Tag: maldives news

Hanaa and Murrath sentenced to death for Najeeb’s murder

The young couple charged with the murder of lawyer Ahmed Najeeb were on Thursday sentenced to death by the Criminal Court.

However the government said it expects both verdicts to be commuted to life imprisonment pending the outcome of a cabinet consultation.

Ahmed Murrath, 29, and his girlfriend Fathimath Hana, 18, were arrested and charged with Najeeb’s murder after his body was discovered by police at Maafanu Masroora house, (Murrath’s residence) in early evening of July 1. The body was stuffed inside a dustbin, badly beaten up and with multiple stab wounds.

The judge noted that the decision for death penalty comes following the pair’s confession in court and the statement from all eight heirs of Najeeb requesting for qisas (equal retaliation) – the death penalty – instead of accepting the alternative, blood money.

Murrath, who has previous criminal records, confessed to killing Najeeb out of anger and under the influence of drugs, alleging  the lawyer attempted to sexually assault his 18 year-old girlfriend while he was at Masroora House.

The court heard that Najeeb visited Masroora House on June 30 to provide legal counsel on a case related to cash missing from Murrath’s mother’s account and the issue of dividing the house.

Murrath said that he tied Najeeb to a chair, gagged him and taped his hands, feet and face while threatening him with a four-inch knife he brought from the kitchen. He said that his girlfriend Hanaa had no role in it and was sleeping while he killed the lawyer between 6:00am and 7:00am during the morning of July 1.

Hanaa however had confessed in court of “helping” to tape and bind the victim to the chair. She did not confess to killing him and said at the time she was sleeping, intoxicated from drinking alcohol.

The judge however noted that the confessions given by Hanaa and Murrath to the police investigators reveal that the pair together schemed to suffocate the victim to death irrespective of whether he had sexually assaulted her or not, because they wanted to steal money from him.

Even though Hanaa had not confessed to killing Najeeb, the judge concluded that she has to bear full responsibility for the murder as Najeeb was incapacitated from defending his life because she helped bind him to the chair.

This is the first conviction for the teenage girl from Rihaab house in Goidshoo island of Shaviyani Atoll, while it is the 15th criminal offense proved against her boyfriend. He has a 18 year jail sentence of which he had completed only three years. His offences included theft, assault, drug use, and breaking out of prison.

He was released last year under the government’s Second Chance program for drug offenders.  The programme was recently criticised by Home Minister Dr Ahmed Jameel over claims that it released prisoners, held in certain cases for committing serious crimes, for political purposes.

Commuted sentence

In addressing the sentences given to the pair by the court, the government said today that President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan would be consulting with his cabinet and Attorney General Aishath Azima Shakoor over the verdicts. In previous cases where the death sentence had been favoured by the country’s courts over the past 60 years, the state has itself intervened to commute such verdicts to life imprisonment (25 years) instead.

President’s Office Spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza said that while consultations on the matter would be held, he did not expect a “departure” from the long-standing state policy of commuting death sentences to life imprisonment.

“There has been pressure from certain groups to uphold death sentences, but I do not think these calls are in line with the will of the Maldivian people,” he said. “The president will also have to look into our obligations under the various international treaties we have signed.”

Just this week, the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) asked the Maldivian state to enact legislation to officially abolish the death penalty as part of a wider review of human rights commitments in the nation.

“The state itself has admitted that capital punishment does not deter crime,” the statement noted.

Parliament review

Despite such calls by organisations like the UNHRC, a motion related to the death penalty is currently being reviewed by the parliament which, if passed, will make the enforcement of the capital punishment mandatory in the event it is upheld by the Supreme Court, halting the current practice of the President commuting such sentences to life imprisonment.

Earlier this month, Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz said the death penalty could be executed within the existing justice system of the Maldives.

Following the murder of Najeeb, the chief justice told local media that Maldives legal system, being based on  Islamic Sharia, allows the death penalty to be implemented.

Following Najeeb’s murder – the seventh  homicide recorded this year alone – Home Minister Jameel and Attorney General Aishath Azima Shakoor, as well as and other prominent lawyers and lawmakers, have publicly endorsed their support for implementing capital punishment to deter increasing crime rates.

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Finance Ministry orders all institutions to pay back former govt’s civil servant salary cuts

The Finance Ministry has today issued a circular informing all institutions to pay the amount cut from civil servants from January 2010 to December 2012 by the former government, staring from July onwards.

The circular said the money should be paid monthly and not in a lump sum, and advised all institutions to pay the amount from the annual budget for wages. If the money in budget was not enough, the finance ministry advised the institution to cut the money from the budget allocated for other expenses.

The circular was signed by the Ministry’s Financial Controller, Mohamed Ahmed.

The reduction in civil servant pay was introduced by the previous government in an attempt to manage a financial crisis back in 2009. The initial deduction, agreed between the Finance ministry and the Civil Service Commission (CSC), was only due to last for three months until the government’s income had risen above Rf7billion (US$544 million).

However, after the Finance Ministry refused to restore wages to the previous level, the CSC took the case to the courts.

The Civil Court ruled that the Finance Ministry did not have the authority to reduce the salaries, a cut of up to 20 percent in some cases. The CSC at the time interpreted this as a decision to restore the deducted salaries, a decision upheld by the High Court in May of last year.

In April this year the Civil Service Commission said the wage repayments, amounting to Rf443.7 million (US$28.8 million), will be disbursed in monthly installments over 12 months from July 1 this year. This money has not been accounted for in this year’s state budget, the deficit of which has already drawn concern from the International Monetary Fund.

In January 2010 the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that international funding to the Maldives would be threatened if civil servant salaries are restored to former levels.

“One of the primary drivers of the large fiscal deficit has been government spending on public wages, which has more than doubled between 2007 and 2009, and is now one of the highest in the world relative to the size of the economy,” Rodrigo Cubero, IMF mission chief for the Maldives said at the time.

“Measures that would substantially raise the budget deficit, such as a reversal of previously announced wage adjustments, would also put the program off track, jeopardising prospects for multilateral and bilateral international financing,” he warned.

The Maldives is currently facing a foreign currency shortage, plummeting investor confidence, spiraling expenditure, a drop off in foreign aid and a crippling budget deficit of 27 percent.

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Commission has interviewed 224 witnesses: CNI

The Commission of National Inquiry (CNI) told reporters today that it has interviewed 224 witnesses in its ongoing investigation to determine whether President Mohamed Nasheed resigned “under duress” on February 7.

The commission aims to complete interviews of remaining 60 witnesses by the end of July and hopes to publish its report by August 31, commission member Dr Ibrahim Yasir Ahmed said.

The CNI was recently reconstituted to include a foreign judge and a member to represent former President Nasheed after the Commonwealth raised concern’s over the body’s impartiality during its first iteration.

Nasheed’s representative to the CNI, Ahmed Saeed, said the commission had received overwhelming support from all sectors of society, including security forces, former government officials and civilians.

However, the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) and the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) had not responded to requests to share information, Saeed said.

Dr Fawas said Raajje TV was the only television station that had not shared video footage with the commission so far.

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Nasheed and Defense Minister responsible for arrest of Judge Abdulla: HRCM shadow report

The Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) has publicly revealed the names of those it considers responsible for the arbitrary arrest and detention of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed, despite previously stating that it did not wish to reveal the names for risk of prejudicing any court action.

In the shadow report on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in response to the Maldives initial state report submitted by the commission to UN Human Rights Committee in June, HRCM explicitly blames those responsible for the arbitrary arrest.

Article 71(iv) of the report reads: “It is conclusive to the investigation that the President and the Minister for Defense and National Security have to take the responsibility for arbitrary arrest and detention of the Chief Judge.”

Article 71(v) reads: “It is conclusive that it was the orders of the President to arrest Chief Judge as there was no action taken against the MNDF for disobedience to the orders of the Courts.”

However, in a press conference held on Wednesday, President of HRCM Mariyam Azra declined to give the names of those involved in the alleged abuse of the judge’s human rights. HRCM also declined to give any other details at present that it felt could influence any potential trials after charges were filed against Nasheed and several senior figures in the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) this week.

During the press conference, commission member Dr Ali Shameem spoke of the importance of having at least a “presence” of international human rights organsations at a time where the country was seeing violent political turbulence.

“I think it is very important that international human rights organisations have a presence – at least an office here in the Maldives – which we could easily reach on matters regarding human rights,” he said.

However, commission President Azra spoke against the views of the commission member, stating that she was of the view that it was “a domestic thing which we want to tackle ourselves.”

“I do not think we need an international presence. I believe the matter is a domestic thing and I am of the view that a local can be found,” she said.

During the press conference, members of the HRCM stated that their investigation had uncovered evidence that the judge, who was detained during the administration of former President Mohamed Nasheed over allegations that he posed a threat to national security, had faced attempts to remove him from his post and send him abroad.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), who had been in government during the time of Judge Abdulla’s detention, today raised concerns over what it claimed was the “complicit irresponsibility” of the HRCM – a body it alleged was biased towards the political interests of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Furthermore, the commission used the press briefing to publicise its concerns that “efforts” had been made to “coerce” the judge to commit unspecified actions that would have contravened his human rights.

Speaking to Minivan News, Azra stated that she did had not declined to reveal the names of those who were found responsible, but said she had declined to suggest against whom the Prosecutor General (PG) should press charges.

“It is not my duty to say against whom the charges should be pressed. It’s the PG who will decide it,” she said.

“We have also sent a copy of the report to President Nasheed, the Defence Minister and all the concerned authorities,” she added.

She also stated that she had been unable to answer calls from Minivan News yesterday at time of press.

“Serious Concerns”

Responding to the press briefing, the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) – of which Nasheed is the current presidential candidate – said it held “serious concerns” in the selective nature of the HRCM’s investigations.

MDP MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor alleged that the HRCM’s investigation had now formed the basis of criminal charges filed against Nasheed.  The case was yesterday returned to the Prosecutor General’s (PG’s) Office after the Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court said it did not presently have jurisdiction to hear such a case.

In March, the Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizz told Minivan News that the completion of the Nasheed cases was being delayed whilst police reviewed certain aspects of the investigation.

Ghafoor claimed that the decision to move ahead with the charges this week raised questions about allegations of political influence on the HRCM and the information it made available to the PG’s Office.

“I believe there is a very strong link between the HRCM holding this media briefing today and Islamist factions linked to [former President] Gayoom,” he added. “This week this faction has been very active in lobbying the HRCM, the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) and even the president himself.”

Just last month, Deputy leader of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Umar Naseer has expressed his confidence that the Prosecutor General’s (PG) investigation into charges against former President Mohamed Nasheed will see his imprisonment before the scheduled elections in July 2013.

“We will make sure that the Maldivian state does this. We will not let him go; the leader who unlawfully ordered the police and military to kidnap a judge and detain him for 22 days will be brought to justice,” local paper Haveeru reported Naseer as having said.

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Nasheed’s antics – a never ending story: Dr Hassan Saeed

“There is at least one person in the Maldives who appears to know what the outcome will be of the National Commission of Inquiry (CNI).  And that’s former President Nasheed,” claims Dr Hassan Saeed, Special Advisor to President Waheed, writing for Haveeru.

“What other explanation can there be for the fact that he continues to encourage the street demonstrations and violence that are plaguing the streets of Male’ at present?
Mr Nasheed’s MDP is calling for his Direct Immediate Action Campaign to continue with the on-going protests until the government is overthrown and early elections are called.
How is this behaviour consistent with his commitment to the international community that he will respect the outcome of the CNI process?
A Commission that includes his own nominated representative and is co-chaired by a Singaporean Supreme Court judge nominated by the Commonwealth and assisted by advisors from the United Nations and the Commonwealth.
Well the short answer is that it isn’t consistent.
But this behaviour is consistent for a man who suspects that the outcome of the Commission’s investigation will not go the way that he wants it. Otherwise he would patiently wait for its outcome. After all, one and half month is not a long time.
As ever, former President Nasheed seems capable of taking two completely inconsistent stances at the same time. On the one hand he tells the international community that he is a true democrat and will abide by the processes that they have helped to put in place and on the other hand he is playing to his local supporters and activists encouraging actions that explicitly seek to pre-empt any conclusions that the Commission might reach.
And as supporting evidence, just look at the activities of his supporters on the social media. Here we see a prolonged and consistent campaign to try and discredit the very judge –Justice GP Selvam – in front of whom Mr. Nasheed was perfectly happy to give evidence earlier this month.
How is it that Mr. Nasheed allowed to get away with this?
Well of course it’s a pattern of behaviour that both his supporters in the Maldives and elements of the International community seem blind to.”
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Government sheds pretence of reconciliation with charging of Nasheed: Eurasia Review

The new government of the Maldives has shed all pretence of reconcilliation with its levying of criminal charges against former President Mohamed Nasheed, writes Dr S Chandrasekharan for the Eurasia Review.

“If sentenced Nasheed and Tholiath will face a jail term or banishment for three years and or a fine of MVR 3000.

It looks that the government has shed all its pretences of going for reconciliation with the ousted President Nasheed and with this, the initiative taken by India in starting the “All Party Road Map Talks” is also dead and buried. It should also be clear to the policy makers in India that President Waheed and his government have no intention of holding early elections as promised earlier.

This also coincides with the week long direct action protests by MDP protestors led by Nasheed that had often resulted in regular and in some cases brutal confrontation between the Police and the demonstrators. The MDP claims that over a hundred of its protestors have been arrested. One graphic picture in the media showed a bald headed protester being hit on his head by a lathi by the police.

As if to rub salt in the wound, Home minister Jameel said that it is a “historic criminal trial” and the first step towards the national healing process. We have seen the healing process in the last seven days with the law and order situation getting more serious with each day of protest.

It looks that prosecution will be one of the means that is being adopted to prevent Nasheed from contesting the next presidential elections. It may be recalled that in the internal poll held to select the presidential candidate by the MDP, Nasheed obtained over 31,000 votes.

The deputy head of the PPM which is literally running the government, Umar Naseer expressed his confidence last month that former President Nasheed will see his imprisonment before the scheduled elections in July 2013 (note the date).

The powerful Adviser to the President Dr. Hassan Saeed also in a similar vein said that he “does not believe that Nasheed will be a free man during the time of next Presidential elections.” Is it not ironic that it is the same Saeed who in his capacity as Attorney General in Gayoom’s regime had way back in 2005 filed a complaint against Judge Abdulla on allegations of misogyny, sexual deviation and also throwing out an assault case despite the confession of the accused? ? It is Abdulla’s detention in late January that triggered the prosecution case against Nasheed.

It is said that the final report by the newly reconstituted Commission of National Enquiry will be delayed by a month. The new committee has begun its enquiry with two new members, one a nominee of Nasheed and another a Judge (Justice Selvam) Singapore.

The time line produced by the old committee before the new one was constituted has created an avoidable controversy. It is alleged by the MDP that this report was an attempt to prejudice the work of the new committee. A rejoinder to the time line produced by the MDP- the “Ameen- Aslam” report has resulted in an expected reaction of the government terming it as a “terrorist Act” and both Ameen and Aslam are being prosecuted as terrorists! Ameen was the National Security Adviser during Nasheed’s tenure and he is fully aware of the circumstances under which Nasheed resigned.

It is back to the Gayoom days when Nasheed was prosecuted under terrorism laws when he protested against the government in a public place!

Nasheed’s recent statement in US that tourists should boycott Maldives has caused a near panic in the country. This will hurt the country a lot more than even the ongoing violent street protests. An emergency resolution has been introduced in the Majlis on 7 July by a few members to discuss the tourism boycott call.

What is surprising is that Nasheed is still able to organise protests on a massive scale and it looks that he is determined to fight on. The Maldivian Government under President Waheed appears to be equally determined to put down the protests and go ahead with the prosecution of Nasheed without leaving any space for reconciliation. This is a dangerous trend.”

Read more

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MPs reject dissolving media council

MPs voted 53-1 against a recommendation by the Finance Committee to dissolve the Maldives Media Council and transfer its mandate to the Maldives Broadcasting Commission (MBC).

While the vote was taken on July 4, the result was announced at today’s sitting of parliament.  It had not been officially declared due to disorder in the chamber that forced the sitting on July 4 to be called off.

The Finance Committee, chaired by Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim, recommended dissolving the media council after studying its audit report, which suggested that the independent regulatory body was not functioning as envisaged in the law.

Also at today’s sitting, MPs voted 33-18 to send a bill on freedom of assembly proposed by Independent MP Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed to a seven-member ad hoc committee for further review.

The list of MPs approved for the committee were MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik from the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), MP Moosa Zameer from the People’s Alliance (PA), MP Visam Ali and MP Abdulla Abdul Raheem from the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), Independent MP Ahmed Amir, MP Riyaz Rasheed from the Dhivehi Qaumee Party (DQP) and Abdulla Jabir from the Jumhooree Party (JP).

MPs meanwhile voted unanimously in favour of the Maldives becoming a member of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Convention on Cooperation on Environment following a report submitted by the National Development Committee of parliament.

Speaker Abdulla Shahid adjourned today’s sitting at 2.30pm after quorum was lost during a debate on a report submitted by the Economic Committee after studying amendments proposed to the Tourism Act.

Today’s sitting was interrupted seven times due to loss of quorum before Speaker Abdulla Shahid brought the sitting to a close after quorum was lost for an eighth time.

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Hulhumale’ Court rejects case against former President Nasheed

Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court rejected a case forwarded by the Prosecutor General against former President Mohamed Nasheed and three Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) officers for their alleged role in detaining Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed.

Hulhumale’ Court Magistrate Moosa Naseem told Minivan News that the case was sent back to the Prosecutor General’s Office after the court stated it did not have the jurisdiction to deal with such cases under the Judicature Act.

‘’We studied the case and we found that we do not have the jurisdiction to deal with the case according to article 66 of the Judicature Act,’’ Naseem said.

Naseem today told local media that the Hulhumale’-based court can only accept the case after the Chief Justice issues a decree in agreement with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and the Judicial Council as stated in the article 66[b] of the Judicature Act.

Article 66[b] of the Judicature Act states that “In accordance with Section (a) of this Article, if additions or omission to the jurisdictions stipulated in schedule 5 of this Act has to be carried out, the modification has to be done in agreement with the Judicial Service Commission and the Judicial Council and by a decree issued by the Chief Justice.’’

Deputy Prosecutor General Husaain Shameem said he was presently on leave and was not aware of the exact details of the matter when contacted by Minivan News. Prosecutor General Muiz was also not responding to calls by Minivan News at the time of press.

Earlier, Muiz has said that the case was sent to Hulhumale’ Magistrate Court because it related to the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court.  He contended therefore that the case cannot be filed at the same court overseen by the judge owing to a conflict of interest.

Former President Nasheed has said that he is “prepared” to justify the reasons for the arrest of Judge Abdulla, and said he was ready to appear in court and prove his actions were valid.

Nasheed also dismissed accusations of the High Court, the Supreme Court and the prosecutor general that he had ordered the military to arrest Judge Abdulla unlawfully.

“I did nothing unlawful during my tenure,” he challenged.

He also called on the population to be present at his trial and witness what happened in the court, alleging that the whole case was politically motivated and that his opponents were seeking to gain an unfair upper hand from the “political scandal”.

The Chief Judge was detained by the military, after he had opened the court outside normal hours to order the immediate release of former Justice Minister and current Home Minister and deputy leader of the Dhivehi Quamee Party (DQP), Dr Mohamed Jameel.

In late 2011, Judge Abdulla was himself under investigation by the JSC, the country’s judicial watchdog, for allegedly politically biased comments made to private broadcaster DhiTV. The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) was due to release a report into Judge Abdulla’s ethical misconduct, however the judge approached the Civil Court and successfully filed an injunction against his further investigation by the judicial watchdog.

Judge Abdulla’s arrest sparked three weeks of anti-government protests in January, leading the Nasheed administration to appeal for international assistance from the Commonwealth and UN to reform the judiciary.

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Commonwealth Envoy expresses concern at “rising political tension” in the Maldives

The Commonwealth Secretary General’s Special Envoy to the Maldives, Sir Donald McKinnon, has expressed concern at “rising political tension” in the Maldives –  specifically over ongoing street protests and the criminal charges filed against ousted President Mohamed Nasheed.

Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has taken to the streets for the tenth consecutive day calling for an early election, alleging the former President was deposed in a coup detat on February 7.  Police have clashed violently with protesters resulting in injury to police and public as well as the arrest of hundreds of protesters. However, President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan has insisted the earliest constitutionally permitted date in which fresh polls can be held is July 2013.

Meanwhile, Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizz on Monday filed criminal charges against Nasheed for his alleged role in the detention of Criminal Court Chief Justice Abdulla Mohamed in January.

The Commonwealth’s Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) has urged for early elections to be held in 2012, and has played a crucial role in the reconstitution of the Commission of National Inquiry (CNI), set up to investigate the controversial transfer of power.  The composition was changed after the Commonwealth raised concerns over the body’s impartiality during its first iteration. The CNI is expected to release its report by the end of August.

In a statement released yesterday, Sir Donald called for dialogue among political leaders, urging all parties to show “restraint and restore calm.”

“It is absolutely essential that all relevant actors in Maldives refrain from any actions that could jeopardise the stable environment necessary to allow the Commission of National Inquiry to complete its work and produce an outcome within the stipulated time-frame,” he said.

“Restore calm”

Sir Donald added that he has been in contact with President Waheed and Mohamed Nasheed to discuss the MDP’s ongoing protests, along with the response by security forces to these demonstrations and the charges filed against the former president.

“What is very much needed in Maldives right now is for all concerned to show restraint and restore calm. Any actions that create or exacerbate political instability cannot be helpful to the national interest, including in the difficult economic circumstances at the moment in the country and the global context,” Sir Donald said.

The Maldives is facing a foreign currency shortage, plummeting investor confidence, spiraling expenditure, a drop off in foreign aid and a crippling budget deficit of 27 percent.

Speaking on the need for a stable environment for the CNI to complete its work, and urging all parties to refrain from jeopardising the commission’s efforts, Sir Donald said: “We have all invested a huge amount of time, energy and resources in reconstituting the Commission of National Inquiry, to establish the truth about the events of 7 February 2012 and help Maldives move forward. The international community has been supportive of these efforts.”

Hence, Sir Donald has called on Maldivian leaders to engage in dialogue, stating that “Ultimately, any resolution of contentious political issues in Maldives can only come about through inclusive political dialogue.”

“I therefore urge the leaders of Maldives to engage in genuine dialogue, with the interest of the people of Maldives in mind,” he added.

MDP Spokesperson Hamid Abdul Gafoor welcomed the Special Envoy’s statement, but said that MDP protests would continue. “You must remember our protests are non-violent and are aimed at restoring political stability,” he told Minivan News.

Stalemate

Sir Donald’s comments come at a time when renewed attempts at restarting the All-Party talks appear at a stalemate.

The talks were conceived as one of two internationally-backed mechanisms – alongside the CNI – to resolve the political deadlock in the Maldives following the controversial transfer of power on February 7.

The Convenor of the All-Party talks, Ahmed Mujuthaba, on July 12 announced that a series of “high-level” discussions will be held between President Waheed and the leaders of the largest political parties after sixteen previous attempts had resulted in “no breakthrough.”

However, a spokesperson for President Waheed on Tuesday said the president will not hold talks with Nasheed as long as street protests continue, condemning the protests as an “act of terrorism.”

Meanwhile, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom – who served as the country’s autocratic leader for 30 years up to 2008 – said he would not negotiate with Nasheed.  Gayoom claimed that Nasheed had made baseless comments about him in both the local and the international community, particularly that the former President had masterminded a “coup d’état” on February 7.

Nasheed subsequently released a statement on Monday arguing that his allegations were based on public statements made by Gayoom and those closely affiliated with him politically, including his family members – many of whom now hold senior positions in government. Nasheed then offered to apologize if Gayoom agreed to participate in the all-party talks.

“Given that not for a single moment would I wish for someone unelected by the people of Maldives to entertain himself as leader to them, I believe now is the time for all parties to come forth in support of the best interest of the nation and its citizens, and as such, if President Gayoom indeed was not party to the coup, I have decided to apologise to President Gayyoom for the fact that I said he was behind this coup,” Nasheed said in his statement.

However, Gayoom told local media today that he believed Nasheed’s apology was “insincere” and has asked Nasheed to issue a formal apology on local and international media.

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