Tag: Maldives Police Service

Police team attacked in Raa Madduvvari

A team from the Maldives Police Service was attacked last night (October 8 ) on the island of Madduvvari in Raa atoll while attempting to arrest a suspect in an assault case.

A group of men reportedly under the influence of drugs assaulted a group of girls with a chain during an Eid show on the island and later vandalised the door of the island council office.

The police team was reportedly attacked by a 29-year-old suspect who resisted arrest. However, the suspect was taken into custody by a back-up team sent to the island around 8:30pm last night.

A 17-year-old male suspect was also arrested from the island earlier this week.

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Comment: The Maldives Police Service – politicised or incompetent?

On September 1, 2014 the Maldives Police Service (MPS) marked a decade of existence as a civil institution that is separate from the military.

From its very inception, the MPS have been promoting contemporary policing philosophies and concepts to describe the kind of policing it would practice. Terms such as community policing, evidence based investigation, forensics and DNA are used to describe its policing strategy and promote the MPS as a modern, professional and service oriented organization.

To achieve its goals the MPS receives significant foreign aid and assistance from a number of countries.  Its officers are trained from highly prestigious police academies, training institutions and universities. Also, the Maldives government invests heavily in MPS.  It is estimated that there are more than 3000 police officers within the MPS to police the population of Maldives which is under 400,000.

But for all the strategic intentions and resources, neatly bound strategic plans and the trainings from across the world, the MPS is failing at its core missions—preventing crime, improving safety and gaining legitimacy.

Crime

Over the past 10 years crime in the Maldives has increased substantially. Official statistics show that reported incidents have more than doubled during the last 10 years from 9,140 crimes in 2004 to 18,984 crimes in 2013.

Violent crimes, financial fraud, drug offences, sexual offences and terrorism, to name some, have increased substantially. Of course, the increase in crime cannot be directly attributed to MPS— there are complex social, economic, political and legal factors at play here.The increase in crime may also reflect administrative changes in defining, collecting and counting crimes. Because no research has been undertaken to capture the ‘dark figure of crime’ which go unreported or unrecorded, such as a general victimisation survey, it is fair to claim that the actual crime rate of the Maldives is likely to be much higher than what is officially recorded and published by the MPS.

Irrespective of what the numbers reveal, there can be little disagreement that crime in the Maldives and its impact to the people of the Maldives has taken an incredibly negative trend in the past ten years.

With the increase in crime, people’s sense of safety has also decreased throughout the Maldives. Fear of crime and the likelihood of becoming a victim of crime in the Maldives are huge. While the MPS are partial culprits to the ever increasing crime problem, they have an important role to play in reducing the fear of crime. To reduce the fear of crime the police need to be proactive, however.

And therein is the MPS’s biggest failure—it continues to operate like a fire brigade reactionary force that reacts to crime rather than proactively prevent crime.

Preventing Crime

Prevention is a key task of contemporary policing and there are many things the MPS could do to prevent crime.  It seems the MPS speaks of crime prevention very much but little is actually done towards this end.

The MPS engages in piecemeal advertisements through the police website and social media, however, and conducts some information sessions to public and school children under the rhetoric of crime prevention. For instance, the MPS has been conducting information to young school children and parents with slogans such as ‘together we can reduce crime’, but fails to properly assess and engage the at-risk youth or parents who usually don’t attend these ‘feel good’ public campaigns.

Moreover, there are no clear targets or evidence based content to these information sessions. In other words, the MPS primarily conducts situational crime prevention activities which promote target hardening, even that without a clear strategy or outcome analysis.

There are many other ways such as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), co-production of safety and security through community policing and social and restorative justice approaches that could be further used by the MPS to enhance its crime prevention activities.

The Crime Prevention Committees that have been formed in the islands, the community policing version of MPS, lack regulatory procedures to operate and thus depend on individual stations to make it work.  Recently it started activities that are highly militaristic in terminology and in ritual called ‘Blues for Youth’ and ‘Be Ready Camps’ that has no clear objectives, goals and measurable outcomes.

There are many factors that indicate crime prevention is not a highly valued function within the MPS. The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, in their evaluation of the implementation of MPS strategic plan 2007-2011 found that 84% of police officers they surveyed highlighted police officers do not receive sufficient training or resources for crime prevention. The survey further found that there was a perception within communities they surveyed that the police were failing hugely on prevention of crime.

The frequent restructuring and repositioning of crime prevention function from department to department is also indicative of the lack of importance placed on this core function by the MPS (a 2010 organisational structure available from the internet has crime prevention as a separate department but the latest media report on crime prevention on MPS website cites crime prevention as a unit of the Public Affairs Department). Indeed, the MPS often conflate crime prevention with media and public relations.

Legitimacy of the MPS

The police are defined by the authority to use force—including deadly force—against its citizens. And police officers have huge discretion in using this force. While the law governs how the police should use their power it is often left to individual officers’ discretion to apply the force. Thus, it is imperative that the police are not only held responsible for their actions but also accountable.

Since its very inception the MPS have been criticised for its use of force.

Because the establishment of the MPS coincided with the period of political transition in the Maldives, it has been continuously pulled into political discourses and events. As political demonstrations intensified during the early years of MPS’s inception it failed to practice a Public Order Policing strategy that would be in line with democratic principles.

Between 2004 and 2008 the MPS received huge criticisms and accusations of actively sabotaging pro-democracy rallies and dispersing opposition led public demonstrations fiercely and violently. While the police by its very nature is susceptible to politics and politicians, the police in a democracy should always refrain from being politicised. The police should never overreact to political events or political rhetoric. Nor should the police incite politicians to overreact.

The 2004 to 2008 period could easily be described as the ‘political era’ of the MPS.

From 2008-2012

The politicised nature of the MPS in these early years continues to haunt the organisation. Furthermore, it is questionable whether or not MPS has been able to leave that behind despite a new Constitution and a new Police Act which mandates the MPS to uphold the law and democratic principles rather than the government.

With a new government elected in November 2008, there were huge expectations that the ‘political era’ of the MPS would end and that policing in the Maldives would begin a new democratic era. Because MPS is a relatively young organisation with a young workforce, however, the new government’s capacity to bring the level of changes it wished for the MPS was perhaps limited.

Because the newly enacted Police Act (2008), which was passed before the Constitution, gives the president the power to appoint the commissioner of police and deputy commissioners of police, there were some changes at the very top of the leadership at the MPS in 2008. However, the new government also failed to initiate or guide a police reform agenda beyond the cosmetic change in leadership positions. And the MPS lacked the capacity and the willingness to reform within.

The extent of politics within the MPS is evident from comments made by senior police officers that they refused to ‘salute’ the newly democratically elected president [Mohamed Nasheed]. While the exact truth behind these sentiments is not clear, it is evident that senior police officers harboured huge resentment against the newly elected government and the new president.

Some, including Abdulla Fairoosh who temporarily took control of the MPS on February 7 2012 as the acting commissioner (despite no reference to such a post in the 2008 Police Act) and Abdulla Riyaz, the commissioner of police appointed on February 8 2013, took study leave soon after the new government had been elected in 2008.

Beyond 2012

As the events leading up to and of the February 7 and 8 2012 would reveal, far from being a new and apolitical organisation, the MPS remained unchanged.The controversial role the MPS played in the transfer of government on in 2012 is well documented.

The new government’s own Commission of National Inquiry (CONI) found that the police acted beyond its power and authority in the violent dispersion of demonstrators on February 8, 2012. Since then criticisms against the MPS has been that it was too political and if it could be saved from the political interferences, the service could effectively police society.

The recent suspected abduction of journalist and human rights activists Ahmed Rilwan (known in the social media as Moyameeha) has, however, spiralled into a more deserving criticism against the MPS—that service is not only too political, it is incompetent too.

The failure of MPS to provide any substantial information about Rilwan has more and more people questioning the capacity police to provide safety and security to the people of the Maldives. The MPS often blames politicians for interfering with their work, the legislator for not passing necessary laws, the judiciary for not keeping pace with the ‘scientific investigative methods of MPS’ and the corrections system for being a hole in the criminal justice system.

What the MPS fails to understand, however, is that it is the failures of the MPS that has most significantly inhibited effective justice and democracy in the Maldives.

Unless the MPS pay more attention to its core missions—reducing crime, improving safety and gaining legitimacy—there can be little improvement and satisfaction for the citizens of the Maldives. And if the past is of any experience, the MPS lack capacity and willingness to reform within. If any change needs to be brought to the MPS there needs to be a holistic police reform agenda that not only changes the police but policing too.

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Police dismantle Villimalé hangout, take in six for disobedience

The police have dismantled a youth hangout hut in Villingili and taken six people into custody for “disobeying orders” and “obstructing the police duties”.

Maldives Police Services (MPS) has confirmed the incident in the suburb of the capital yesterday, saying that all six were released after bring given advise on future conduct.

According to police, the hangout was dismantled due to the prevalence of crimes at the spot and because it has been setup unlawfully.

“Police have received reports and observed prevalence of criminal activity at that spot, including drug abuse and fights,” a police official told Minivan News, adding that no unlawful substance or tools were discovered during the operation.

One person involved in the incident has alleged that police refused to show a council order before dismantling the area, while a local resident suggests that similar community leisure areas can be found across the island.

While police claim the operation was carried out “after discussion with the city council”, Malé City Council – under whose jurisdiction the land currently is – has denied authorising the move, or being officially informed of it.

“They discussed the issue of [dismantling] the place in Villimalé, but we told them to take all such hangouts around Malé instead of just that one place in Villimalé,” council member Shamau Shareef explained.

Police refused to comment on the alleged discussions to remove other hangouts around Malé.

The council has previously expressed concern over lack of police cooperation in providing security services, including requests to dismantle all such hangouts and to provide security for the recently held street market in Malé.

Councillor Shamau said that, in a similar incident, police had refused to remove an illegal ‘gaadiyaa’ street vendor’s booth recently.

“They [the vendor] are not paying any lease fees, and there is a court verdict against them. But the police said a court warrant would be required to remove it,” said Shamau.

Local media CNM has reported that some young people at the hangout confronted police demanding a city council order to dismantle the hut, which was not delivered to them.

“We were hanging out there at the joali when they started dismantling [the place] using hammers and other things. We asked them to show the city council’s request to dismantle the place. They said they don’t have to show it and then they handcuffed us in a very brutal manner and beat us up,” CNM quoted one of the youth as saying.

A Villimalé resident told Minivan News that there are many similar hangouts setup in public spaces by the community.

“They are well made and decorated even. Some of the places even have television sets,” he said.

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Civil Court reinstates policeman dismissed on witness statement dispute

The Ciivl Court has ordered the reinstatement of a police officer who was dismissed for allegedly attempting to modify witness statements.

Police Constable Ahmed Haisham was dismissed from the police force in 2009 after he confessed to calling two Lance Corporals and asking them to change witness statements against a man suspected of stabbing another police officer.

However, the Civil Court said Haisham cannot be dismissed from his job unless he is found guilty by a court of law.

The ruling referred to the Supreme Court ruling 2012/SC-C/35 which reinstated the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chair Fahmy Hassan who was dismissed by the parliament after he allegedly sexually harassed a female staff working at the commission.

The Supreme Court said Fahmy cannot be dismissed unless found guilty by a court of law, claiming that if Fahmy was dismissed from the position without being investigated and proven guilty, as per the criminal justice procedure, then his dismissal was to be considered as double jeopardy.

Referring to Fahmy’s case, the Civil Court said Haisham must be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Further, the ruling said the Employment Act does not apply to Haisham as he is a police officer.

The ruling noted that although the police had carried out investigations, a case had not been forwarded to the Prosecutor General (PG) for prosecution.

The Civil Court has ordered the police to compensate Haisham for lost wages since December 2009, clear his record and grant him promotions he may have received had he remained with the police force.

In October 2013, the Civil Court also ordered the reinstatement of a police offices and a soldier who were dismissed on criminal charges.

Civil Court Judge Maryam Nihayath said that the Supreme Court (ruling 2012/SC-C/35) had brought into existence important procedures to follow when dealing with such cases.

The court ordered former Intelligence Chief Mohamed ‘MC’ Hameed to be reinstated in 2013. He had been dismissed from the police after the controversial transfer of power on allegations that he had abused his authority as the chief of police intelligence for the benefit of a certain political party and that he had leaked secret information obtained by the police.

An MNDF officer Ahmed Althaf who was dismissed from the force on allegations that he lost a compressor valve and asked a lower rank officer to replace it with an older one was also ordered to be reinstated in October 2013.

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Comment: Juvenile crime – the consequences are anything but minor

This article was first published in the Police Life. Republished with permission.

Anyone below the legal age of 18 is seen as a minor in the eyes of the law in the Maldives. As such, their parents are their guardians and it is believed that they have certain leniencies afforded to them.

This is reflected in the increasing trend of juvenile crime in the Maldives. The underlying logic behind this trend seems to be that minors cannot be persecuted by the law and they would somehow avoid harmful consequences.

But this is a total misconception – while there are leniencies, they are not without limits, and are intended to offer a chance for the youth to redeem themselves or to turn their lives around at an early stage.

According to Maldivian law, any juvenile offender will only receive one third of the sentence – for example, a sentence of 15 years in prison maybe reduced to 5 years instead. Though this leniency exists, it is by no means a way to walk away without consequences. The individual will be monitored for a long period of time.

Another misunderstood leniency is one that is offered only to individuals committing their first offense. Depending on the nature of the crime, there is a delaying of carrying out the sentence for a set period of time. This is done to give the first offender a chance of redemption. But this leniency comes with certain terms and conditions.

One of the conditions is that if any additional crimes are committed during the set duration the sentence is delayed, the sentences for both crimes would be carried out together – for example, if a 5 year sentence for a crime was delayed from passing and the individual committed another crime that resulted in a 5 year sentence, they would get a 10 year sentence.

If the set duration passes without any criminal activity, the first offender is pardoned. But this is a leniency offered once and only once. Any further criminal activity from the same individual will not be afforded any such leniency.

Another thing to consider is that even if it is a first offense, the type of crime committed is also an important deciding factor. If it is a serious crime such as murder, the aforementioned leniency will not be afforded.

When talking about juvenile offenders, it is also important to shed some light on what is known as the “community conference”. It is a group of professionals and related individuals who come together to assess the progress of the minor to deem whether they are fit to continue being part of the society.

The conference contains the juvenile offender themselves, their parent/s, a judge, a prosecutor from the Prosecutor General’s Office, a representative of the FCPD (Family and Child Protection Department) of the Maldives Police Service and a representative from the Juvenile Justice Unit.

They come together to discuss the progress of the youth in terms of rehabilitation, trends in behaviour, risk factors and also to assist the youth in their re-entry and reintegration into society.

The ongoing misconception that because the youth of the nation are a protected and cherished group, they are exempt from consequences is a very harmful one. It results in many “at-risk” youth opting to delve into criminal behaviour and because it allows other, older individuals who are involved in criminal behaviour to exploit these minors for various criminal endeavors.

But the sad truth is that such thinking often results in many youth with untapped potential getting caught up in criminal or anti-social behaviour and paying a hefty price for it.

While there are leniencies to protect our youth, they are there to afford them chances of redemption and to give them the opportunity to better themselves while they still have time. Said leniencies are also not limitless and come with various terms and conditions that must be met. The goal is rehabilitation and crime prevention rather than simply punishment.

So it is important to always remember that even juvenile crime is not without consequence.

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]

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Comment: Need to involve the public in Police Planning Process

Devyani Srivastava is a programme officer, focusing on police reforms and access to justice within the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) – an international, non-government organisation working towards greater transparency and accountability in the criminal justice sector.

Active in the Maldives since 2008, the CHRI seeks to realise increased demand for democratic policing through technical assistance in drafting police-related laws and policies, regularly publishing reports, intervening in court when necessary, and conducting trainings of police personnel across ranks.

The Maldives Police Service (MPS) recently launched its five-year Strategic Plan for 2014-2018. The document, available on the police website, lays down the police service’s key goals and priorities in how it seeks to police crime and the country over the next five years.

The MPS is a pioneer in South Asia in strategic planning, a process that enables police organisations to shape a vision for policing, identify precise goals and targets against the vision, and put in place a system to evaluate implementation and performance against the set goals. Most strategic planning frameworks centre on the drafting of a Strategic Plan which serves as a roadmap outlining policing goals and targets within a given time period, usually three to five years. This is the approach adopted by the MPS.

MPS’s current plan is its third in a short span of ten years since its separation from the military in 2004. This shows the leadership recognises the importance of strategic planning in bolstering police service delivery, organisational efficiency and police accountability. The process itself has improved since the first plan came out in 2007. From reading like a vision document with a wish-list of projects, the plans have become more targeted and contextual.

The process has also become more consultative. The current plan was formulated following a 3-day workshop involving 85 staff including department heads, managerial staff, and executive staff officers deliberating over crime trends and strategic priorities. In a further improvement, the department recently put out an evaluation of its performance in 2012 against targets laid down in the previous Strategic Plan 2011-2013 (also available on their website), and promises to prepare annual business plans and performance reviews for the current plan.

While these are steps in the right direction, much more needs to be done to make the planning process more inclusive, open and transparent. The most significant missing link in the planning process is consultation of the public.  This must be integrated into future planning as a matter of priority.

Decentralise further

First, the planning process should be decentralised further within the organisation. So far, the exercise involves seeking inputs from department heads, managerial staff, and divisional commanders. Junior ranks and staff at the police stations are not involved in any meaningful way, when they are the ones who have a daily interface with local communities, are the first point of contact in case of any trouble, and are directly answerable to the people when something goes wrong.

Their input regarding levels of crimes, difficulties on the ground, and allocation of resources needs to be taken into account if police response to crime is to improve, especially given that police stations in Maldives oversee a number of islands, each scattered from the other. Planning must start at the police station level and feed into action plans at the divisional level, which then filter into the national-level plan.

Just as the MPS assess itself as an organisation on the basis of its strategic plan, the performance of divisional units should be evaluated based on their action plans. This way, both planning and performance evaluation are decentralized and ultimately closer to ground realities.

Bring in public consultation

Second, the process needs to become more open and transparent. Unlike in other jurisdictions where public input and suggestions are actively sought in police planning, the Maldives Police is yet to involve the public in formulating its goals and targets. Information is made available in the public domain only after the Plans are finalised and launched in the media and uploaded on the police website.

A study by my organisation, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, on the implementation of the first Strategic Plan 2007-2011, showed how even other relevant stakeholders including the Police Integrity Commission and civil society organisations were involved only at a later stage when the plan had already been drafted. The public at large was not involved at all. A clear disconnect was visible during our research between the police and other stakeholders over how projects had been prioritised and how crime had been categorised.

The absence of public consultation is a serious limitation of the process. Ultimately, it is the public which is affected by crime and relies on the police for more safety – they must have a say in the police’s planning for better policing and safety. Reaching out to people, especially those living in far flung islands and atolls with varying crime patterns, will improve overall quality of policy-making by identifying practical problems and unintended effects.

Relying solely on police officers’ feedback serving in the islands excludes public feedback, especially of vulnerable communities, which is critical to improving policing. Communities will also become more informed of the kinds of arrangements and measures being put in place to address their issues and understand better how they themselves can contribute to the success of these measures.

A range of methods such as discussion forums held regularly at the local level; public perception surveys to gauge public confidence in the police; user satisfaction surveys to understand problems in service delivery and identify solutions; focused group discussions for example with the youth, elderly citizens, and women to understand needs and expectations of different segments of society; and social media may be employed to understand community expectations and problems.

It is not easy to carry out inclusive and extensive public consultation. It takes time, organisation, manpower, and intellectual resources. It requires regular and constant flow of information between the police and the public, another reason why local units such as police stations need to be involved more closely. Police must provide accessible feedback on the results of consultation, decisions that have been made and suggestions that were rejected so people consider it a meaningful exercise. But making the investments in this kind of planning process is the best way to build public trust and also get to better policing.

Finally, implementing these steps in a systematic manner, and not leaving it to the discretion of individual officers, is crucial to their success. In fact, many countries (UK, Northern Ireland, Canada) have codified strategic planning into their police laws, thereby making it a statutory requirement, and have developed elaborate rules to guide the process including methods of engagement with the community. Maldives Police must move in this direction in order to enable accountable and responsive policing take roots in the island country and give meaning to the promise of rule of law enshrined in its constitution.

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Malé City Council to bring back 24 hour shops and cafes

Malé City Council has decided to bring back the 24 hour service at cafes and shops, seventeen months after it was banned by Dr Mohamed Waheed’s government.

The proposition was passed unanimously by nine members present at yesterday’s council meeting (March 18), though the government has suggested that it does not have the authority to make such decisions.

Councilman Shamau Shareef said that the council decision came in response to a number of request from Malé City residents.

“This is what the people want. The former government discontinued the permissions to operate such places citing criminal activity and instability in the city. But now we have an elected government, and we think it should be reconsidered now,” said Shamau.

He noted that council have now been tasked with issuing trade permits for the city and it is in the council’s mandate under the Decentralisation Act to address this issue.

But the Ministry of Economic Development has today said that the issuing of trade permits was delegated to the council under a memorandum of understand with the ministry, which does not allow issuing 24 hour license.

“The government decided to end the running of 24 hour businesses. From that point the procedure for issuing trade permits were changed. City council have been tasked with issuing permits under those procedures,” the ministry’s Director General Usman Shakir was quoted as saying in Haveeru.

Shakir said that the government has not yet changed it’s position on allowing 24 hour businesses, and warned that the ministry will take action if any such permission is issued.

Responding to the ministry’s statement Councilman Shamau said that there are “some barriers” in implementing the decision, but the council is willing to overcome these issues by discussing it with the ministry.

“We will do whatever it takes. This is the capital city, and there are 24 hours ferries operating, people coming from other islands, people are working round the clock. There should be some way for them to eat or buy things they need. We are talking about basic necessities of the people,” he said.

President Mohamed Nasheed’s government decided to issue permits for 24 hour businesses in December 2010. After the change in government, Dr Mohamed Waheed’s administration in October 2012 decided to put an end to these opening hours.

The ministry’s official reason for decision was national security concerns. There was a high level of concern about increasing rates at the time, particularly with political instability and the murder of MP Dr Afrasheem Ali within the same month.

While it is not known whether the decision had any positive impact in reducing crime rates, the parliamentary national security committee at the time suggested impact it had was negative.

Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party at the time described the decision as an attack against small and medium businesses which ‘left thousands of people unemployed’. Resuming the permits was an election pledge of the party’s presidential candidate Mohamed Nasheed in 2013.

Ruling Progressive Party of Maldives was at the time a coalition member of the government, and President Abdulla Yameen was elected as president, the party has maintained support for the ban on 24 hours businesses.

When the permits were revoked in 2012 there were forty four businesses with permit in Malé city, now all shops have to be closed at 11pm and all cafes at 1am.

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Police bust trafficking network, arrest man with swallowed drugs

Maldives Police Service (MPS) arrested a 44 year old man in Male’ who had swallowed drugs, at midnight yesterday (March 3). After scanning the person at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, police was able to confirm that he had drugs inside his body.

In addition to him, another 21 year old who helped accommodate the person was also arrested. Police also searched a house in Male’ in the operation and found related documents and more than US$4000 in cash.

As the investigations continue, the police are now looking for a suspect believed to be part of this trafficking network – Mohamed Ihsan Saeed, 24.
According to MPS Ihsan has prior criminal records such as gang activity, disobeying police orders and damaging police property.

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Corruption, religious freedom, and judiciary biggest human rights problems in Maldives, say US report

The US State Department has described “charges of Supreme Court interference to subvert the presidential elections process,” as among the most significant human rights problems in the Maldives in its 2013 human rights report.

Also highlighted in the report were restrictions on religious freedom, and “corruption of officials in all branches of government”.

No instances of imprisonment on political grounds, unlawful deprivation of life, or disappearance were recorded, while progress was noted with regards to the passage of the anti-torture and right to information bills.

The report accused much of the judiciary of being unqualified and corrupt, and noted that its rulings during last year’s presidential elections had the effect of restricting the independence of the Elections Commission (EC).

The judiciary was described as “not independent and impartial and was subject to influence and corruption”.

It said that a number of judges were “known to base their rulings on cash rewards, and there were reports that lawyers occasionally built the cost of bribes into their fees” while the public generally distrusted the judiciary.

The report estimated that one in four judges have a criminal record, and that two carried convictions for sexual assault.

It was suggested that the outcomes of cases appear to be predetermined, such as the repeated intervention of Supreme Court in the presidential elections where the court directly accepted cases without allowing lower courts to hear them first.

The October annulment ruling and the 16-point guide to conducting elections was reported to have given both the court and political parties veto power over the EC, “curbing its independence and its ability to execute its mandate”.

The report also mentioned the alleged sex tapes of Judge Ali Hameed and his continued presence on the bench.

“Many judges, appointed for life, held only a certificate in sharia, not a law degree. Most magistrate judges could not interpret common law or sharia because they lacked adequate English or Arabic language skills,” read the report.

Police

The report noted that security officials employed practices that fell under what it regarded as ‘torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment’.

While proper arrest procedures were found to be in place, the report noted that police did not fully implement them, particularly in dealing with protests. It was also noted that courts sometimes freed detainees “on the condition that they not participate in protests or political gatherings for a specified number of days”.

In regard to the cancelled October 19 presidential election, it was reported that “Police abdication of their responsibility prevented the elections from occurring”.

It was found that six cases of police brutality were sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office in 2013, but that five of these officers remained with the police – with one of them being promoted – and two cases later dismissed for lack of evidence.

Referring to the Police Integrity Commission (PIC), the report stated that two of three cases where police officers were alleged to have sexually harassed detainees in 2012 were also dropped for lack of evidence.

While the prisons were found to have ‘met most international standards’, it was also found that they were overcrowded.

Flogging, Rape, Domestic Violence and Sexual Harassment

The controversial case of a 15-year-old victim of sexual abuse being sentenced 100 lashes was recorded, detailing the fact that her alleged abuser received no sentence at all. The girl’s sentence was annulled by the High Court following a government appeal due to domestic and international pressure.

The penal code does not classify rape as a separate offense, the report stated, while the PG’s Office lost almost all cases of forced sexual assault due to insufficient weight was given to the testimony of the victim.

Spousal rape is not considered a crime under the law, and according to the report difficulties remain in implementing the domestic violence act due to religious beliefs.

While the Ministry of Health and Gender was said to have received just five cases of sexual harassment, the report stated that various forms of harassment were accepted as the norm in government offices. The protracted removal CSC President Mohamed Fahmy Hassan was noted in the report.

While the law stipulates sentences of up to 25 years in prison for those convicted sexual offenses against children, the report said that “if a person is legally married to a minor under sharia, however, none of the offenses specified in the legislation are considered crimes”.

In 2012, a total of 47 underage marriages were registered at the court, of which 35 involved girls and 12 involved boys.

Civil and political rights

Common to human rights reports on the Maldives, restrictions on freedom of speech and expression in order to protect Islam was noted. Media self-censorship in issues related to Islam – for fear of harassment- and in issues relating to the judiciary were detailed.

One piece of legislation criticised through out the report was the the Freedom of Peaceful Assembly Act, which was said to be restricting freedom of expression and the press along with freedom of peaceful assembly itself.

The report said this law “effectively prohibits strikes by workers in the resort sector, the country’s largest money earner”.

With regards to privacy, the report stated that standards required for court permission to monitor mails and phone conversations was very low.

Discrimination and attacks against Raajje TV, in particular the attack on Ibrahim ‘Asward’ Waheed, were mentioned. As the case of the attack against Asward continued, no arrests were made regarding the attacks against journalist Ismail Hilath Rasheed in 2011 and 2012. Hilath’s blog continues to be blocked.

The government was found to have failed to enforce applicable laws with regards to workers rights, and the report criticised established mechanisms such as the employment tribunal as “cumbersome and complicated” which violators of employment law often ignore.

“According to the Labor Relations Authority (LRA), there were four strikes. In two cases the employer refused to work with the LRA as mediator and strike participants were fired. In two others, the LRA participated by phone but strike leaders and others who persisted with the strike were terminated,” the report said.

It stated that some undocumented migrant workers were subject to forced labor in the construction and tourism sectors, while domestic workers – especially migrant female domestic workers – were sometimes trapped in forced servitude.

Without any laws on refugee or asylum status, a family of four Palestinian refugees from Syria were housed in Hulhulé island without being rehoused upon UNHCR’s request until asylum was granted for them by Sweden.

Read the full report here.

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