the baton-happy coup-Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz who immediately deployed his forces to the Elections Commission, sealing the Commissioner and staff off from interaction with anyone local or foreign.
Efforts for mediation by the international community were not just prevented by the police, but strongly criticised by Gayoom’s minions. With his daughter at the helm of foreign relations as the State Minister of Foreign Affairs, it summoned India’s High Commissioner for a good telling-off for attempting to help disenfranchised Maldivians. The government has not stopped spurning the international community since, and will not stop until it becomes clear to everybody – at long last – that Gayoom and his followers will not allow democracy in the Maldives, whatever it takes.
The truth of the matter is, and has been since 7 February 2012, is that there will be no election in the Maldives as long as Nasheed, the champion of the Maldivian democratic movement, is in the running. So the focus has now returned to the farcical prosecution of Nasheed, through the very courts that have proved again and again that they are neither independent nor respectful of the ‘judicial process’. The machinations are fully underway to annul the first round and put Nasheed behind bars before calling fresh elections, if there are to be any. Reports say Gayoom himself is planning to run if and when new elections are held, his ‘economist’ brother having failed to live up to family expectations by not being able to garner much support.
Having lived under Gayoom for most of their lives, a majority of Maldivians remain oblivious to the fact that indefinitely delaying the elections is a robbery of their fundamental right to vote, and not just that of MDP members or supporters of Nasheed. Their gloating about the cancellation of the election is both sad and sickening. They will do everything in their power to help bring Gayoom, and their own enslavement, back to life.
For the rest of Maldivians, the only choice left is to refuse to obey. Power, contrary to popular belief, is not something that can be taken away by force. It can only be given away, by the people, if we so decide.
Resisting a full-fledged authoritarian reversal has been a long hard slog that has taken a heavy emotional, financial and social toll on all of us. Sustaining the resistance will be difficult, and all out civil disobedience would be even harder; but do it we must, if we are to be in control of our own destiny. What we must keep in mind is: nobody can govern us without our consent. It is within our power not to give it.
Dr Azra Naseem has a PhD in International Relations
All comment pieces are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write an opinion piece, please send proposals to [email protected]
(3)Dislikes(0)Additional reporting by Neil Merrett
Staff at Irufushi Beach and Spa resort have expressed concern over a “firing spree” affecting staff members professing to support the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP).
The resort, which in May 2013 abruptly terminated its agreement with hotel giant Hilton leading to the overnight resignation of 30 employees, is owned by Maldivian Development Alliance (MDA) leader Ahmed ‘Sun’ Shiyam. MDA is the coalition partner of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), and is backing its candidate Abdulla Yameen in the presidential run-off.
According to staff at the resort, the management has been on a “firing spree” since the conclusion of the first round of elections, while some others have been suspended or warned of dismissal.
Minivan News obtained copies of three letters of termination, one dated September 19 and two dated September 26, instructing staff that their employment was “terminated with immediate effect”, and ordering them to collect their belongings and leave the island the same day. The letters did not give reason for the terminations.
Mohamed Rishwan, one of the first staff members who was fired from Irufushi, spoke to Minivan News about the “unfair circumstances surrounding [his] unexpected dismissal”.
Rishwan, who worked in the resort’s housekeeping department, was dismissed on September 26 and alleged the only response from the Human Resource Department to his request for a reason was “I don’t know. These were orders from the top management. Why do you need to support [MDP presidential candidate] Mohamed Nasheed?”.
“Our work and politics have been absolutely entangled by the current management. Staff at the resort are living in a constant state of fear of losing their jobs, despite performing at their best. The rumour is the HR Department plans to dismiss many others there who support MDP. Pressure increased after Nasheed won the majority of votes even on Irufushi in the first round,” Rishwan said.
According to results from Irufushi’s ballot box in the first round of voting on September 7, 59 staff on the resort voted for the MDP, 38 for the PPM, six for the JP and one for incumbent President Mohamed Waheed.
“When I demanded to meet the HR head after I was suddenly and unexpectedly dismissed, Shiyam’s brother met with us. He said there was no reason except that the resort no longer wanted us there. He then spent the rest of the meeting asking us why we supported Nasheed, promoting Yameen and his policies and trying to dissuade us from supporting MDP,” Rishwan continued.
“I told him I no longer wanted to live in fear, under such extreme political pressure, being discriminated against for political reasons. We were even harassed in the staff quarters by supporters of the opposite political ideology. The staff of Irufushi have been stripped of many constitutional rights and live under the repression of this new politicised management.
The Tourism Employees Association of the Maldives (TEAM) on Thursday committed its 5000 members to “prolonged” strike action should the election be delayed.
“The management have ordered all staff to register at the resort for voting. They’ve also said at staff briefings that all staff must vote for Yameen, and that no one should dare try implementing the workers’ strike that Nasheed spoke of,” Rishwan alleged.
“One colleague refused to register to vote at the resort, saying he will finish his duty and go to his nearby home island to vote citing that it was his constitutional right to do so. He was immediately fired. Some of my former colleagues are now saying that they will not dare cast a vote at all,” he said.
Another source, currently working at Irufushi, spoke on condition of anonymity of what he described as a repressive atmosphere among resort staff.
“Things are very difficult. I need to hold this job, so don’t name me. Shiyam is firing anyone he even suspects of supporting the MDP. Most of us are under what I would say is psychological trauma right now, afraid to speak our minds as there is so much pressure from above. We can’t all afford to lose our jobs, but is political affiliation any reason to be legally dismissed from a job?”
“MDA is forcing staff to sign up for their party, that’s the only path to job guarantee or promotion these days. They are also hiring groups of youth who live on this island but do nothing besides preparing campaign banners for the MDA coalition. I’ve been working here for many years, but I feel like a stranger here now with so many new, hostile faces. The sudden lack of usual liberties is very disheartening,” he said.
“There’s been at least five dismissals in the last week, and no one knows who is next. You see, this is our livelihood, how we support families. This is why everyone is bowing down to this repression, even if reluctantly, and attempting to hold our jobs.”
“Sun Shiyam has addressed all staff in extremely disrespectful, and even vulgar, terms. Let me quote what he said at a staff briefing: ‘You MDP lot are making ‘haram’ use of my money as your wages. You are not entitled to any of it. I will make sure I push out every single one of you MDP dogs from my resort. Mark my words.’ You see, this is the reason the staff are in fear. We need to let word out and let the world know,” another staff member told Minivan News.
“The management holds nightly staff gatherings where they slander Nasheed and praise Yameen. Staff are made to agree with all they say, or face dismissal within two days. They have said that they want 100 percent votes for Yameen from Irufushi in the second round, and that it is mandatory for all staff members to register to vote on Irufushi itself.”
“In fact, we’ve been told that if Yameen doesn’t win 100 percent, they will see what percentage Nasheed gets, and fire an equal percentage of staff based on who they suspect might have cast those votes. Most of us are now saying we will just cast invalid votes, or just not vote at all,” he said.
“Shiyam took over this resort in what the staff refers to as another coup d’etat at the resort level. Since then we have been gradually stripped of rights we are legally entitled to as citizens of the Maldives.”
Resort response
General Manager of Irufushi Beach and Spa Resort, Abdulla Thamheed, rejected allegations that the resort had fired staff members for politically-motivated reasons.
He said that after Sun Travel and Tours took over the site following the company’s decision to terminate its agreement with Hilton in May, a number of staff members had been fired for “not sharing the resort’s values”.
“These people were not on the same page with the company, so we have gone our separate ways,” he said.
Thamheed said the resort had not been affected by calls for strike action by tourism workers over the indefinite suspension of the run-off election.
He also questioned the motivation of any Maldivian seeking to damage the country’s luxury tourism industry, stating that most staff members had families they needed to support.
“No one is interested in striking [on the resort],” he said.
Before answering questions on the allegations of politically-motivated sackings at the resort, Thamheed requested he be quoted on the record as expressing concerns over “why a white European” was allowed to working at a Maldives-based publication such as Minivan News.
“The fact you are a white European doesn’t mean you can come to a third world country and break into our privacy,” he told Minivan News. “You are a white European and a failure in the UK. I have managed many five star resorts and met journalists from newspapers like the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph,” he said.
Upon confirming the reporter’s nationality as a UK citizen, Thamheed expressed his view that the journalist was a stereotypical reminder of the Maldives’ colonial past. Asked to clarify his comment, he accepted that the Maldives itself had not been colonised by the UK.
“You see yourself as an imperialistic and colonial person, who believes they have imperial superiority over us. No one will give you a job outside this country,” Thamheed said.
He added that although his comments were “not personal”, but questioned Minivan News’ ethics as a news organisation and said the reporter could not be called a journalist for producing what he believed was “biased, one-sided propaganda”.
Thamheed went on to state that as a white European in the Maldives, the Minivan News reporter would not have sought to contact someone for a story in their own country during evening time.
“I have met many top journalists from newspapers like the Sunday Times and the Telegraph. Do you really think this is how journalists are supposed to behave?” he said.
Thamheed requested that his words be remembered by the journalist and quoted directly in this article.
“I don’t think you will be able to sleep tonight,” he said. “I am very happy I have spoken to you.”
MDA leader, MP and Irufushi owner Ahmed ‘Sun’ Shiyam was not responding to calls at time of press.
(0)Dislikes(0)President Dr Mohamed Waheed has today laid the first paving stone in the road development project for Hanimaadhoo island of South Thiladhummathi atoll.
During the opening ceremony, Waheed noted that the project – the first of its kind in the island, would be finished in four or five months and would make commuting easier for locals. He also spoke of the ongoing work into a sewerage system on the island.
Yesterday, the President’s Office reported the Waheed had visited Kulhudhuffushi Island to officially open the newly completed 1.7km Ameenee Magu.
Local media reported that the President’s Office had cited the “current situation in the country over the presidential elections” as the reason for the cancellation of his engagements at the UN General Assembly in New York.
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