The religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf has announced it will host a series of religious sermons named ”The Call”.
Secretary General of Salaf Mohamed Sobah said that the sermons would be delivered by Dr Bilal Philips from Canada, and Abdul Raheem Green from United Kingdom.
Sobah said that the sermons would be delivered for four nights.
”the events will be from 3 to 6 June,” Sobah said, ” it will be held at the Alimas Carnival Stage.”
Sobah said that the events will be held everyday from 4 pm to 10:3pm, and that the NGO was expecting more than 10,000 people to attend the sermons.
”The Islamic Ministry is fully cooperating and providing assistance to us,” he said.
He said that the NGO had launched a website for the event, at www.thecall.mv.
”We have many sponsors for the event,” he said, ”which shows that a lot of people support the event.”
Dr Bilal Philips was once brought to the Maldives by Salaf last year. Many people attended the sermon and more than 100,000 people watched it via media.
Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said President Mohamed Nasheed naturally supported any religious event in the Maldives.
”If he had time he would attend these sermons himself,” Zuhair said.
He said that Islamic Ministry was a part of the government and that president supported any event the Islamic Ministry assisted and supported.
UNESCO World Press Freedom Day began with the news that the Maldives index has improved slightly following its 53 point leap last year, an achievement attributed to the new Constitution.
The Maldives is now ranked 102, equal place with Tanzina and Albania and marginally ahead of Turkey and Indonesia. The Maldives is still categorised as ‘partly free’, the reasons for which should be revealed when the country report is released in the coming days.
The rise came despite recent gang violence directed at media organisations and an attempt by police to block radio news coverage following emphatic protests outside MNDF headquarters and the President’s residence in January, drawing concern from the Maldives Journalist Association (MJA) and a number of media outlets.
Worldwide the index declined across almost every region in the world, for the eighth consecutive year, with one in six people now living in an environment without a free press. The only region to improve was Asia-Pacific, with significant strides in Bangladesh and Bhutan.
According to Freedom House, the international body that runs the index, countries are assessed on the developments of each calendar year, including the legal environment in which media operate, political influences and economic pressures.
Meanwhile, the two-day South Asia Regional Consultation on Freedom of Information: The Right to Know was launched in Holiday Inn this morning, by Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture Dr Ali Sawad.
Delegates from the media, government and civil society organisations in countries including Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka met discuss the development and implementation of freedom of information laws as a means of combating corruption and enshrining free press as a fourth estate.
In a video address, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova noted that “every time we turn on the TV, turn on radio or go on the internet, the quality of what we hear depends on media having acess to accurate and up to date information.”
“The obstacles in the way of our right to know take many forms,” she said, “from lack of resources, to lack of infrastructure to deliberate obstruction. Far too many journalists suffer harassment, intimidation, and physical assault – all in a day’s work.”
Bokova called on government and civil society “to promote freedom of information all over the world.”
Many of the sessions on the first day of the conference focused around promoting freedom of information laws at a state level, however media representatives from countries including Bangladesh and Bhutan noted that even where freedom of information laws were available, they were not always used effectively by journalists.
Dehli Bureau Chief of The Hindu and keynote speaker Siddharth Varadarajan implied that freedom of information laws were less critical to freedom of the press “than our inability as journalists to transcend market forces and commercial considerations… and tendency to report trivia.”
Newspapers in India regularly sold “campaign coverage packages” to politicians come election season, he noted, a practice which “seriously compromises citizens’ trust in media content.”
A further consequence of such practices, he added, was a sense of dissatisfaction among journalists “at our inability to use the power at our disposal.”
“We have a responsiblity to be tougher, harder, and to call a spade a spade,” he said.
In his address, Dr Sawad similarly emphasised the responsibilities that came with the freedom of the press.
“With every right comes responsibilities,” Dr Sawad said. “In a free nation with free expression, the media must not forget its obligations to citizens to report fairly and accurately.”
The Maldives, he said, “has a very young free media, coming out of a culture where it was state owned and regulated. We have the challenge of dispelling the myth that the state represents media.”
Dr Sawad explained since its election, the current government “has committed to a step-by-step dismantling of the Department of Information, formerly the ministry of Information, to replace it with a stronger private media.”
State broadcasters Television Maldives (TVM) and radio station Voice of Maldives (VoM) had been placed under the new Maldivies National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC), “a separate corporate entity with its own board and budget.”
A key challenge for the fledgling private media however was capacity building and training of its journalists, he explained.
“Private media has a very hard task. A lot of you are just past high school, with a keen professional interest in the field. But as we settle down and lay the foundations of democracy, we have to have to have the capacity to deliver democracy. You cannot give that objective to someone without the capacity to deliver it – the government has delivered democracy, but it has yet to be delivered to the people. ”
“Before the government lies the task of training, educating and strengthening the free press. As we celebrate UNESCO World Press Freedom Day, I call on the media to take up the challenge to deliver democracy with a sense of responsibility.”
The sessions continue tomorrow when President Mohamed Nasheed will launch the Journalist of the Year Award and Sukumar Muralidharan from the South Asian Chapter of the International Federation of Journalists will launch the South Asia Press Freedom Report.
The Maldives faced the worst economic situation of any country undergoing democratic transition, according to World Bank statistics for the last 50 years, President Mohamed Nasheed has said.
In his address at the 16th SAARC Summit last week, President Nasheed said the global recession hit the domestic economy hard at a time when the country was “still adjusting to the recent shift from authoritarianism to democracy”.
While the transition has been “smooth, secure and stable” in the first 18 months of democratic governance, said Nasheed, the new administration inherited “an economy in crisis”.
“In the years leading up to the 2008 presidential elections, the former administration went on a spending spree that almost bankrupted the country. Public expenditure was at a peak of 64% of GDP in 2008,” he said. “We took over a budget where 70% of government revenue was spent on public sector wages. Our administration inherited a huge national debt. Our deficit in 2009 was set to be at 33% of GDP.”
But, he added, the deficit was reduced to 28 per cent of GDP through austerity measures introduced last year, including controversial and unpopular pay cuts for civil servants.
Among other measures taken by the government to alleviate the budget deficit were cutbacks on foreign travel and a freeze on non-essential expenditure.
In addition, the new government was “bequeathed millions of dollars of unpaid bills”.
While the Maldives continue to face serious budgetary shortfalls, the government was determined to “implement structural reforms that will set the economy on a straight course”.
The president’s remarks were lampooned at the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) rally last week as “humiliating” the country in the international arena.
Moreover, opposition parties have strongly condemned the government for disregarding campaign pledges by enforcing pay cuts and hiking electricity tariffs.
Economic outlook
The Asian Development’s Banks annual flagship economic publication, the Asian Development Outlook 2010, released last month noted that reckless fiscal expansion and a recession-induced drop in tourism “have taken the economy to the brink of crisis”.
The fiscal expansion of the past few years was “excessive”, the report notes, as it included large increases both in public sector wages and subsidies.
“It pushed budget expenditure to 63% of GDP by 2008 and the overall deficit to 17% of GDP,” it reads.
Meanwhile, the deficit spending led to “a marked balance-of-payments deterioration”, which, coupled with the impact of the global recession, threatened macroeconomic stability.
Consequently, GDP tumbled in 2009 by nine percentage points due to contractions in the tourism, construction and fisheries industries.
While GDP is projected to grow by 3 per cent this yyear, the report notes that economic outlook depends on the performance of tourism and fisheries “as well as the government’s ability to push through its reform measures”.
Apart from cuts in spending, the economic reform programme initiated by the current government includes broadening the revenue base by raising airport service charges, introducing a business profit tax and transforming the tourism bed tax into a goods and services tax.
“In order to align expenditures with revenues, the government is streamlining administrative machinery by downsizing the civil service, reducing electricity subsidies, and linking power tariff adjustments to cost of inputs twice a year,” it reads. “The government also plans to privatize parts of the extensive network of state-owned enterprises.”
In December 2009, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a US$79.3 million standby arrangement US$13.2 million under a program to deal with external shocks.
As the role of monetary policy was limited with the currency pegged to the US dollar, the report advises that fiscal policy has to “play the greater role in demand management and economic stabilization”.
Weak institutions and human resource deficiencies, including “the fragmented structure of government”, were identified as major constraints to economic growth.
Moreover, the report notes that the government’s policy of grouping atolls into seven provinces to develop regional administration and economic centres was “a tall order” as the government “aims to reduce the cost to itself at the same time”.
Globe-trotter
In his radio address on Friday, the president said he received a text message from a resident of an “isolated island”.
The person observed that the president was “always abroad” and implied that he was neglecting domestic affairs.
The president arrived in China yesterday to open the Maldives pavilion at the Shanghai Expo 2010.
Addressing the concerns in his radio address, the president said he would leave “no stone unturned” in his efforts to secure aid and assistance for development projects.
“I have to go to all these places. I have to talk to a lot of people. I have to do a considerable amount of work to secure financial support, projects and assistance for the country,” he said, adding that he did not enjoy travelling.
Meanwhile, in his speech at the summit, Nasheed said he was under “tremendous pressure” to prosecute members of the former regime accused of corruption and torture.
He added that it was “understandable” for people who had been wronged in the past to seek justice and reparations.
“It is particularly difficult to forgive people, when they refuse to say sorry for the hurt they have caused,” he said. “But I am loath to act against the former regime. If we took action against everyone implicated in corruption and torture, we would end up arresting most of the opposition. I do not believe that arresting the opposition, is the best way to build a healthy democracy.”
Concerns that Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba are seeking to establish a ‘sleeper cell’ in the Maldives have re-risen following reports in the Indian media.
The Times of India reported yesterday that India has quickened its efforts to formalise the counter-terrorism partnership between the two countries.
Quoting Indian intelligence sources, the Times reported that India “has noted with concern the sharp increase in the number of visitor from the Maldives to Pakistan, where they spend a lot of time travelling around the country for purposes which are unclear but suspicious.”
The isolation and strategic location of the Maldives make it a tempting target for groups such as Lashkar, which India has identified as responsible for the attacks in Mumbai on 26 November 2008, in which gunmen entered the city by sea and killed at least 173 people and wounded 308.
Minister for Home Affairs Mohamed Shihab travelled to India in early February to meet his counterpart P Chidambaram, in order to draw up a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on counterterrorism cooperation between the two countries that was to be signed in April.
State Minister for Home Affairs Adil Saleem said today Shihab was in Delhi but the trip was on the invitation of the World Bank regarding unrelated matters.
A spokesman for the Indian High Commission said defence agreements between India and the Maldives were “a continuous arrangement” and not specific to a particular incident or group.
He acknowledged that there was “support for fundamentalist groups” in the Maldives but would not speculate on who those groups were or defence arrangements between the two countries. He noted that no agreements had progressed since the minister’s last visit to India in February.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ahmed Naseem noted that the Maldives and India performed intelligence sharing “very well”.
“India is very concerned about this group Lashkar-e-Taiba; I think all the countries in this region need to be vigilant,” Naseem said, emphasising the importance of “close cooperation with our regional neighbours.”
In a letter sent to the Indian parliament on Tuesday, India’s State Minister for Home Affairs Ajay Maken wrote that “available inputs indicate that Pakistan-based terrorist groups, primarily the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), are making concerted efforts to organise terrorist attacks in various parts of the country, including iconic institutions, prominent industrial installations and tourist locations among others.”
In order to do so, he noted, the group was making concerted efforts to develop links with other countries in the region, including the Maldives.
Other prominent groups posing a threat included Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Hizbul-Mujahideen (HM), Harkat-ul-Jehad-e-Islami (HuJI), Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), Al Badr, Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), Khalistan Commando force, International Sikh Youth federation (ISYF), United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) and Communist party of India (Maoist),” Maken noted.
A group of people hijacked the Haa Alifu Atoll Thakandhu island office on Monday after were unable to cut down a jackfruit tree on the land where they planned to build a pre-school.
Island Chief of Thakandhu said that he could not give information as ”the person who gives information is not here.”
However a person familiar with the matter told Minivan News that the hijackers was a group who were trying to establish a pre-school on the island.
He said the group was angry because “they were asking for a court warrant to cut the tree, but the tree belongs to a man on Thakandhu.”
He said the island court ruled to that the tree could be felled after payment of RF2000 to the owner.
”But the owner wants Rf 8000,” the source explained, “and he went to appeal it in the High Court.”
”So they have to wait until the High Court rules they can build the preschool, and that’s why they are protesting.”
He said the group entered the island office the day before yesterday and blocked the island chief and staff from entering.
”The staffs working in the office were not able to do their work,” the source said, adding that “yesterday also they gathered near the island office with microphones and loudspeakers.”
He said the police came and dispersed the crowd yesterday, although nobody was arrested.
Police Sergeant Abdul Muhusin said the crowed was dispersed at 7:00pm yesterday.
Muhusin said that the people were gathered near the island office when police arrived the island at 3 pm.
State minister for home Ahmed Adil said he had no information about the case.
The Adhaalath Party and religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf have said they will not support the study of comparative religion in the Maldives until understanding of the basic principles are strengthened.
The introduction of the subject at a tertiary level was proposed last week by State Minister of Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, who said it was taught in many Islamic universities across the world and would help Maldivians “learn how to deal with other philosophies, learn about what others believe, the differences between us and them, and what is the right side.”
“It is my belief that by the end of people should know that Islam is the truth,” he said.
In the lead up to the launch of the course, the Islamic Ministry is preparing to legalise the possession of books concerning other religions, such as the bible, “for educational and research purposes”, Shaheem told Minivan News on Thursday.
However President of the Adhaalath Party Sheikh Hussein Rasheed said today that the government should not introduce comparative religion to the country “before the people understand the basic principles of Islam.”
Sheikh Hussein said that before introducing comparative religion the government should teach Islam in more advanced manner.
”People today do not know the basic principles of Islam,” Sheikh Hussein said. ”It is not good to introduce comparative religion before people know all the basic principles of Islam.”
He claimed that Maldivians had moved away from religion over the past thirty years.
“As a result, today there is nobody to respect religion, teachers and leaders,” he said.
He said there were many people who doubted some religious matters, and the study of comparative religion would only increase those doubts.
Sheikh Hussein added that it was good to teach comparative religion at a university level, “but only after making the teaching of Islam more advanced.”
He also noted that there were no qualified teachers to teach comparative religion in the country.
”There might be a scholar who has studied it as a subject, but it does not mean he is qualified to teach it,” Sheikh Hussein said. ”I also studied psychology when I studied, but does not mean I am a psychologist.”
He said that in general principle the study of comparative religion at a university level was a good idea.
However he added that he had information that the government was trying to introduce comparative religion at a secondary level, which ”the Adhaalath Party will try to stop from happening by any means necessary.”
Shaheem emphasised on Thursday that the subject should not be taught at a secondary level “because [students’] minds are not [yet] prepared to deal with these philosophies.”
President of Jamiyyathul Salaf Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohamed Ibrahim today agreed with Sheikh Hussein that people should understand Islam comprehensively before comparative religion was introduced.
Sheikh Abdulla said there were some necessary subjects of Islam many people in the Maldives did not yet understand or were not being taught.
”Only a few people understand the ‘Tafsir’ [exegesis] of Quran,” he said, adding that ”knowledge of other religions is already taught in verses of Quran and Hadith.”
He emphasised that people should be taught more about Islamic theology before it was compared with other religions.
Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said the government would introduce the study of comparative religion “in anyway the Islamic Ministry prefers”, and noted the decision over whether to introduce comparative religion at a secondary or university level was yet to be decided.
”There are no disadvantages to teaching comparative religion in the Maldives,” Zuhair said. ”We will discuss everything [in cabinet] and we are looking forward to introducing the subject for next year.”
President of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM), Ahmed Saleem, said he thought that introducing the subject of comparative religion was “a good idea.”
“I welcome it. I think it’s a good opportunity for people to really understand Islam,” he said.
“I don’t think anybody else has talked about it [before it was raised by Shaheem]. You have a right to know – these books were all sent by God – even those about Christianity and Judaism.”
Saleem noted that it was technically legal for a Maldivian man to marry a Jewish or a Christian woman, as “they are all people of the book.”
However it was illegal for a Maldivian woman to marry a Christian or a Jewish man, he said.
The strike at Shangri-La Villingili Resort and Spa has ended, according to Vice President of the Tourism Employment Association Maldives (TEAM), Mauroof Zakir.
157 Staffs at the Shangri-La Villingili Resort went on strike last week after four workers were dismissed for reportedly playing on a PlayStation in a vacant villa on the last Sunday. It continued throughout the week until Shangri-La management dismissed the 10 leaders of the strike and four villa host, and invited the remaining staff back to work.
Zakir claimed the strike ended when Shangri-La management sent a letter to the parents of the strikers on Feydhoo.
”They sent a letter signed by the general manager of the resort requesting that the strikers resign or the matter would be handled to the police,” Zakir said.
”Their wives, kids and parents were disappointed with the letter and pressured the staff to stop the strike and go work.”
Zakir said the strikers did not achieve all they had set out to achieve, but “it was a success that only 14 staffs were dismissed. At first they dismissed 65 staffs on the island.”
He said that strikers took a vote on Wednesday to decide if they were going to continue or end the strike.
”Ninety per cent of them voted to continue the strike,” Zakir claimed.
He said TEAM would “still work until we achieve our demands, with the help of international organisations.”
”We will take the case to the tribunal also,” he said. ”We will do as much we can.”
Shangri-La’s Communication Director Leslie Garcia denied management sent a letter to the strike leaders.
”They were dismissed in an agreement proposed by the resort management,” she said. ”They agreed to it.”
Shangri-La Villingili Resort and Spa has invited striking staff to return to work, after 157 staff stopped working in protest over the dismissal of four villa hosts.
The villa hosts were dismissed after security and a duty manager discovered they had locked themselves in a guest villa with a PlayStation during a lunch break.
Senior management from the hotel chain flew into the Maldives earlier this week to resolve the situation, just as the Ministry of Human Resources and the Tourism Employees Association of the Maldives (TEAM) became involved.
A statement from the resort today said while management “acknowledges and accepts employees’ rights under Maldivian
Law, because of the serious nature of employee behaviour, 14 staff members will no longer be employed by the property.”
“The management will fill the resulting vacancies with Maldivians,” it added.
Other employees “are invited to return to work”, the resort’s statement said, adding that “initial claims that 65 employees were dismissed are untrue.”
“The resolution reflects the desire to move forward in a fair and reasonable manner considering the needs of the local community and all employees. The resort is operating as normal and no guests have been affected,” Shangri-La said.
Minivan News contacted one of the striking employees camped on Feydhoo, who said the protesters would stick to their original demands, which include a written statement from the resort reinstating the dismissed employees.
“Most of the strikers have been given first and last warnings, which means next thing they do wrong they will be dismissed,” he claimed.
The resort’s general manager went to Feydhoo yesterday and called the 14 dismissed strikers one by one to an area secured by riot police, the striker claimed, to inform them of their dismissal.
Vice President of TEAM Mauroof Zakir said those dismissed included the four villa hosts “and 10 staff who management suspects have been leading the strike.”
He noted that the protesting staff had taken a vote yesterday over whether to continue to with the strike “and the majority decided to continue.”
More than 80 staff are continuing to strike, he said, adding that the resort was continuing to operate normally “because the majority of staff are expatriate.”
Family members have claimed that inmates in Maafushi jail were badly beaten by jail officers in a prison riot on Sunday morning at around 12:15 am, after they were allegedly asked to go out to the prison yard and kneel on the ground.
A person familiar with the case told Minivan News that the riot was sparked when jail officers entered Unit 7 while everyone was sleeping.
”An Emergency Support Group (ESG) squad and the Maldives Police Service Serious and Organised Crime Unit, both in full riot kit, arrived in the middle of the night and demanded the inmates to go out to the yard and kneel down,” he said.
He said when the “barely awake” inmates refused to go outside ”they started confronting the inmates and beating them with their batons, and [the inmates] tried to defend themselves,” he said. ”It was shocking that they suddenly appeared like that in the middle of the night.”
He said claims by the Department of Penitentary and Rehabilitation Service (DPRS) that the inmates attempted to kidnap a jail officer were “all untrue.”
”It’s true that earlier three inmates in unit 8 jumped over the wall intending to jump into unit 7,” he said, ”but jail officers outside saw them and rang the loudest emergency siren.”
He said the three inmates ran back to their cell in fear.
”That was at the same time President Mohamed Nasheed had just left Maafushi after attending a ceremony held to open a water plant,” he said. ”If the jail officers came to take [the offenders] they could have just called their names and taken them, that’s how they always do it.”
He said that at least 15 of the inmates were badly injured in the riot, “but only three of them were taken to Male’,” he said. ”There are still six seriously injured inmates left in isolation cells in Unit 2, without medical treatment.”
He claimed that one of the inmates in Unit 2 had broken his arm, another had a swollen left eye and many others had bruises on them.
Injured inmate
”There is another man [in isolation] with internal bleeding – he was beaten up because he was the brother of another inmate who confronted jail officers,” the source alleged.
“He has first degree lung cancer and doctors have banned him from being imprisoned in any area where fresh air is not available. The Home Ministry would know about that.”
He claimed that jail officers “often complain that the current government does not provide them new shoes and uniforms like the former government.”
”They have a culture of torturing people,” he claimed. ”They want to have extreme power over inmates, so they pretend they do not have any control over the inmates, that’s what they want to show.”
Another person familiar with the case told Minivan News that the inmates in Unit 7 and Unit 8 were having an argument over a matter that started on Saturday afternoon and went on until that evening.
He confirmed that the three men in Unit 8 climbed over the wall intending to enter Unit 7.
“The jail officers on duty saw them and inmates returned back to Unit 8,” he said. ”But the officers rang the loudest siren, which can be heard throughout the whole island, to make it into a big issue.”
He said the jail officers entered Unit 9 that day around 6:30pm and left.
”Inmates in Unit 9 are very disciplined and well behaved,” he said. ”Jail officers went there and questioned them for about half an hour and left.”
He said that jail officers entered Unit 7 at midnight and demanded they go out to the yard and kneel down.
”It was alright to take those three,” he said, ”but they wanted all the inmates to kneel in the yard.”
The source said the riot last Saturday was a part of “a permanent war between inmates and the ESG.”
”The ESG force was established in 2007 and on their first day after training they beat up many inmates for no reason, shouting ‘We now have the power in Maafushi jail.”’
Head injury
He claimed that three inmates were brought to Male’ yesterday morning and admitted to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).
“But there are still inmates injured who have not received any medical treatment,” he claimed.
”The inmates have wives and kids at home waiting for them; a few are moved to Male’ and put under house arrest for rehabilitation and medication, but they are not really ill inmates. Inmates who really need medication are still inside here in the cells.”
The source also claimed rehabilitation and house arrest were drawn randomly by the DPRS ”like a lucky draw.”
He said many of the jail officers complained the current government was not providing them any services, either.
”They used to provoke the depressed inmates to [do bad things], saying things like: ‘Don’t wait like that, do something.’ The should be called the DRP-S,” he said.
He further claimed that neither rehabilitation or advice were given to prisoners.
”They only know how to beat [the inmates] up. That’s the only service they get [in prison],” he said.
The mother of an inmate hospitalised in IGMH told Minivan News that she received the information about the case on Sunday.
”I went to the Human Right Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) and told hem about the incident,” she said. “They called the DPRS who said my son was not injured.”
After contacting many government officials her son was brought to Male’ for treatment yesterday morning at 10:00 am.
”I was there when he arrived, his leg was damaged and he could not even walk,” she said. ”I called the DPRS and asked them to come and see for themselves whether if my son was injured.”
The mother of another inmate told Minivan News that her son’s arm was broken and he had been also was hit in the chest with a baton.
”Last night he had difficulties breathing, and still he has internal bleeding,” she said.
Miniavn News attended IGMH today to ascertain whether inmates had been injured and hospitalised as claimed, and confirmed the presence of three, in wards 7 and 10.
However the journalist was asked to leave by the police, despite DPRS staff outside previously agreeing that the inmates could be interviewed. ”It was is not visiting time and DPRS has requested you leave,” Minivan News was told. Minivan News observed that police and DRPS officers had removed their name tags.
Human Rights Commission of the Maldives yesterday released a press release after interviewing inmates and jail officers.
Inmate claims he was injured by a baton
HRCM’s report said that no one was seriously injured during the riot, and further claimed that the DPRS jail officers did not have control over the inmates.
”After the survey we conducted we noticed that DPRS officers had no control over the jail and the government had not provided the jail officers enough equipment,” HRCM said.
“The jail does not have any equipment to use in case of fire and there was no security equipment to control inmates out of control,” the statement said.
Press Secretary for the President, Mohamed Zuhair and Director General of DPRS Mohamed Raheed did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.
State Minister for Home Affairs Ahmed Adil said three inmates in Maafushi jail had tried to kidnap a jail officer who entered the cell to serve food to them.
Adil said that 15 jail officers were also injured during the riot.
”The DPRS did not enter the unit all of a sudden at midnight, ” he said. ”[Officers] tried to apprehend and isolate the inmates who tried to kidnap the jail officer.”
He said the inmates then confronted the jail officers.
”They threw stones at the jail officers,” he said, ”they threw anything their hands touched.”
Adil confirmed that six inmates were brought to Male’ for medical treatment.
”One of the inmates had a fracture in his arm and doctors said they needed to operate,” he said, ”but when doctors brought him inside the surgery room they noticed he was drunk and not in a good condition to be operated on, so he was sent away to be brought back later.”
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