Tag: maldives news

Work of Special Rapporteur will continue even without Iran’s cooperation: Dr Shaheed

Iran has said it will not allow recently-appointed UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, Dr Ahmed Shaheed, to enter the country.

The announcement that the former Maldives Foreign Minister was to take up the prestigious UN role was made last weekend. Iran’s state media outlet, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), reported yesterday that the Iranian Majlis had decided to block Dr Shaheed from entering the country.

Majlis representative and member of Iran’s Human Rights Commission Mohammad Karim Abedi said the decision was made “because the US, Britain and the Zionist regime are among the major violators of human rights in the world and the UN Human Rights Council should study their violations.”

“The United Nations studied the crimes and atrocities of the Zionist regime in 2010 during the 33-day war on Lebanon and the 22-day war in Gaza, and declared the regime’s army commanders as war criminals but could not take any action against them,” Abedi told IRNA.

“Accusing countries such as the Islamic Republic of Iran of violating human rights should be viewed as a part of their blame game,” Abedi said.

Dr Shaheed told Minivan News that the UN Human Rights Council had called on Iran to cooperate when the office of the Special Rapporteur was set up in March.

“The work will continue whether or not access is given, but will benefit from Iran’s cooperation,” he said, explaining that the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur required the permission and cooperation of the host country for field visits.

“Special Rapporteurs have a very comprehensive code of conduct – where field visits are not possible information can be gathered from a variety of sources,” he explained.

“At the same time the objective is to work with the government of Iran to ensure all the issues are covered.”

Dr Shaheed dismissed speculation that the objections of the Shiite-majority Iran were a reaction to the appointment of a Special Rapporteur from a 100 percent Sunni-Muslim country.

“What they are saying in Iran has nothing to do with me or the Maldives,” Dr Shaheed said.

The former Foreign Minister is preparing for a preliminary visit to Geneva later this week. The resolution passed by the Human Rights Council requires him to present interim findings to the UN General Assembly in September, and a full report to the Human Rights Council in March 2012.

Local newspaper Haveeru has meanwhile reported the Maldives’ conservative religious Adhaalath party as stating that Iran’s decision “brings disgrace to the Maldives’ foreign policy and weakens the country’s reputation among Islamic states.”

The Adaalath Party’s President Sheikh Imran Abdulla claimed that “Maldivians should be ashamed” by Iran’s decision.

“As far as I know this is the first time such a mission assigned to a Muslim country was returned. We, Maldivians, should be ashamed in front of the Muslim world,” Haveeru reported Sheikh Abdulla as saying.

“Tensions will rise between the Maldives and a state like Iran that has nuclear power. We, being a small Muslim nation, should take into consideration such matters before interfering in the matters of an Islamic state.”

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Planned Maldives Islamic channel launch to be reviewed next year

The Ministry of Islamic Affairs has said it will review the possibility of launching a Maldives-based Islamic television channel next year to ensure that the technical demands required for the endeavor can be met.

Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Mohamed Didi, told Minivan News that the postponement of plans to begin broadcasting an Islamic TV channel in the country were not so much an issue of budgetary limitations – but that of human resources.

“If we were to start this channel we would need human resources and the technical staff to support it,” he said. “We have spoken to the Maldives National Broadcasting Corperation (MNBC), who can supply this, so we have the technical capacity, but we need to think how we will move ahead.”

Didi said that broadcasting a new tv channel in the country was “not an easy task” and there were concerns that the project needed more extensive planning.

“If we rush [starting the channel], we might not be able to sustain it so that is why we are waiting until next year,” he claimed.

Didi added that the exact nature of how the channel would operate and the duration of its programming on a daily basis had yet to be finalised and would be a key part of any ongoing talks.

Meanwhile, Miadhu has reported today that Islamic Affairs Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Baari believed repeated postponements of forming the channel were related to low budgets and ongoing legal action regarding the control of state media.

According to the report, Rf2 million from the Zakat fund had been allocated to fund the proposed Islamic channel, but the money has now been transferred instead to a scholarship programme.

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MDP sets afternoon deadline for parliamentary group leader applications

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has set a deadline of this afternoon for accepting applications for the role of its parliamentary group leader.

According to Haveeru, the party has given potential candidates until 2.30pm today to register their interest in the role ahead of an election scheduled for Wednesday.

The MDP’s previous Parliamentary Group Leader, ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, resigned from his post after being selected as the party’s acting chairperson for a year during its 91st national council meeting held at Bandos Island Resort over the weekend.

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No issues inside MDP leadership, says Dr Didi

Ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Leader Dr Ibrahim Didi has dismissed speculation that there were internal issues within the party, following a decision by the the party’s national council to appoint ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik as the acting Chairperson for one year.

Local media reported that Dr Didi had expressed concern that the appointment was inconsistent with the party’s charter.

The MDP’s website today quoted Dr Didi as saying that having different thoughts on a subject was not an issue, and it had been the MDP that introduced freedom of expression to the Maldives.

‘’The MDP is a party that knows how to tolerate different opinions and a party that knows how to work together even with different opinions,’’ Dr Didi said. ‘’We are in the spirit to work together, hopefully we will solve any problems we face.’’

He also thanked Moosa for accepting the position of acting Chairperson.

Speaking to different media outlets Dr Didi said that the party’s charter stated that if the post of chairperson becomes vacant, the post will temporarily be handed over to deputy chairperson.

He also told the media that he would seek legal advice over the matter and that it was questionable whether the national council could make such a decision when the charter stated otherwise.

‘’There are no issues between me and Dr Didi, the National Council and me or the National Council between Dr Didi,’’ said MDP acting Chairperson and former Parliamentary Group’s Leader and MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik.

Moosa said that as the MDP was a democratic party its members were free to express their own opinions, and offered assurances that the MDP would never become factionalised.

The MDP was not a party that focused around one single person, he added.

The MDP has meanwhile announced interested candidates to send letters to the party’s secretariat, following the resignation of Moosa from his former post as Parliamentary Group Leader.

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Maldives endorses war crime investigation in Libya

The Maldives, together with the UK, Qatar and Jordan have passed a resolution in the UN’s Human Rights Council to extend the mandate of the international Commission of Inquiry into human rights violations in Libya.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem said he welcomed the “strong message” the resolution would send to Libyan President Muammar Gadaffi.

“Civilised nations around the world will not stand by as he kills and violates the fundamental rights of thousands of our Muslim brothers and sisters. He will, in the end, be held accountable,” said Naseem.

The resolution came in response to the inquiry’s preliminary report into the Libyan situation, which found evidence of arbitrary killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, torture and sexual violence against women and children – violations it found represented war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Adopting Rome Statute benefits domestic legal systems, says Coalition for the International Criminal Court

The Maldives’ decision to accept the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will provide many opportunities to improve the country’s domestic legal system but is a significant commitment, according to Evelyn Balais-Serrano, Asia-Pacific Coordinator for the ICC’s advocacy NGO the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC).

Parliament voted almost unanimously on June 14 that the Maldives sign the Rome Statute of the ICC, the founding treaty of the first permanent international court capable of trying perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

In October 2010, MPs clashed over signing the Rome Statute, using the debate to condemn the “unlawful and authoritarian” practices of the previous government, while MPs of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party-People’s Alliance (DRP-PA) coalition MPs accused the current administration of disregarding rule of law and negating parliamentary oversight.

President Mohamed Nasheed had sent the matter to parliament for ratification. Following the hour-long debate, during which time  DRP MP and recently-dismissed Judicial Services Commission member Dr Afrashim Ali insisted that the convention should not be signed if it could lead to “the construction of temples here under the name of religious freedom,” a motion by DRP MP Dr Abdulla Mausoom to send the matter to committee was passed 61-4 in favour.

Last week, parliament voted 61-3 in favour of signing the treaty, on the recommendation of the national security committee.

“A major benefit of [ratifying] the treaty is the opportunity for judges and lawyers to participate in exchange and internship programs,” Balais-Serrano told Minivan News, explaining that the domestic legal system of many countries had benefited through exposure to the ICC.

Didactic benefits aside, the decision has ramifications for Maldivian law. Implementing the treaty requires a national commitment to adjust domestic law where it conflicts with the Rome Statute, “or to find ways for it to align,” Balais-Serrano told Minivan News.

One possible reason for the slow uptake of the Rome Statute in Asia is its position on capital punishment – the death penalty – which is legal in many countries in the region but is not present in the ICC treaty, “as are laws concerning immunity, protecting monarchs and members of the royal or ruling family [from prosecution].”

Ratifying the treaty is a pledge to make those revisions, Balais-Serrano said, and to make sure such laws were present whenever crimes under the ICC’s jurisdiction were committed.

She noted that the CICC’s experience was that despite initial concerns in some countries regarding clashes between the legal obligations of ICC signatories and Islamic Sharia law – as in the case of the death penalty – Sharia experts in ICC signatories Afghanistan, Jordon and Malaysia had found no conflict between the Rome Statute and Sharia.

Balais-Serrano acknowledged “frustrations” on behalf of people and governments over misconceptions of what crimes fell under the ICC’s jurisdiction.

“For example, in Bangkok there is a debate between the red and yellow shirts about how to use the ICC to get rid of each other,” she noted.

‘The ICC only covers major crimes, such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression. Crimes must be widespread, systemic and of concern to the international community. The ICC does not deal with small cases, even if the victims may be in the hundreds.

“Also present is the concept of command responsibility – the ICC only deals with the big fish. In the past only the small fish may have been sacrificed to show a semblance of justice – but the ICC targets the highest level of responsibility: the head of state, generals, kings.”

Another benchmark for whether the ICC would consider taking on a case was willingness and capacity on behalf of a country’s own judiciary to handle such contentious cases.

Currently the ICC is investigating situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Central African Republic, Darfur, Sudan, Kenya and Libya.

Sri Lanka was an emerging candidate, she noted, following the UN’s claim that videos of alleged insurgents being executed by government soldiers were genuine and evidence of war crimes.

“That was how Dafur started,” Balais-Serrano said, explaining that outside an invitation from the Sri Lankan government, the UN’s launching an international investigation would require a mandate from either the UN Security Council, or the UN Human Rights Council.

“China will block [an investigation] in the UN Security Council, so the emphasis is on the Human Rights Council [of which the Maldives is a member],” Balais-Serrano said.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem has previously described the UN’s report into the closing days of Sri Lanka’s civil war as “singularly counterproductive.”

Ratifying the Rome Statute would also have diplomatic ramifications, Balais-Serrano agreed.

“Becoming a member of the ICC can increase a country’s prestige and reputation, through its commitment to human rights,” she said.

“But it also adds pressure to a government to fulfill its obligations as a signatory, and not pay only lip service to human rights and its other international commitments.”

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Supreme Court orders rearrest of businessman charged with drug trafficking

The Supreme Court has ordered the rearrest of Abdulatheef Mohamed, a businessman who was last year charged with drug trafficking after police discovered more than one kilogram of illegal narcotics inside his car, but was found innocent by the Criminal Court last week due to lack of evidence.

The Prosecutor General has appealed at the High Court claiming that the Criminal Court’s verdict was unfair.

Delivering the verdict last week, the Criminal Court said the Prosecutor General had been unable to prove that Abdulatheef and another businessman, Hassan Ali, were guilty of drug trafficking, due to lack of evidence and witnesses presented to the court.

The court also claimed that no evidence was presented to the court suggesting that the illegal narcotics were imported with the knowledge of both Hassan and Abdulatheef. The Criminal Court then ruled that there was no reason to suspect that Abdulatheef and Hassan had an intention to traffic drugs, and freed the pair.

In May, the Criminal Court summoned and ordered the release of Abdulatheef a day after the High Court invalidated a letter sent by the Criminal Court to the police instructing them to release him to house arrest.

The Criminal Court first asked police to keep Abdulatheef, of Gnaviyani Atoll Fuvamulah, in detention as determined by the Home Ministry, until his trial reached a conclusion. However the Criminal Court later sent a letter to the police changing the court’s first decision and asking police to move him to house arrest.

The police then appealed at the High Court seeking for the letter to be invalidated. The High Court judges determined that the order in the letter was not consistent with the applicable laws concerning detention, and overruled it.

The Prosecutor General at the time appealed at the High Court challenging the Criminal Court’s ordering the release of Abdulatheef.

However, the High Court bench ruled that the order of release was lawful and that judges had the authority to order the release of suspects.

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“Stigmatisation of persons based on religion pressing human rights concern”: Ambassador Adam

Maldives Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Iruthisham Adam, has welcomed the council’s resolution to tackle Islamophobia under the framework provided by UN Resolution 16/18.

“Islamophobia and other forms of intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatisation of persons based on religion or belief is one of the most pressing human rights concerns of our time,” said Ambassador Adam.

“The problem is not new but has reached new heights in our globalised world where ideas and information, whether good or bad, moves from one country to the next, and one individual to the next, with startling ease. This, together with the fall-out from 9/11 and the War and Terror, have led to a situation where Muslims around the world face daily intolerance and discrimination,” Ambassador Adam said.

The resolution was jointly proposed by the Maldives during the 16th session of the UN Human Rights Council.

“It provides a comprehensive framework for action including awareness-raising and education, legislative steps and administrative measures,” Iruthisham said. “Most importantly, it was adopted by consensus. Only by working together, by taking action individually and collectively, can states hope to build a world where people of all faiths and religions live side-by-side in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance, understanding and good-will.”

“This last point – the importance of all States working individually as well as collectively – is, we think, key. In the context of tackling Islamophobia, this means that the Maldives does expect countries, especially in the West, which are faced with problems stemming from societal intolerance and vilification of Muslim minorities, to take real and robust action in line with Resolution 16/18. But it also means that we in the Maldives, and in the wider Islamic world, must be willing to also take steps to promote a better understanding of our religion and what it stands for, and to promote dialogue with people of other faiths.”

Ambassador Adam claimed all states had a responsibility to take action against those who promoted violence in the name of religion, and said that it was important to defeat such people “in the battle of ideas.”

“For example, in the Maldives, we are working, in our new democracy, to counter act the false perception that people must make the false choice between devotion to Islam on the one hand, and the full enjoyment of human rights on the other,” she said.

“None of this is easy, for the simple reason that the Maldives does not exist in a vacuum. Rather, we are buffeted by global winds. This is why, in response to the numerous [Universal Periodic Review] recommendations we received on matters of religious tolerance, the Maldives recently announced its intention to organise, during 2012, a major international conference on progressive Sharia jurisprudence and human rights. With this conference we hope to revive the concepts of peace and tolerance, co-existence and inter-faith harmony that exist in Islam.”

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Surfing champs descending on Maldives to contest Four Seasons prize

Some of the most revered names in competitive surfing are expected to convene in the Maldives later this year to compete in a special tournament being hosted at Four Seasons’ Kuda Huraa resort.

According to Four Seasons, six world champions including Australians Mark Richards and Layne Beachley will be among the surfers competing for US$25,000 in prize money as part of the Four Seasons Resorts Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy.

The tournament, which will be contested later this year from August 29 to September 5, will be hosted in conjunction with travel provider Tropicsurf and see three different generations of surf disciplines including Single Fin, Twin Fin and Thruster being contested.

According to the event organisers, the decision to host the tournament in the Maldives highlights the growing regard for the country as a major surf destination that it claims offers some of the “most impressive, consistent and warmest swells.”

Four Seasons said it will also be offering special packages for guests to visit Kuda Huraa and take in the competition from both land and sea.

More information on the tournament can be found here.

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