The Criminal Court has sentenced Hinna Khalid of Valhufehi in Henveiru ward to six months of house arrest.
Hinna Khalid served as an undersecretary at the President’s Office during President Dr Mohamed Waheed’s administration.
Khalid has been sentenced on charges of abusing powers for personal gain while serving as head of the Malé municipality.
The case was presided over by Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed.
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(0)The Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure has contracted the Maldives Road Development Corporation to build two roads in Feydhoo, Addu City.
At an event held at the ministry for signing of the contract today, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Mohamed Muiz revealed that the project is worth MVR7.9 million.
According to Muiz, the corporation will be building Rahdhebai Magu and Bandharu Mathee Magu, with work commencing as soon as the environmental impact analysis of the project is completed.
(2)Dislikes(1)The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has expressed concern over the human rights situation in the Maldives, as well as the disappearance of Minivan News journalist Ahmed Rilwan.
“We are also concerned by reports that parliamentarians, human rights advocates and journalists have recently been the target of death threats, and by the disappearance and apparent abduction of one journalist on 8 August,” said Minister of State at the FCO Hugo Swire.
Swire’s comments came in response to a written question submitted by Conservative Party MP Karen Lumley.
The minister expressed concern over freedom of religion, rule of law, and women’s rights, as well as reports of death threats made against a number of politicians and MPs in recent months.
Former health minister Dr Mariyam Shakeela is the latest to have reported having received death threats. Similar messages have been received by multiple journalists and politicians, including Jumhooree Party leader Gasim Ibrahim.
Rilwan, 28-years-old, was last seen on the Malé-Hulhumalé ferry on August 8, just minutes before his neighbours saw a man fitting his description forced into a car outside his apartment.
“Officials at our high commission in Colombo, which is also accredited to the Maldives, have raised concerns on human rights, as well as the recent threats and this reported disappearance, with the Maldives Government,” reported Swire.
“We have also urged them to ensure that those responsible are prosecuted as appropriate. The Maldives Government has expressed deep concern following the disappearance, and noted that they are committed to ensuring the safety and security of all Maldivians,” he continued.
While Rilwan’s disappearance has been highlighted by many international groups – including the UN, Reporters Without Borders, and the Committee to Protect Journalists – the FCO’s comments mark the first time the case has been mentioned by a foreign government.
There is little information regarding Rilwan’s disappearance despite a MVR200,000 reward being offered by his family and a petition signed by 5000 people submitted to the People’s Majlis.
The petition called upon the legislature to find answers to questions regarding the police’s investigations. Similar concerns regarding the investigation’s progress have been raised by the Human Rights Commission and civil society groups.
After police released a statement on Thursday night (August 4) – claiming it had questioned 318 individuals, interrogated 111, and searched 139 locations – Rilwan’s family voiced concerns over the case’s progress.
“These are just statistics. We want to find him. We want the police to tell us if they have leads, if there is progress,” said Rilwan’s brother Moosa.
“We want to know what the results of these extensive searches are. It’s been a month, my family and I fear for his life.”
(1)Dislikes(0)The following is a comment piece submitted in response to a video profile of Nasira Abdulla produced by Hulhevi Media in July, 2014.
Born in 1957, Nasira passed away yesterday (September 8) after suffering breathing irregularities.
Ostracised by some, she was also an inspiration to many living the capital Male’.
‘She has always been known as the insane woman. A social reject living on the streets, she has suffered every abuse…’ Over 8000 hits in less than 24 hours? Of course. These are the days of social media. ‘Putting it out there’ is easy. Should I ‘like’ it? Or should I ‘share’ it?
Nasira’s story is an insightful look into the life of the homeless in Malé. She is street-smart and pragmatic, but her quick wit and sense of humour belies a litany of social injustices that is universally experienced by the homeless: verbal and physical abuse, rejection by family and society at large, the constant and soul-destroying search for shelter and the need to hustle to find money to keep hunger at bay.
I get lost in the trackless jungle of social media; I blame my age and my natural impatience with technology. However, ‘social rejects’ are nothing new to me. I grew up with ‘Firihen Fathuma’. She came to thatch our kitchen roof, reconstruct the boundary fence between our house and our neighbour’s and to spread the coral sand before the onset of Ramazan.
Even then there was a dearth of men wanting to do manual jobs in the Maldives. Men were doing much more important things such as imprisoning and banishing one of my brothers for political dissension, or delivering long sermons on how to respect one’s superiors.
I found Firihen Fathuma’s disregard to social conventions somewhat liberating, viewing her with considerable envy as she walked her tuna home from the fish market. Another of my brothers got into considerable trouble for taking on a dare to squeeze her chin as he cycled past her on Handhuvarudhey Goalhi. In his defence, she did sport a particularly well curved and magnificent chin.
But enough – I digress.
Why the interest in Nasira? Is it because we see in her a little bit of ourselves, that constant temptation to break free from the straight jacket of social norms? Or more pointedly, is it because we recognise her to be the end product of a system based on self- interest at the expense of nurturing a sense of common responsibility? In either case, Hulhevimedia, thank you for sharing.
I do believe it is an outrageous misfortune that the country has fallen, yet again, prey to the old elitist oligarchy with an over developed sense of entitlement, and an underdeveloped moral compass as badly off kilter as those of the thugs who roam the streets of Malé. In a previous life, I would have cried for Nasira as Maldivians are passionate about misery, but I’d like to think that I have grown out of that particular victim mentality.
So instead, I take refuge in words…
In April, Yameen – the latest incarnation of the old regime – announced the development of SEZs (Special Economic Zones.) The insidious end results of these types of economic policies have already been eloquently pointed out by Maldivian Economist in his article, ‘SEZ bill opens doors for economic slavery‘ and by Mushfique Mohamed in his ‘The Scramble for the Maldives‘.
I do not wish to reiterate the shortcomings of such an economic policy. However, I wish to extrapolate on the effects of such policy and how such policy decisions are directly related to societal poverty and the proliferation of displaced people.
Yameen’s is the kind of economic policy that is embedded in the dangerously misleading premises of the ‘American Dream’ – the all pervasive belief that a free market allows everyone, regardless of race, culture or social status, to reap the benefits of their hard work.
Thanks to the power of celluloid, the print media and the globalisation of western culture, this dream has become so much part of our economic thinking, that many of us do not question it.
The words of a prominent businessman in the Maldives, that I was once made privy to, echo these sentiments exactly: “I made my money through sheer hard work. I risked everything. Why should I feel sorry for those who choose to sit on their arses and do nothing to better themselves?”
Makes sense. Or does it?
What is not so obvious is that it is easier for some to get off their behinds and reap the benefit of hard work than it is for others. Those who are rich, well established and have their behinds comfortably perched on the top rungs of the social ladder are in a better position to access the advantages of such policies. In fact, it can and should be argued that such policies are placed primarily for the benefit of such an oligarchy; that these simply legitimise their plunder of the nation’s wealth.
Ordinary Maldivians, who have already endured years of victimisation, poverty, lack of health care and who are deprived of the liberating influences of a good education, are not in a position to walk the yellow brick road to the emerald city. A nation’s human capital develops because of enlightened and humane policies, and having the foresight and strength to deliberately discard the brutal rule of the survival of the fittest.
The failure to do this is epitomised by citizens like Nasira, and by the hordes of young adults who roam aimlessly around the islands, often drugged and armed with a rather laisse faire approach to human life. The excluded, oppressed and exploited have nothing to lose; they are all misplaced one way or another.
It is not because the chances aren’t there. It is not because the Maldives hasn’t got potential. It is not because Nasira is not resilient, eloquent or intelligent. She is all these things as the five minute clip proves to us. It is simply because she did not start from a level playing field.
Please don’t remind me of the Arnold Schwarzeneggers, the Halle Berrys, and the Ella Fitzgeralds – or their Maldivian counterparts who crawled through the social cesspool of constant poverty to shine as beacons of success. These are the exceptions to the rule.
There will always be one or two exceptions, if not by nature, then by the ‘benevolence’ of the oligarchs who will ensure by personally controlled patronage, that such exceptions exist for the benefit of their highly spun public profile.
Economics and social policies based on self interest and nepotism, create social casualties such as Nasira. While the rich 10 percent gets richer, the poor 90 percent become the non participants who wait with begging bowls at the bottom- perhaps in the hope of catching the trickles of good things that these policies so famously postulate.
It is like starting a sprint race from one end of Majeedee Magu to the other, with four fifths of the competitors placed five hundred meters behind the forward few. Maybe the exceptionally talented can Bolt to the lead, but the vast majority will always remain trapped in the back.
The final insult is of course to build the discourse round the unfortunate woman saying that she is mad and she chooses to live this way. This is also part of the narrative of the ‘American Dream’, that those who fail the system do so because of their own personal failures. The system provides- the individual fails. It is the perfect framework to demonize the economic under- achievers.
The final indignity is that Nasira is already a statistic, like Firihen Fathuma, a misfit of society.
I am just saying. Just putting it out there before I go to have my latte’ and give some very serious thought to the new app I want for my Ipad. Or perhaps, I will have some face time with my friends.
(4)Dislikes(0)Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Dr Mohamed Muiz has expressed hope that the amended contract with Indian infrastructure giant TATA Housing regarding the construction of two apartment complexes can be signed next week.
“Based on the most recent communication, we estimate that the amended contract will be signed next week, that is if no further reasons for delays come up,” Muiz told local media.
He stated that the company was expected to commence work on the two sites within a period of 45 days after the signing of the contract, and to complete the projects within a year.
The deal – first signed in 2010 – has faced repeated delays after successive governments sought amendments to the original contract.
“In addition to this project, there is also work on an additional 150 flats that need to be started,” Muizzu said yesterday.
The minister explained that previous delays in signing the agreement had occurred due to the actions of TATA Housing.
After deliberation by the cabinet’s economic council in July, the Housing Ministry had announced intentions of resuming the projects under a revised contract.
The government of Maldives contracted Apex Realty Pvt Ltd – a joint venture between TATA Housing Development and SG 18 Realty – to construct residential apartment complexes on four separate sites in capital Malé city in May 2010.
Work commenced on the Gaakoshi site and former Arabiyya School premises, but was later halted due to pending resolution of numerous contractual issues.
While reasons suggested for the delay included shortages in construction materials and the incumbent government’s reclamation of land plots included in the original deal, TATA was reported in Indian media as expressing concern that local politics were endangering their investments.
Apex Realty also released a press statement in May 2014 indicating its intention to commence work on the apartment complexes within 45 days of getting the final approval from the government of Maldives for the amended contract.
“We are committed to the Maldives project and can start the project within 45 days after the final nod is received from the Housing Ministry and contract amendment is signed,” Apex Realty Director Sandeep Ahuja stated at the time.
(3)Dislikes(0)Appeal hearings on the death sentence issued by the Criminal Court on Mohamed Nabeel of Reef in Galolhu ward on charges of the murder of Abdulla Farhad of Lilymaage in Seenu Atoll Hithadhoo have been completed.
The High Court will be announcing its verdict at the next hearing, which has not been scheduled so far.
The murder of Farhad was committed on March 9, 2009 in capital Malé city near Sosun Store on Majeedhee Magu.
He was allegedly attacked for harassing a girl who worked at a nearby shop. The girl has previously been reported to be a sister of the accused, Nabeel.
(3)Dislikes(1)Rozaina Adam is the member of parliament for the Addu-Meedhoo constituency. She is also deputy leader of the Maldivian Democratic Party’s parliamentary group.
It’s with intense sadness that I write this today. Maldives, my beautiful country, a country I was so proud to be a citizen of – while it still remains a paradise for tourists – is hardly a paradise to its citizens.
The democracy that our people hoped to enjoy with the ratification of the new constitution is dying a slow death. The separation of powers, which the new constitution proudly states, has been bundled up into the fist of one person, while the rest of the citizens gape in horror at the abominable unfolding of a dictatorship in front of our eyes.
We as the opposition party remain helpless to do anything as our rights, provided by the constitution, are ripped away everyday bit by bit. We struggle to remain heard, to relay our messages in a feeble attempt to bring check and balance to a lopsided state.
Our messages are met with resistance by the government, which threatens to cut off our voices by sending us death threats and terrorising us in the most horrifying and barbaric ways possible.
It’s been more than a month since a reporter, Ahmed Rilwan went missing. Nobody has any idea as to what happened to him. Has he been abducted or murdered or simply gone missing? Even the police has established nothing so far, but the evidence collected by his family points towards an abduction.
The police, as the paid protectors of the people, have done very little and as far as we can see have not attempted to solve this case at a serious level, as noted by the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives. The president’s simple refusal to comment at all on the abduction of a reporter, about which the whole nation is concerned, came as a shock to the family of Ahmed Rilwan as well as the people of this nation.
A question hangs – why?
Questions without answers
On one hand, as Rilwan’s family and friends and concerned citizen’s struggle to solve the mystery of his disappearance, others face another horror on the streets as young people get stabbed, beaten, and gutted every other day. Everyday, the newspapers unveil the horror of violence on the streets and horrified citizens sit at their dinner tables discussing the terrible dilemma our nation faces. People are afraid to walk on the streets alone, to leave their house doors unlocked, to climb the staircases to their apartments.
And then there are others who demonstrate the need for Islamic Shariah in Maldives – which of course is how it should be, since we are a 100 percent Muslim nation. But how are we going to practice Islamic Shariah or any justice for that matter, in a nation where the judiciary has totally collapsed?
Isn’t it time we all came out to fight for our right to an independent judiciary? But the sad state of this nation is that, when the issue of a Judge Ali Hameed (a supreme court judge who is alleged of corruption and was also caught on tape having sex with a prostitute) was brought to the attention of parliament by the opposition, the ruling party kicked it out faster than one could say ‘Ali Hameed’.
Everyone wonders – where is the government that came into power through an election influenced by a corrupt Supreme court? What is their role in keeping the citizens of this nation safe?
The answer, sadly enough, is that, everyone is coming to the same conclusion; this is state sponsored terrorism. Parliament members with a constitutional mandate to raise their voices on behalf of the people, are terrorised with death threats to their phones, which, having been reported to the police on several occasions, have been conveniently ignored. The law requires that security be provided to MPs and any other citizen who has a life threat and yet the government refuses to provide security to MPs or such other citizens.
As all this goes on, rumours of corruption by government officials, especially at the ministerial level, spread like wildfire and the parliament which is the overlooking body for the government, of which the majority is the ruling party, turns its back on this. And as if this is not enough, they have rolled up their sleeves and set to work on amending bills and proposing new bills which will further empower the president, and pave the way for further corruption.
As this scenario keeps unfolding, it is worth noting that the Progressive Party of Maldives government which came into power as a coalition with JP no longer holds that status. Without JP, the ruling party now is one which held only 26 percent of popularity votes in the presidential election.
The question is, how long is this minority government’s terror tactics going to work? How long will the citizens continue to tolerate these new levels of corruption and violence? How long will these horror stories remain just dinner conversation? That is a question for tomorrow.
For now, from a Maldivian citizen’s perspective – welcome to the other side of paradise – hell!!
(3)Dislikes(0)Former health minister Dr Mariyam Shakeela has suggested her removal from office was the result of a conspiracy which included death threats and a smear campaign.
Giving an interview to local newspaper Haveeru, Shakeela alleges that she was ousted in order to clear the way for corruption within the health sector.
“When I was given the post, some people said this can’t be done by bringing in someone from far outside after we worked hard to bring this government,” she told Haveeru.
“So from the start there were some people who were bent on showing that I was a failure,” she continued.
Shakeela told the paper that she had received multiple threatening phone calls – including eight in a single evening, suggesting she would be killed if she did not resign.
Dr Shakeela’s reappointment in the redefined role of health minister was overwhelmingly rejected by the pro-government majority People’s Majlis last month.
Parliamentary group leader for the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Ahmed Nihan, has told Minivan News today that Shakeela’s removal was a democratic decision made by the parliamentary group.
“I cannot accept her claims in that regard, and cannot verify whether this is the case [of threats] or not,” said Nihan.
The Villimalé MP said that rejection of Shakeela by the parliamentary group after her nomination by the president sent a strong signal to ministers.
“If we [MPs] decide to give another year to Shakeela and wait for a whole year, who will be blamed?” he asked.
The President’s Office today said that it did not wish to comment on the interview, nor the allegations of death threats sent to the former cabinet minister.
Threats to politicians have become increasingly common in recent months, with Jumhooree Party leader Gasim Ibrahim alleging fellow politicians were behind these attempts at intimidation.
Corruption allegations
Dr Shakeela, speaking while attending a conference in Bhutan, said that political opponents intended to utilise the position to benefit from large scale corruption in the health sector.
“I am not talking about small amounts [of money]. For example, because of the state of disrepair of infrastructure, about MVR500,000 has to be spent at least to build even one place. In most places, it goes above a million,” she explained.
“So consider the profit people could make. They could give it to whoever they want. They could do whatever they want to purchase equipment. I tried to do it without allowing any of that.”
Dr Shakeela – who served as environment and energy minister under the previous government – also alleged that negative media coverage of the health sector was part of wider efforts to engineer her removal.
A series of protests over regional healthcare services came soon after it was revealed state-owned Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) had transfused HIV positive blood to a patient in February due to an alleged technical error.
In June, Fuvahmulah councillors called for Shakeela’s resignation after a case of stillbirth, an interrupted caesarean, and the death of a soldier on the island. A few weeks later, over 300 protestors demonstrated in Haa Dhaal Kulhudhuffushi over deteriorating conditions at the regional hospital.
Shakeela was up for parliamentary approval in August for the second time during President Abdulla Yameen’s administration after her initial portfolio as minister of health and gender was modified.
While Shakeela told Haveeru that she was not given adequate authority to carry out her job, PPM parliamentary leader Nihan today said that acting health minister Colonel (Ret.) Mohamed Nazim was now doing a “tremendous” job.
“I’m sure that the work of the acting Health Minister is commendable, work that Shakeela could not have done – I’m quite sure of that,” said Nihan.
Drawing parallels with the work of former health minister Ilyas Ibrahim – brother-in-law of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom – Nihan argued that the sector had needed a more proactive minister.
Nihan suggested that the money allocated to the health sector in the past two budgets had been generous, a point previously disputed by both Shakeela and Permanent Secretary at the health ministry Geela Ali
(1)Dislikes(0)The Department of National Planning (DNP) has called on all citizens to cooperate in a”national effort” for the 2014 census after suggestions that some groups would refuse to participate.
Assistant Director Fathimath Riyaza said that, while the department has not received any official indications from any persons of intention to boycott the census, it is aware of such sentiments.
The census – scheduled to take place between September 20 and 27 – will be the first time such national data has been collected since 2006.
Locals from the island of Vilufushi in Thaa Atoll have announced that they will be boycotting the census, due to the failure to provide permanent residents for those left homeless after the 2004 tsunami,
President of the Villufushi Island Council Ibrahim Shafiu stated that, while the decision to boycott the census was not taken by the council, it understands the reasons behind citizens’ refusal to participate.
“The general spirit among the people of Villufushi is that it is pointless to participate in the census when for years the state has failed to provide us something so crucial as a permanent address,” said Shafiu.
“We are living in 309 houses built for us by the Maldivian Red Crescent in 2009 after the tsunami disaster, but so far the government has failed to register these houses in our names,” he told Minivan News today.
Shafiu explained that the matter is currently under the jurisdiction of the ministry of housing and infrastructure after a 2012 council document outlined procedures for registering residents.
After sharing the document with the Local Government Authority, the Thaa Atoll Council, the housing ministry asked the council to halt the process while it sought advice from the attorney general, providing no other feedback.
“Over a year and a half has passed since then, and there has been no progress on this matter. I fear that this may lead to the beginning of multiple social problems on this island,” he stated.
Deputy Minister for Housing and Infrastructure Abdulla Muhthalib said that the delays in registering the houses is being caused by the “complex nature” of the matter.
According to Muhthalib, the Maldives Red Crescent (MRC) agreements state that each of the houses belongs to a number of persons who often do not share any familial relationships.
“If we register every house to the random collection of people who as per the agreement owns a part of it, it will only give raise to further problems. This makes it hard and so we have to find a way to avoid possible complications that may arise if we register the houses in this manner,” he explained.
He stated that the issue has been discussed with the Attorney General, but was unable to share details of current progress on the matter.
Fathimath Riyaza of the DNP said noted that the census was very important for the nation, and so individuals should offer their full cooperation.
“What we are conducting is a national effort done for the purpose of updating statistics, I therefore call on all citizens to cooperate with our work,” she stated.
Riyaza noted that the department had discussed the matter with the Vilufushi Island Council.
She also addressed comments on social media suggesting a boycott of the census in response to the perceived inadequate response to the disappearance of Minivan News journalist Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla.
“We, too, are extremely concerned and saddened by the journalist’s disappearance. However, it is not our job to look for and find any particular person. I call on the people to refrain from connecting these two things and to give us information about themselves.”
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