Tag: maldives

Comment: Stop the charade, this is no longer a democracy

Stop this nonsense, you can only push propaganda so far.

The people confronting the police on the streets of Male’ everyday are not ‘thugs’. They are people from all over Maldives, they are young they are old. They are rich, they are poor. They are pious, they are indifferent. They are liberal, they are conservative. They are educated, they are fishermen. They are students, they are teachers, husbands, wives. They all believe in one thing: their right to elect their leader as citizens of a democracy.

These are the people who are out on the streets, fighting with the police and kicking up a riot. Because their right to be governed democratically has been taken away from them.

Stop this nonsense about ‘what of the poor police’? There is a fundamental flaw in the argument that ‘they [police] are just ordinary people, too.’ Vast differences exist between a civilian and a policeman on duty. Police are trained to control their impulses, to withstand anger, to repel provocation, to use weapons. Ordinary people are not. The public pays the police not to hurt them but to protect them.

Within twenty four hours of the new regime’s assumption of power, people were being brutally beaten by the police. The force of their violence has been a constant presence since 8 February. It is a threat that hovers in the air, unspoken. Always present.

With every mass protest on the streets of Male’, the police have come down harder, their violence more ruthless. Using pepper-spray and tear-gas has become the norm. The police charge at people with all their might, and without warning shoot tear-gas canisters into the people. They have put one woman’s burugaa on fire, smashed the head open of another and choked plenty.

Stop this nonsense about using ‘minimum force’, there is nothing minimal about the force with which the police come at you. You only have to feel their batons pointed at you and hear the filth they shout at you to know the level of violent force aimed at you by these men in uniform. They come in hordes, they pepper-spray at random, often pausing to take people’s sun-glasses off before spraying them straight in the eye. They crack open skulls without hesitation.

There is wanton cruelty, gratuitous violence. And there is a feeling of ferocious rage emanating from them as they hunt people down. These are not police running after an out-of–control people, these are police charging into people with the intention of intimidating, hitting, hurting, violating. The police are seeking to break them in, make them docile and prime them to be subjects of a dictatorship.

Like in all situations of conflict, women have been heavily victimised and subjected to gender-based violence. Police have partially undressed women on the streets, revealing their flesh in ways that compromise their privacy and mock the Islamic modesty her buruga is meant to convey.

There have been reports of women’s breasts being violently molested, or specifically targeted for physical assault. Unarmed women have been handcuffed and dragged to the island of Dhoonidhoo and detained without charge. ‘Unity Government’ MPs, like Red Wave Saleem, pontificate on television equating the women protesting with ‘women working in brothels.’

Stop the nonsense about this being a democracy, it cannot be one with an authoritarian government in power.

There can be no democracy where senior officials are being purged from government because they belong to a particular political party. There cannot be a democracy where the president is publicly campaigning, using state funds, for a parliament contender that is not even a member of his own party. There is no democracy where the president uses military force to pave his path to the parliament; where the president can only travel within the country by clearing off all streets everyone except his supporters.

Most importantly, there cannot be a democracy where questions remain unanswered about how the first democratically elected government of the country came to an end.

Stop this nonsense about colour, about ‘MDP people’, about whether it is unladylike for women to shout on the streets. The choice Maldivians face today is much bigger, stark. Democracy or autocracy. If early elections are held, it may put the transition back on track back on track, but if we let this government continue in its campaign to legitimise itself until 2013, by hook or by crook, there would be no going back. It will be too late for democracy.

At the rate the new government is reversing all policies that released people from the system of patronage built over a thirty-year dictatorship, people will soon be caught yet again in the same shackles of abject dependency on the Dear Leader that kept us subservient for those three decades.

If people don’t want this to happen, we must join the struggle to ensure this robbery of our fundamental right to govern ourselves is not covered up through false legitimisation. We shouldn’t let political colour blind us to the truth: democracy is in danger in the Maldives. If we believe in it, we must fight for it.

If dictatorship is what you want, don’t do anything. If not, do something.

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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Education Ministry orders textbook revision to state Waheed’s presidency legitimate

The Ministry of Education has ordered schools to revise grade 7 Social Studies textbook, and add the following statement:

“President Nasheed resigned on 7 February 2012 after three years and two months in office. Hence, according to the constitution, vice-president Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik was sworn in as president.”

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party condemned the move citing the party’s continued concerns over Waheed’s legitimacy. President Mohamed Nasheed claimed the February 7 transfer of power was a coup d’état.

International bodies, including the EU and the Commonwealth, have called for a speedy investigation into the transfer of power. The statement can be found here.

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Somali castaways in Maldives say “no” to repatriation

Forty Somali castaways under the custody of Maldivian authorities have recently refused to return home despite arrangements that were made for their safe repatriation, Minivan News has learned.

According to a top government official, who spoke to Minivan News on condition of total anonymity, the government had devoted “immeasurable amount of time and effort” over the past three years to safely repatriate several Somali nationals who have been discovered in Maldivian waters in dinghies lost at sea.

Many were found in frail health conditions due to dehydration and malnourishment, and had to undergo long treatments before being transferred to Dhoonidhoo Detention Center, where they were provided temporary refuge until negotiations on repatriation were finalised.

“However, after all their identities were verified, passports and a chartered flight was arranged for their safe transportation, they refused to go back to Somalia,” said the source, who has worked closely with the case.

“The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)’s delegation arrived in Maldives to confirm their preference because no refugee can be repatriated without consent under the international conventions,” he said. “So the delegation asked them one question – Are you willing to go? All of them said ‘no!'” he recalled.

He observed that the Maldives cannot resort to the option of forced repatriation as Somalia is recognised as a unsafe state.

Maldives has not ratified the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol citing “financial and technical capacity constraints” but the convention prohibits all states, regardless of whether they have acceded it, from returning a “refugee to a territory where his or her life or freedom is threatened”.

“So the project is now a big failure,” he concluded, adding that the Maldives can face “increasing pressures from the international community if it continue with the forced repatriation.”

Minivan News could not get a comment from the foreign ministry at the time of press on how the state intends to move forward in solving the repatriation block.

Authorities have earlier echoed concerns over the increased financial burden to the state in providing shelter to the Somalis, who are said to be now in good health and actively involved in prison-based agricultural projects.

A Maldivian expert on combating human trafficking meanwhile noted in an interview to Minivan News that “if repatriation does not work out, the only legal solution would be for Maldives to sign the international conventions on refugees and Rights of Migrant Workers Families and accept the Somalis as refugees, and provide necessary protection granted under these conventions.”

“The Maldives will be pressured to sign the conventions. But, the question is are we ready to face that? We are already in a crisis with the current 100,000 expatriate population in the country which accounts to one third of the Malidives population. If these conventions are passed, it means, the expat population will be doubled or tripled,” he warned. “Are Maldivians willing to become a minority in their own country?” he asked.

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Male’ City Council decides to give ‘Usgandu’ to MDP for three months

Male’ City Council has given the area behind Dharubaaruge to Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to conduct political activities, after the police dismantled ‘Justice Square’ (the Tsunami Monument area) on Monday.

Deputy Mayor of the Council Ahmed Falah today confirmed to Minivan News that the land has been given to the MDP for three months to conduct political activities.

‘’We gave the land because last Monday terrorists attacked the Justice Square at the end of Lonuziyaarai street,’’ Falah claimed.

Male’ Mayor ‘Maizan’ Ali Manik said he did not wish to say anything about it because several media outlets had been misquoting him recently.

Former President Office Undersecretary Ibrahim Rasheed ‘Hoara Ibbe’ told Minivan News that tonight there will be a MDP rally at the ‘Usgandu’.

‘’MDP will be continue having meetings and conducting other political activities in any land we get and we will do it peacefully,’’ he said.

He said he regretted that police superiors have been sending low-ranking officers to attack MDP properties and persons and later blaming them, saying that their superiors did not know anything about it.

‘’They brought this day through a coup, and they are creating more violence to uphold the coup they brought,’’ he said, referring to the actions of the police.

Rasheed also said he was expecting that the suit against the security forces will be concluded next week.

The Justice Square or the tsunami monument area was also used by the MDP with the authority of the council.

However the current Attorney General Azima Shukoor declared that the land was not under the council and that it was under Housing Ministry.

A while after her statement, hundreds of police and military officers with batons and tear gas guns appeared in the area in full riot gear and ordered everyone in the area to leave immediately.

The area was then completely cleared of all trace of the MDP, from yellow flags to political graffiti on the sea wall.  Police have been monitoring the area and occasionally ordering people visiting to leave.

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Government questions Nasheed’s eligibility for former president privileges

The President’s Office has raised questions over former President Mohamed Nasheed’s eligibility for constitutionally-provided immunity and privileges.

Article 128 guarantees “the highest honour, dignity, protection, financial privileges and other privileges” to any person who has served in the office of the president and stepped down without committing any offenses.

However, President Mohamed Waheed Hassan’s spokesperson Abbas Adil Riza said Nasheed’s eligibility was in question since he had not completed a full-five year term. Nasheed resigned in his fourth year of office, an act he later claimed was “under duress”.

Riza pointed to Article 3 (a) of the Former Presidents’ Immunity and Privileges Act, which affords a monthly allowance of RF 50,000 (USD 3243) for a president who has served one term, and Rf 75,000 for a president who has served two terms (USD 4864).

Riza said the clause specifies that a president has to complete a five-year term in order to be eligible for financial benefits.

But Nasheed’s former Legal Affairs Secretary Hisaan Hussein said the constitution overrides the Former Presidents’ Immunity and Privileges Act, and said Nasheed had a “right” to immunity and privileges.

Further, Article 12 of the Immunity and Privileges Act, interprets former president to be one “who stepped down after completion of term or resigned from office” without committing an unlawful act, she noted.

Even if the government’s concerns were valid, a full term is specified only with regards to financial benefits, and not in clauses relating to accommodation allowances, health care coverage, security, and travel arrangements, she said. Yet, except for the provision of security, the government had refused to extend any privileges to Nasheed, Hisaan said.

Riza said President Waheed had only arranged for Nasheed’s security “through special privileges afforded to the President.”

International bodies have expressed concerns over Nasheed’s safety, after Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed issued a court order for Nasheed’s arrest following Nasheed’s resignation on February 7.

The Maldives National Defense Forces (MNDF) had held Judge Abdulla in military detention for three weeks prior to Nasheed’s resignation. The order was never acted upon.

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) summoned Nasheed on Wednesday for questioning regarding his role in Judge Abdulla’s detention.

Riza said the President’s Office has now requested legal advice from the Attorney General Azima Shukoor on providing immunity and privileges to Nasheed. “As soon as we get legal advice, we will proceed,” he said.

Minivan News was unable to contact Shukoor at time of press.

In addition to monthly financial allowances, the Former Presidents’ Immunity and Privileges Act provides for a monthly accommodation allowance up to Rf 50,000 (US$3243). The President and his/her spouse are also entitled health care coverage, security and travel assistance.

Further, if a former president wishes to conduct charitable work, the act allows for an allowance of Rf 175,000 (US$11,349) to cover overhead costs.

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who served as president from 1979- 2008, set up the nonprofit Maumoon Foundation in 2010. The organisation’s stated aims are to assist the poor and needy. It awarded nine scholarships for higher education abroad in 2011.

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Civil Court conducts second hearing of MDP’s case against clearing of protest sites

The Civil Court has conducted a second hearing of the case presented to the court by Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) against security forces, after the police and Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) dismantled MDP’s protest camp near the tsunami monument.

The MDP’s official website reported that the state attorney had denied the allegations made by MDP and contended that a court warrant is not required to dismantle the area.

MDP lawyer Hisan Hassan told the judge that the police could only search the area with the presence of MDP senior persons and that the MDP wanted to clarify why the area was destroyed.

Hisan also told the judge that the police did not even have a list of items they confiscated from the area.

According to local media, state attorney Ahmed Usham told the court that the area was dismantled because the protesters threw bricks at the security forces, and that the dismantling of the protest was not an action that was taken to narrow freedom of speech.

Usham also said that alcohol and items “used to conduct sexual activities” were discovered in the area, and that those were items disallowed under Islamic Sharia.

The state attorney claimed knives and sharpened iron bars and other materials were also found.

He futther alleged that MDP protesters had been attacking police officers that have went there to investigate violence that occurs in the area.

Usham claimed that people gathered in the area had been using filthy words to speak and had been encouraging violence.

He also alleged the education of children living in the area had been affected and that their rights had been violated.

The local media reported that Usham had told the judge that many crimes have been conducted in Male’ after the area was used for “planning and organising crime”, and that criminals had used the area “to flee from police”.

MDP reported that the next hearing of the case is scheduled for Sunday.

The tsunami monument area was dubbed ‘Justice Square’ by the MDP following the outside of former President Mohamed Nasheed on February 7, in what he claimed was a police and military led coup de’tat. Thousands of by MDP supporters had used the area as a camping site during the ongoing protest against the legitimacy of President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s new government.

Following a day of protests on Monday, police and army in a sudden raid on the camp ordered everyone in the area to leave without giving reason, and arrested some of the people who refused.

The police then dismantled the tents, removed all the lights, speakers, megaphones, banners, flags and the stage in the area built by the MDP, and cleared political slogans and graffiti from the sea wall.

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Women lead defense of Maldivian democracy: Huffington Post

Recent upheaval on the subject of birth control in the United States serves as a reminder of the way religion can be used as a tool to infringe on the rights of women, writes Mary Keck, Professor of English and Gender Studies at the University of Southern Indiana, for the Huffington Post.

In response to a coup d’état against their first democractically elected president on February 7, thousands of women gathered in the capital of the Republic of the Maldives. They marched in support of early, free, and fair elections. Although their stalwart protests were met by arrests and water cannons, they are undeterred. The struggle to maintain democracy in the Maldives is ongoing, and the women of this island nation know what is at stake.

The persistent activism of Maldivian women has been recognised around the globe. On Thursday, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama stood beside Aneesa Ahmed after presenting her with the International Woman of Courage Award. Ahmed was not the first to be recognized for efforts to advance women in the Maldives. Mariya Didi was honored by Condoleeza Rice in 2007 for similar accomplishments. She was taken into police custody shortly after the coup.

Despite the courageous acts of these women, inhumane practices like flogging are still used in the Maldives mainly as a punishment for females accused of adultery. This Indian Ocean nation may have achieved democracy in 2008, but its constitution rests on an Islamic foundation, which is advantageous to many who wish to assert their fundamentalist beliefs.

A rising tide of extremism has threatened to crash over the Maldives for some time. In early December, the Adhaalath Party (a religiously-based political organization) fumed at the current government’s failure to arrest protesters advocating for freedom of religion. One of the protesters was blogger Ismail Rasheed who sustained a skull fracture when attacked during the gathering. Later that month, the parliament pushed a resolution to ban Israel’s El Al airline, which offers travel to and from the islands.

On February 7, hard-line Islamists raided the National Museum destroying Buddhist and Hindu relics and statues. This fanaticism isn’t only seen in street protests, but the use of violence in the name of Islam has seeped into the country’s political system.

Read more

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Maldives, US share climate change answer: Miscellany News

What oppositional forces in the United States, the Maldives, and other endangered countries like it must understand in order for real change to happen is the sheer risk posed by climate change and the likelihood that, without action within the next few years, humanity may not be able to avoid catastrophic economic damage and loss of life, writes Lane Kisonak for the The Miscellany News.

It has been known for some time that the government of Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed, a former human rights activist who has been called the Nelson Mandela of the Indian Ocean, has been amassing a “sovereign wealth fund” for the purchase of land in India, Sri Lanka or Australia in order to eventually resettle the Maldivian people.

But after all that, Nasheed resigned in February, likely having been forced to do so by allies of Maumoon Gayoom, the dictator Nasheed had unseated in the Maldives’ first democratic elections in 2008 after 30 damaging years in power.

Nasheed’s efforts to protect his people from global warming are, I believe, illustrative of two truths for all societies interested in climate change mitigation: first, the localized nature of climate change politics, and second, how easily it gets pushed aside in favor of other matters due to personal agendas and institutional inertia.

In the Maldives, the chief rationale for the removal of Nasheed after three years of high popular support and decisive action repairing the wounds of Gayoom’s dictatorship was the purportedly wrongful arrest of a criminal court judge on corruption charges. Political forces friendly to Gayoom found it in their interest to take advantage of this incident and align against Nasheed (BBC, “Dramatic fall for Maldives’ democratic crusader,” 02.08.12). In the end they successfully took him down, likely dealing a harsh blow to the Maldives’ climate change efforts and introducing political instability all in the interest of gaining power.

What the United States and the Maldives have in common is the potential within smaller, geographically based units to make large strides in protecting people from climate change. They additionally share institutional roadblocks to getting the job done. Sadly for the Maldivians the obstacle they face—the machinations of the party of a dictator attempting to return to power—may prove much harder to overcome. It is telling, for example, that Nasheed’s efforts were as much about working around his parliament to raise awareness abroad as they were internally focused.

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Nasheed departs to Lanka to talk about coup

Former President Mohamed Nasheed has departed to Sri Lanka on Thursday on a mission to give information to the international community on “how the Maldives government was changed in a coup” on February 7.

According to the statement released by the Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), “Reeko” Moosa Manik, party chairperson, MDP Parliamentary group leader Ibrahim Mohamed “Ibu” Solih, MP Mohamed Aslam and several cabinet members of his administration will accompany him during the trip.

This is Nasheed’s first trip abroad since his controversial resignation, which the party claims was forced in an opposition backed coup that was aided by rogue security forces.

MDP expects to gain international backing on calling early elections in Maldives to unseat the new President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, whose legitimacy has been widely denounced by MDP supporters following the police and military-led events of February 7.

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