Tag: maldives

Shifting loyalties: parliament lines redrawn as members cross floor

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Abdulla Abdu Raheem has resigned from the party, following similar pattern to MP Ali Waheed who defected to the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) after resigning from the party over the weekend.

As with Waheed, Raheem did not immediately state that he would be joining the MDP, however journalists reported witnessing Raheem leaving President Mohamed Nasheed’s residence of Muleeage yesterday afternoon.

The Maafannu-West MP told local media he had left the DRP on the urging of his constituents, and because “a few tycoons [in parliament] are opposing taxation”. Ali Waheed’s home constitutency of Thoddu also backed the MDP in the recent council election.

Raheem narrow defeated the Councillor for Maafanu West, Mohamed Falah, in the 2009 parliamentary election by a mere eight votes, after Maldives National Shipping Ltd Chairman and MDP member Mohamed ‘Sanco’ Shareef, who lost in the primary, competed as an independent and split the MDP vote.

Should Raheem follow in Waheed’s footsteps and join the ruling party, the MDP will establish itself as the largest single voting bloc in parliament with 34 members (35 including coalition signatory ‘Redwave’ Saleem).

This will exceed the opposition DRP-PA coalition’s 32 members (25 DRP, 7 PA).

However with the cooperation of allied parties including Gasim Ibrahim’s Jumhoree Party (3 MPs) and Dr Hassan Saeed’s Dhivehi Qaumee Party (1 MP), the opposition still control a narrow majority with 36 votes.

For an outright voting majority, either party needs to control 39 votes – giving great sway to the seven independents; six if Raheem join the MDP. Of Independent MPs Mohamed Nasheed, Ahmed ‘Sun’ Shiyam Mohamed, Ismail Mohamed Hameed, Ahmed Amir, Ibrahim Riza and Mohamed Zubair, Riza and Zubair have a voting history backing the DRP and MDP respectively, further increasing the sway of the other four.

Speaking at an MDP rally held on the weekend in honour of Waheed’s signing, President Mohamed Nasheed confidently proclaimed a parliamentary majority for the party and instructed the MPs to use it responsibly. However to obtain that majority, two more MPs would need to defect.

Local media has speculated that other MPs in the opposition may be considering crossing the floor, focusing on Yousuf Naeem, Mohamed Ramiz who has publicly denied the rumours, and Ali Mohamed who’s absence from the chamber notably and narrowly secured parliamentary endorsement of Home Minister Hassan Afeef.

Parliament sessions resume next month.

Shifting loyalties

  • Opposition support:
    Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP): 25
    People’s Alliance (PA): 7

    DRP-PA Coalition: 32

    Jumhoree Party (JP): 3
    Dhivehi Quamee Party (DQP): 1

    Total: 36

  • Government support:
    Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP): 33
    MP ‘Redwave’ Saleem (coalition agreement): 1

    Total: 34

  • Independents:
    Mohamed Nasheed
    Ahmed ‘Sun’ Shiyam Mohamed
    Ismail Mohamed Hameed,
    Ahmed Amir
    Ibrahim Riza (DRP leaning)
    Mohamed Zubair (MDP leaning)
    Abdulla Abdu Raheem (ex-DRP)
Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

High Court orders immediate release of former warden arrested over inmate torture investigation

The High Court has today ordered the immediate release of former head prison warden ‘Isthafa’ Ibrahim Mohamed Manik, citing that his arrest was unlawful and he was currently not in a position to eliminate evidence as claimed by police.

Isthafa was arrested in Male’ in connection with the investigation of photographs allegedly obtained from the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services (DPRS) and leaked to the media, appearing  to show inmates being tortured in custody. Police obtained permission to extend his detention to 15 days from Maafushi Court on Friday.

The photos released so far include images of men tied to coconut palms, caged, and bloodied. One of the photos, of a prisoner lying on a blood-soaked mattress, has a 2001 date stamp.

The High Court ruled that Isthafa was required to be summoned to the Criminal Court because he was arrested in Male’.

The decision of the Maafushi Court was inconsistent with systems applied in such situations, and the Supreme Court’s procedures, said the High Court.

The High Court also said that the Maafushi Court warrant to extend the detention of Isthafa noted that the extension warrant was issued to prevent Ishtafa from influencing witnesses and evidence.

Inspector of Police Abdulla Nawaz confirmed in a statement to the state broadcaster MNBC that the matter involved severe cases of torture and suspected fatalities, and had been passed to police.

Isthafa was summoned for questioning by police in March in mid-March 2011, regarding an undisclosed investigation.

Local media reports citing unnamed sources at the time claimed Isthafa had been summoned to clarify information surround the possible death in custody of a prison inmate named Abdulla Anees.

Abdulla Anees of Vaavu Keyodhoo Bashigasdhosuge, was an inmate at the former Gaamaadhoo complex and was officially declared missing in the 1980s. President Mohamed Nasheed has claimed that human bones discovered on the site of the former Gaamaadhoo prison were thought to match the age and estimated period of death of Anees, after sending the samples to Thailand for DNA analysis and carbon dating, and asked police to investigate.

In April the government claimed crucial files relating to the investigation into the Gaamaadhoo bones had gone missing – including the originals kept with the DPRS, and copies stored with police.

State Home Minister Ahmed Adhil told Minvan News at the time that the government had ordered a police investigation into the missing files.

“Police  informed the Home Ministry that they have located copies of the files, but the original was held by the DPRS and is still missing. We don’t count copies of papers so we don’t know whether any important documents are missing unless we find that original,” he said.

Adhil said at the time that the Ministry could not yet say whether the files had been misplaced or deliberately removed, although the theft of the documents “is a very close possibility.”

Earlier this month, former deputy leader of the opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Umar Naseer, a key leader in Gayoom’s faction of the DRP, claimed to have obtained information that results of the examinations showed the bones were “over 800 years old.”

”Those bones were first taken to Thailand for investigation and [investigators] said they were over 800 years old,” said Naseer. ”Later the government sent the bones to America, where they also said the same.”

Umar said the investigation into the identity of the bones was now closed, ”but the government will never say that because they want to use it for political purposes.”

Following Isthafa’s arrest, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s spokesperson Mohamed Hussein ‘Mundhu’ Shareef told Haveeru that the detention of the former head of prisons was the “the third part of the drama” in a long-plotted lead up to the arrest of the former president.

“The attempt to arrest President Maumoon will only boost his profile. We see this simply as the government’s attempt to divert the people’s attention from the dollar crisis and rising commodity prices,” Shareef told Haveeru.

Press Secretary for the President’s Office, Mohamed Zuhair, did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Maldives will back creation of Palestinian state on 1967 lines: Foreign Minister

The Maldives will back the creation of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders at the next UN Human Rights Council meeting, Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem said on his return from visiting Israel and Palestine.

“We’ll do everything we can to establish a sovereign Palestinian state,” Naseem said, at a press conference today.

Naseem met Palestinian President Abbas during his trip, who accepted an invitation from the foreign minister to visit the Maldives.

While in Israel, Naseem met Israeli President Shimon Peres and the country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Liberman.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Corpse of newborn baby found strangled with underwear, hospital confirms

The body of a newborn baby boy discovered in a park in Hulhumale’ this morning was found with underwear tied tightly around his neck.

Spokesperson for Hulhumale’ Hospital Dr Ahmed Ashraf said the baby may have died from asphyxiation.

‘’When the baby was found the knot was a bit loose, but the marks on its neck shows that it was tied tightly around the neck,’’ Dr Ashraf said.

Dr Ashraf said the baby was dead when discovered, and was first brought to Hulhumale’ hospital before the police took the body for forensic investigation.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the baby was male and appeared to have competed nine months gestation.

The dead baby is the third to have been found abandoned in the last few weeks. On Friday the corpse of a three-month premature infant was discovered in a Coast Milk tin in Villingili, while on May 5 another premature baby was found in a plastic bag in Male’s swimming track area. A medical examination later concluded that the baby had sustained cuts, bruises and other wounds.

Police have since arrested two women in connection to the discovery of the infant found in the tin, including a 30 year old suspected of being the mother and a 24 year old woman police said had confessed to helping the first deliver the baby prematurely.

In November last year another abandoned newborn was discovered alive in some bushes near the Wataniya telecommunications tower in Hulhumale’. The child was put in the care of foster parents.

Birth out of wedlock remains heavily stigmatised in the Maldives. An unreleased 2007 study by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) found that the stigma of having a child out of wedlock compels Maldivian women and girls to opt for abortions, and while a taboo subject, the practice was found to be widespread.

Some of those interviewed for the study said they knew of girls as young as 12 who had undergone abortions, and each knew at least one person who had terminated a pregnancy.

Abortion is illegal in the Maldives except to save a mother’s life, or if a child suffers from a congenital defect such as thalassemia. Many women unable to travel to Sri Lanka resort to illegal abortions performed by unskilled individuals in unhygienic settings, or even induce abdonminal trauma or insert objects into their uterus.

Other studies focusing on HIV have identified associated risk factors contributing to unplanned pregnancy including high levels of promiscuity and limited use of contraception.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the infant was a nine-month old baby. This was a confusing translation and has been clarified as the infant was a newborn.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Maldives a carbon technology lab for the world: Sunday Times

The Maldives, aiming to be a zero-carbon nation by 2020 ahead of any other country, is like a ‘lab’ of technology for the world where future ways of reducing carbon into the atmosphere is developed here before being implementing across the world, writes Feizal Samath for Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times.

A two-day technology road-show in Male, the capital on May 9-10 which brought industry, technocrats and government officials from 22 countries including the five largest economies in the world – US, China, Japan, India and Germany, showcasing technological advances and knowledge.

President Mohamed Nasheed and Environment Minister Mohamed Aslam attended the event with Miss Universe 2005, Natalie Glebova.

According to Tourism Minister, Mariyam Zulfa, the Ministry recently signed a MoU with Swiss-based myclimate to prepare a strategy for voluntary carbon offsetting measures. “We will be looking at things like developing a model eco island as a resort of the future. We are working on the carbon footprint. While the airlines will look after themselves, the resorts are also looking at renewable energy for most of their needs,” she said adding however that the biggest challenge is the diesel that goes into generators which are used by all resorts.

If in 2010 it was worry about islands sinking, then this year the climate change-savvy country says there are much more serious issues.

“Sea level is rising but that’s not our main challenge,” noted Aslam, adding that shifting of islands when the sea level rises is a more complex issue.

“The islands are a dynamic feature and when sea level rises there would be changes. If you look at the morphology (structure of organism) these islands sit within a reef system. As the water level rises the hydrodynamics within the reef system will also change.

Full story

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Maldives Organisation for Elderly People receives US$40,000 UAE Health Award

The Maldives Organisation for Elderly People has been presented with the UAE Health Award during the World Health Organisation (WHO) meeting in Geneva, reports Gulf Today.

UAE minister of health Dr Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim, presented US$40,000 to the winning organisations, which also included the Society for Progress Association in Chad.

The award is annually granted to those individuals or organisations that provide various services in the medical and health development.

The Maldives Organisation for Elderly People provides a number of psychiatric and social services to the elderly in addition to health awareness programmes, physical education training sessions, yoga and physiotherapy either at home or at the centre.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)

Expatriate slashed with machete

An expatriate man was badly injured after he was attacked with a machete in Henveiru Park in Male’ yesterday evening, reports Haveeru.

Police said they had no leads on the attack on the man, who was reportedly a food cart worker.

SunFM reported that a group of men asked the expatriate for a cigarette, and attacked him when he refused.

The injured man was taken to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in a police car.

Likes(0)Dislikes(0)