Senior figures of the uling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) together with a number of supporters have started signing a petition calling on MDP’s National Council to reconsider an earlier decision to protest on Friday.
Secretary General of MDP Ahmed Shah today confirmed to Minivan News that some “hardcore figures” in the party has started signing the petition.
‘’I do not know who is in charge of this petition or who is taking the lead, but I have had reports that it is going on,’’ said Shah.
Asked about his opinion on the decision to hold a protest in support of moderate Islam at the same time as the opposition and religious NGO-organised ‘Defend Islam’ protest, he said that he and all MDP members were obliged to follow any decision made by the National Council.
He said the petition was expected to reach the National Council sometime this afternoon.
Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair today told Minivan News that a media report about a meeting supposedly held by the President this afternoon to meet with MDP National Council members was correct.
‘’The President has assured that he will go out with the MDP supporters to express support for moderate Islam and oppose extremism,’’ Zuhair said.
On Friday opposition political parties and a coalition of local NGOs have planned to conduct a protest to ‘’protect Islam.’’
Following the announcement of this protest, MDP’s National Council had a meeting and decided to hold a ‘moderate Islam’ protest at the same time as the opposition-NGO coalition protest.
The proposed 2012 State Budget has been reviewed by a parliamentary committee and does not include unpaid civil servants’ salaries and allowances.
Committee Vice Chair Hinnavaru MP Ibrahim ‘Ibu’ Mohamed Solih said inclusion of the unpaid salaries depends on a favorable Supreme Court ruling.
If the court rules in favor, a supplementary budget should be submitted for parliamentary approval within 30 days, Haveeru reports.
Inclusion prior to the ruling would render the current proposal “useless”, Solih said.
The Civil Service Commission (CSC) last month requested the committee to include the unpaid salaries and allowances (total value of Rf443,653,634.89) in the 2012 budget.
The Supreme Court is expected to publish its verdict soon.
Amnesty International has declared imprisoned blogger Ismail ‘Khilath’ Rasheed a prisoner of conscience, and called for his “immediate and unconditional” release.
The controversial blogger was arrested on December 14 following his participation in a ‘silent protest’ on Human Rights Day, calling for religious tolerance in the Maldives.
A group of men attacked the protesters with stones, and Rasheed was taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) with a fractured skull. He was subsequently arrested for questioning over his involvement in the silent gathering, and the Criminal Court granted police a 10 day extension of detention for the investigation.
“The continued detention of Ismail ‘Khilath’ Rasheed is in breach of international treaties on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Maldives is a state party,” Amnesty said in a statement.
“Amnesty International is dismayed that instead of defending Ismail ‘Khilath’ Rasheed, who has peacefully exercised his right to freedom of the expression, the government of Maldives has detained him. Moreover, the government has taken no action to bring to justice those who attacked the ‘silent’ demonstrators, even though there is credible photographic evidence of the attack.”
The attack on Rasheed and his subsequent detention was a “clear example of the erosion of freedom of expression in the Maldives,” Amnesty stated.
“This basic human right is not just under attack from some religious groups; it is also violated by the government of the Maldives. All people in the Maldives should be able to enjoy their right to freedom of expression without being attacked or detained by the police.”
President Mohamed Nasheed was himself declared an Amnesty prisoner of conscience in 1991, following his repeated and prolonged incarceration by the former government.
A photo of Rasheed's alleged attacker taken by the protesters
Journalist detained
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has also called for Rasheed’s immediate release.
“All he did was start a debate about the issues of religious freedom and tolerance in Maldives,” RSF stated.
“The authorities must explain the reasons for his arbitrary detention and release him at once. It is disturbing to see the government yet again yielding to pressure from the most conservative fringes of Maldivian society.”
Rasheed was one of the country’s leading free speech advocates and one of the few Maldivians bloggers to write under his own name, RSF observed.
“The Maldivian constitution bans the promotion of any religion other than Islam but guarantees freedom of assembly and expression as long as it does not contravene Islam. Rasheed professes to be an adherent of Sufism, which emphasises the inner, spiritual dimension of Islam.”
Reaction
President Mohamed Nasheed’s Press Secretary, Mohamed Zuhair, told Minivan News that Hilath had been arrested under an existing regulation passed by parliament that had no bearing on the [executive] government.
“The government’s policy is to allow freedom of expression to the greatest extent possible under the Constitution,” he said.
Under new regulations published by the government in September, interpreting the 1995 Religious Unity Act passed by parliament, media is “banned from producing or publicising programs, talking about or disseminating audio that humiliates Allah or his prophets or the holy Quran or the Sunnah of the Prophet (Mohamed) or the Islamic faith.”
Violation of the Act carries a prison sentence of between 2-5 years, and the Communications Authority of Maldives (CAM) in November blocked access to Rasheed’s blog on orders from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, on the grounds that it contained anti-Islamic material.
Rasheed was arrested amid growing religious and political tensions in the Maldives in the lead up to a ‘Defend Islam’ protest to be held on Friday, December 23.
The protest follows several incidents of religious intolerance in the past few months, including as vandalism of the ‘idolatrous’ SAARC monuments in Addu Atoll and hostility towards calls by the UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay for a moratorium and debate on the flogging of women for extramarital sex.
The December 23 protest is being organised by a coalition of religious NGOs and opposition political parties, who have attacked the government for decisions such as its diplomatic relationship with Israel.
“The government is saying that the Maldives has had an unbroken Islamic tradition for 800 years, and 90 consecutive Chief Justices who have applied Sharia Law,” Zuhair said.
“The President is asking everyone to take a stand tomorrow on the 23rd for the continuation of the Maldives’ moderate Islamic tradition,” he said.
It was “not accurate” to suggest that the government was yielding to fundamentalist fringe elements, he insisted.
“This is political. [Former President] Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and his cronies are testing their support base. The people who are funding this so-called Islamic gathering are the same people selling pork and alcohol.”
The development of housing, industry, and transportation infrastructure is expected to greatly improve the “extreme” situation on Male’, said Infrastructure Development Ambassador Sarangu Adam Manik.
“There are more people in Male who do not have housing than people who do,” he said.
The capital Male’ has a land area of less than two square kilometers but is home to one-third of the country’s population or approximately 125,000 people residing in an estimated 16,000 households; the total number of households in the Maldives is estimated to be 46,000.
With 50,000 people per square kilometer Male’ is the most densely populated city in the world, outdoing Mumbai’s 33,000 people per square kilometre.
President Mohamed Nasheed previously said the “household is the main engine of development.” Making good on this claim, he yesterday conferred land tenure agreements to 20 parties who had applied for housing and housing grants to 27 applicants, saying the government intends to provide housing for all 21,000 applicants to the Veshi Fahi Male’ housing program.
Earlier this year, ten flats were awarded under the same program.
A statement on the President’s Office website said the program aims “to satisfy the lives of all Maldivian citizens, and augmenting the nation’s economically active population by economically mobilizing nearly 150,000 people.”
Under phase one of the project launched in January, a total of 1,000 parties were invited to apply for the housing scheme. Over 8,000 application forms were submitted on the first day.
The Cabinet also approved related projects including the development of a container park in Thilafushi to incentivise relocating warehouses in Male’ and construction of a multi-purpose local market with modern facilities for residents of Male’.
The programme was launched on November 10, 2010 with the aim of combining the development of Malé, Vilingili, Guli Falhu, Thilafushi, Hulhumalé and Malé International Airport.
Manik said the network of projects will jointly reduce the stress on Male’.
“Gulhifalhu will help tremendously the housing and economic situation. Thilafushi will centralise the industrial sector, and the bridge will improve mobility–all components will help the situation on Male’,” he surmised.
The Cabinet yesterday decided to proceed with the plan to construct a bridge between Male and Hulhule, a reclaimed island attached to Hulhumale.
Since Hulhumale’s population is expected to double in the next year as people take advantage of new housing opportunities, mobility will become an issue, Manik said.
“Think about it, you will have two to three thousand flats, each with a family of four or more people on average. That’s eight to twelve thousand people,” he pointed out.
He also noted that the current boat-based system is vulnerable to changes in weather.
Manik said building a bridge was not a new idea. “The previous government proposed it but didn’t find a way to do it. President Nasheed’s ability to think ahead and think strategically means that the new government has found a way to do it. Gayoom’s government talked about it but we never saw a plan.”
Reflecting on public complaints of some infrastructure development programs, Manik surmised that “everybody wants to be the khafir except the khafir.
“Each power is trying to draw new borders, and there are always demarcation problems. People will settle down and things will become more progressive. It takes time to accept a new democracy.”
The Indian government has recalled its earlier decision to cease issuing dependent visas to the families of Maldivian students studying in India, local newspaper Haveeru reports.
According to a Foreign Ministry official, a Maldivian student’s family will continue to receive the dependent visa as “family visa” until the revised visa agreement is signed by both countries.
The expired dependent visas can be renewed within two days by applying at the Maldivian consulate in Trivandrum.
A local man has posted a five-foot tall bill to Laamu Gan Hospital, after the hospital claimed it lost the previous bill he sent, local news outlet Sun reported on Wednesday.
Masood Abdullah from Laamu atoll Mathimaradhoo island claimed that the South Central Health Services Corporation owes him Rf9600 (US$622) for two rooms he rented out to the corporation for 32 days at Rf300 per day, Sun reported.
According to him, the hospital requested he resubmit a bill claiming it was lost, when he asked to clear the payment.
“So this time I sent a bill which won’t be lost,” he was quoted as saying in Sun.
The Criminal Court has convicted former Civil Court Judge Mohamed Hilmy and his wife Aminath Ali for sexual misconduct, two years after the pair were discovered by police near the Hulhumale’ garbage dump in a state of undress.
Police arrested Hilmy and Aimanth, at the time his girl friend, around midnight on November 12 on suspicion of sexual misconduct. The pair refuted the charges, claiming it was a police set up.
However, the criminal court noted that three police constables who witnessed the act had testified stating that “Aiminath’s underwear and pants were down to her knees” and that Hilmy had his “pants down to his knees”.
Photos taken by the constables at the scene were also presented to the court.
Based on pictures and testimonies, the court ruled that Hilmy and Aiminath were guilty of sexual misconduct, and sentenced the pair to six months’ banishment and 15 lashes each.
However, the sentence was deferred for three years under section 292 of court trial regulations.
Hilmy, who has heard high-profile cases including former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s request for an injunction against the Presidential commission and the Herathera Resort dispute, was suspended from the bench soon after his arrest.
The press statement issued by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) at the time stated that Hilmy was asked to stay home until notified by the JSC or until the police investigation was completed.
“Further, the commission has asked the Police Integrity Commission to investigate a complaint from Mohamed Hilmy that police mistreated him, exhibited profane behaviour and gave defamatory information to media,” the JSC said.
Shahinda Ismail, President of the Police Integrity Commission, confirmed to Minivan News at the time that a complaint was filed by the Judges Association (JA) and the JSC, requesting the commission look into the matter.
“In their letter, the JSC said the JA are saying that he has complained to them, that he was walking in Hulhumale’ with his fiancé and police came and handcuffed both of them and basically undressed them by force,” she said.
The police denied the accusations in a public statement.
“The two had to be taken into custody on suspicion of sexual behaviour in a public place as they were at the garbage dump in the south of Hulhumale’ with their pants down,” police said.
Police further denied the allegation that the judge was abused by police and photographed after his pants were forcibly pulled down.
Hilmy told Haveeru following his arrest that he lived in Hulhumale’ and was walking with his fiancé when they were set upon by police.
The judge alleged that police handcuffed him, used obscene language and beat him before photographing him.
Hilmy further alleged that a senior police threatened him at a meeting at civil court and told him they would show him how powerful the police force was.
According to local news reports, Aminath and Hilmy were married soon after the incident and now have child together. The pair are now practicing lawyers at private firms.
Local religious NGO Jamiyyathul Salaf has called on the parliament to enact stronger regulations to protect Islam, beyond the the Religious Unity Act.
In a statement issued today Salaf claimed there were regulations protecting sea turtles, whales, birds, lagoons and the environment, but no adequate regulations that protected Islam as such.
Salaf claimed that the new Religious Unity Regulations allowed “anyone to play with the faith of Maldivians, any way they want to.”
The NGO accused the government of pressuring and threatening Salaf when Salaf once asked Home Ministry, Islamic Ministry and the parliament to investigate some persons that have violated the Religious Unity Regulation.
Salaf also claimed that Ali Ahsan, the developer of the website promoting Friday’s protest, was arrested under the Religious Unity Regulations.
An Islamic Conference due to be held at Thinadhoo in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll, organised by the Foreign Ministry and the Islamic Ministry, was questionable, Salaf said in the statement, alleging that article 22 of the regulation allowing for the deportation of missionaries was deleted before it was published in the gazette.
Salaf this week declined an invitation from President Mohamed Nasheed to meet and discuss their concerns.
In its statement, Salaf accused President Nasheed of pardoning “Christian missionaries” deported by the former government, and attached a list of names and passport numbers of individuals blacklisted by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
Foreign Minister under both governments, Dr Ahmed Shaheed, has previously told Minivan News that allegations of proselytising against foreigners were often “political charges” deployed by the former President, and had reached “saturation point”.
“There is this very, very deep reaction to anything un-Islamic in this country, and you can use Islam as a political tool quite easily,” he told Minivan News in June, following his appointment as UN Special Rapporteur on Iran.
“But I think people are getting fed up with it – you can see the reactions in the press to my appointment as special rapporteur. DRP MP Mahlouf said it was a Zionist conspiracy and a trade-off for favours done to Israel on my part. These things ring hollow the more you say them. They become cliche.”
At the height of the heated election rally in October 2008, the former government “mischievously suggested” that Salisbury Cathedral in the UK was conspiring to blow up the Islamic Centre in Male’ and build a church.
Salisbury Cathedral subsequently denied the allegation.
Civil Service Commission (CSC) members paid their mobile phone bills out of the commission’s budget illegally, according to the CSC audit report for 2010.
In the report published on Tuesday, Auditor General Ibrahim Niyaz noted that under the article 20 of Civil Service Commission (CSC) Act, the salary and benefits of the five commission members must be determined by the People’s Majlis (parliament).
However, he revealed that the members phone bills were paid in 2010 without parliament’s approval and in violation of the CSC Act.
Therefore, the amount paid for phone bills must be reimbursed the to the state’s consolidated revenue account, the Auditor General told the commission members. The report does not specify the total amount spent on phone bills.
According to the report, CSC members refuted the AG’s conclusion, claiming that phone, computers and such items were considered as “facilities” rather than benefits.
“Since facilities are not determined by the parliament, the CSC decided these things according to the CSC Act and Public Finance Act,” members said.
They also told the auditors that the phone bill issue was clarified by the Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) and parliament, adding that “none of the institutions stated it was illegal”.
The Attorney General had previously concluded that mobile phone bills of ACC members was also paid out of the commission’s budget illegally during 2010.
Meanwhile in the CSC audit report it was found that the commissions trips were not recorded properly and filed within three working days of the end of the trip as stipulated by clause 5.13 of the public financial regulations.
In addition, the audit report noted that two CSC members who visited the “Meeting of the Chiefs of Public Service Commissions of SAARC member countries” in November 2010 in India received trip allowance from the commission budget – even though it was a fully sponsored trip by the organisers. Therefore, the AG requested the members to reimburse the trip allowance as well.
Another member who went on a seven-day study tour trip was asked to reimburse US$888 out of the total allowance, as the member returned four days early.
The Auditor General recommended the commission to reacquire unused funds left over from the trips as stipulated in section 1.01 of state financial regulations.
Out of the Rf24.5 million (US$1.6 million) annual budget released to the CSC in 2010, the report noted that Rf549, 816 (US$35,656) was spent on trips – which was almost 50 percent over the budget allocated for such trips.
According to the CSC financial statement, 95 percent of the trip budget was spent on overseas trips.
More than Rf11.9 million (US$773,581) was meanwhile spent on salary and benefits of staff.
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