Tag: maldives

Authorities in the dark over Interpol’s Maldivian terror hunt

Maldivian authorities say they have no knowledge of any investigations of its nationals by Interpol regarding possible  involvement in an alleged terrorist plot to attack players at the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Ali of the Maldives Police Service told Minivan News that it had been given no information on any Maldivian nationals wanted for allegedly planning attacks on the World Cup. The only arrest police have confirmed to have made of late that was linked to terrorism was the arrest of local man Iqbal Mohamed over alleged involvement in an attack on the capital in 2007.

Mohamed was himself yesterday released by the country’s Criminal Court. Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed said the decision was made after an apparent “lack of information” supplied by police.

Today’s police comments were made as local paper Haveeru cited officials at Interpol, the international police organisation, as reportedly confirming that two Maldivian nationals suspected of involvement with Pakistani militant organisation Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET) were now wanted for planned attacks at the high-profile cricket tournament being held in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh.

The report came 24 hours after prominent regional media outlets such as the Times of India claimed that Iqbal Mohamed, who had been arrested by police earlier this month on charges relating to a homemade explosive device attack in Male’ in 2007, was suspected of being part of an alleged terror plot at the cricket World Cup. LeT was implicated in the 2008 attacks on Mumbai, India.

Haveeru said that Interpol representatives had confirmed that two unidentified Maldivian nationals were now wanted alongside four Pakistanis and an Afghan for alleged involvement in plans to strike the tournament; claims it has said were based on “reliable” information.

The report claimed that Interpol’s information had been based on the interrogation of several terror suspects it had arrested, which it was now using to collaborate with officials from South Asian nations like the Maldives over the matter.

Sub inspector Ali said that although the Maldives Police Force was a member of Interpol, it has not been collaborating over the alleged terror investigations of  Maldivian suspects or supplied with any information on the matter.

“A Maldivian (Iqbal Mohamed) was arrested a few weeks back, but we don’t have any new information since then [about these terrorism reports],” he said.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Ahmed Naseem said allegations of Maldivian involvement in planning potential terrorist attacks during the 2011 World Cup was “old news” and that the Ministry had not been provided with details of any such investigations being carried out by Interpol.

“We really don’t have details about this.  It is a matter for the police,” the spokesperson added.

Representatives from both the Pakistan Foreign Office and Interpol had not responded to Minivan News before going to press.

Interpol has not yet revealed to the media the identities of the two Maldivian suspects it is reportedly hunting, yet Iqbal Mohamed was yesterday identified by the Times of India as a “terrorist” suspect arrested who had been on his way to the Maldives from Karachi with “criminal intent”.

According to the report, Indian police authorities have already issued a general alert ahead of the tournament’s final match scheduled for April 2 in the city of Mumbai, while Australia was said to have last week updated a travel advisory for its citizens calling for a “high degree of caution” for anyone in the region during the event.

Speaking to Minivan News on 15 March, Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed that Iqbal Mohamed had been arrested on arrival at Male’ International Airport from Pakistan on 10 March, after regional authorities had alerted their Maldivian counterparts of his movements.

The arrest, according to Shiyam, was made in connection to an attack in Male’ in 2007, where a device built from components such as a gas cylinder, a washing machine motor and a mobile phone exploded injuring 12 tourists – several seriously.

Shiyam told Minivan News at the time that although Iqbal was believed to have been in Pakistan during the Male’ attack, he had been wanted by police for questioning as part of their ongoing investigations into the 2007 incident over an alleged role in the plan.

The sub inspector claimed that the Maldives Police Service had been waiting for the Prosecutor General to present a case against the suspect ahead of any potential trial in the Maldives and had not been aware of any motivation for his return to the country.

“We really don’t know why has had travelled back to the Maldives, but we have now arrested him.”

However, Iqbal was confirmed to have been released from custody yesterday by the Maldives’ Criminal Court after his arrest on March 10.

Iqbal was himself the subject of a red notice issued by Interpol, which was said to have drawn police attention after Interpol’s Major Events Support Team (IMEST) operating in Sri Lanka during the Cricket World Cup identified the suspect as he was travelling through the country back to the Maldives.

According to Interpol, red notices are a system used to keep the 188 nations that make up its members informed of arrest warrants issued by judicial authorities. Although the notices are not formal arrest warrants, the organisation said that they are used to identify individuals wanted for crimes under a national jurisdiction.

Following Iqbal’s arrest, Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that he did not believe the suspect’s return to the Maldives raised concerns about further potential attacks in the country.

He claimed that the country’s National Security Advisor had recently addressed the issue of religious fundamentalists after a request from the country’s Immigration Commissioner and found no additional concerns. Zuhair added that the advisor had concluded that there was not thought to be any terror cells operating within the Maldives and claimed there was no need to further heighten national security against such threats.

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Bangladeshi arrested for alleged rape attempt of 13 year-old girl

Police have arrested a Bangladeshi man who allegedly attempted to rape a 13 year-old girl in Eydhafushi, Baa Atoll.

Police Lance Corporal Abdul Majeed Moosa told Minivan News that police were called about the incident this morning at 2:30am.

”He was been arrested early this morning,” Moosa said. ”We can’t give more information as the investigation has not been concluded yet.”

The Bangladeshi man was 22 years-old, he added.

Local newspaper Haveeru reported that the Bangladeshi man entered the girl’s room at midnight while she was asleep and attempted to rape her.

According to Haveeru she bit his finger and he left. The man was naked when he entered the girl’s house, Haveeru reported according to sources.

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Rebels push Gaddafi back as NATO provides aircover

Forces loyal to Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi have been pushed back by Benghazi rebels after coalition airstrikes grounded both the Libyan airforce and tank columns.

The rebels yesterday retook the oil export towns of Brega and Ajdabiya in the country’s east, the latter 30 miles from the refining station at Ras Lanouf.

Spokesperson for the rebel’s Transitional National Council, Shamsiddin Abdulmollah, told journalists in Banghazi that Gaddafi’s forces were “now on the back because they no longer have air power and heavy weaponry available.”

AFP meanwhile reports that 117 people have been killed and more than 1300 wounded in a week of attacks by Gaddafi’s forces on Misrata, Libya’s third largest city, which has been targeted by snipers and artillery after French aircraft destroyed at least five planes and two helicopters in the region yesterday.

US President Barack Obama stated over the weekend that NATO was fulfilling the UN Security Council’s resolution and that the no-fly zone had been established to protect civilians.

“Make no mistake, because we acted quickly, a humanitarian catastrophe has been avoided and the lives of countless civilians – innocent men, women and children – have been saved,” Obama said.

Gaddafi’s government has accused the international community of pushing the country into civil war by choosing sides: “it is not to protect civilians because now they are directly fighting against the armed forces,” Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told Associated Press.

Libya’s former ambassador to the United States, Ali Aujali, has meanwhile praised the intervention as warding off “another massacre in Africa that [would have been] remembered like Srebrenica and Rwanda. It was the right action at the right time.”

Meanwhile, the foreign press pack in Tripoli was visibly shaken after a woman in her 30s, Iman al-Obeidi, burst in on foreign journalists at the Rixos Al Nasr hotel to say she had been gang raped by 15 government militia.

Obeidi showed the media slashes and bruises on her body, and screamed as Gaddafi’s media minders hauled her outside. Two journalists who tried to protect Obeidi were punched and beaten by the minders, who smashed cameras and reportedly drew a gun and threatened the media, claiming Obeidi was mentally ill.

Correspondent with the UK’s Channel 4 television station, Jonathan Miller, was knocked to the ground and kicked when he attempted to intervene.

“There was a desperate sense of our failure to prevent the thugs taking her away,” Miller told papers in the UK today. “There was nothing more that we could have done as we were overtly threatened by considerable physical force.”

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Addu “tailor-made for the lazy tropical cyclist”: UK Telegraph

Once described as a place of “harrowing tranquillity” where “grown men weep with sheer geographical frustration”, Addu is now a secret speck of heaven, tailor-made for the lazy tropical cyclist, writes Nigel Tisdall in the UK’s Telegraph newspaper.

“Spared the worst ravages of the bleaching that has dulled the coral in other parts of the Maldives, the seabed here is bejewelled with flashes of blue, green and purple. As the sun gains strength, the lagoon surrounding me fills with an immense calm. It is 82F (28C) and you know it’s going to be another classic day of clear blue skies, sensational snorkelling trips, siestas on the daybed, then dinner on the beach with rows of candles decorating the sand.

“So far, so very high-end Maldives – except that down here in Addu, the southernmost atoll in this 500-mile island chain, the holiday experience is refreshingly different. Traditionally, a trip to the Maldives has meant flying into the capital, Malé, then bouncing onwards as fast as possible to one of almost a hundred small and luxurious lily-pads that ceaselessly vie with one another to offer the most indulgent experiences.

“Some islands are so small you can walk round them in 10 minutes, others proffer ridiculously OTT amenities such as an underwater restaurant, pretentious afternoon teas and wine cellars with bottles costing up to £38,000. Invariably there is a niggling fear that a week in the Maldives, however much you are in love, could well leave you feeling trapped, bored and overcharged.”

Full story

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Bangladesh and Maldives have long shared histories, says Nasheed at national day celebrations

The High Commission of Bangladesh yesterday celebrated its national day, marking 40 years of independence, with a reception and dinner at Dharubaaruge.

Speaking at the ceremony, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to the Maldives, Rear Admiral Abu Saeed Mohamed Abdul Awal, observed that the Maldives recognised Bangladesh’s independence in 1972, “soon after our independence.”

Bangladesh was “keenly watching the democratisation process” in the Maldives, Awal said, “and it is gratifiying to watch the Maldives consolidate its democracy.”

Awal congratulated the Maldives for graduating from the UN’s definition of a Less Developed Country (LDC) to a Middle Income country, adding that this was one of Bangladesh’s goals and that it hoped to learn from the Maldivian experience.

“I hope the Maldives retains the advantages of being a LDC by using the climate change card effectively, so we can follow later,” Awal said.

Bangladesh was the world’s 21st fastest-growing economy with a US$90 billion economy, and was now the world’s fourth largest exporter of garments, he said. Even during the global recession Bangladesh had retained a growth rate of 5.5-6 percent, he added.

Acknowledging the large number of Bangladeshi expatriates working in the Maldives, Awal noted that worldwide, remittances from Bangladeshi expatriates contributed US$11 billion to the country’s economy.

“At the same time we are working very closely with the Maldivian government to ensure that expatriates can work under proper conditions. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on manpower is in final stage, and the signing will bring the employment of expatriates under greater regulatory approval.”

President Mohamed Nasheed noted that the relationship between Bangladesh and the Maldives extended far into both country’s histories.

“As traders we have always had good contact with Bengalis,” Nasheed said.

“In recent times both our countries have become more strongly joined, not just through just SAARC, but through the immense contribution of Bangladeshi workers to our development efforts. We are thankful for the work done by the Bangladeshi community in the Maldives, and we strongly believe living conditions for migrant workers has to improve.”

Nasheed noted that Bangladesh had worked closely with the Maldives on issues and challenges relating to multilateral agency funding, adding that Bangladesh had very strong experience with the procurement proceedures of international donor agencies.

“Donor agencies funding mechanisms have their own cycles relating to their own administrative affairs, not to the development efforts of recipient countries,” he said. “This has been an issue very widely discussed in Bangladesh.”

South Asia, Nasheed said, “deserves much better. We are one of the fastest growing regions in the world, but very often a large number of people are left behind in development efforts.

“We want to see wider distribution of wealth as well as the provision of safe drinking water and electricity.”

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Letter on High Court appointments

Dear President Mohamed Nasheed,

Since the committee has not followed the criteria set up by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to allocate marks for the potential judges of the high court, and since constitutional problems are apparent in the process of appointing judges to the High Court, I voluntarily participated in case forwarded by Baa Kendhoo Abdul Bari Yousuf, in the hopes that an independent and fair verdict would be reached.

But to the surprise of the whole judiciary, this particular case has been rejected by the courts and as a result the trust I, myself and the people have placed in the judicial process has grown faint.

Therefore as I am responsible for heading an official institution, I am obliged to work towards correcting this matter. And according to the article 115 of the constitution, since it is your responsibility to maintain the rule of law, I am obliged to report this to you. I sincerely request you to bring an end to this process which is violating the rules and laws of the State. Due to the inconvenience and shortage of time, I am unable to provide you with all the details of the matter.

Yours sincerely,

Hassan Saeed

Chief judge of Family Court

All letters are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write a letter, please submit it to [email protected]

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JSC appoints five judges to High Court bench

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has appointed five judges to the High Court bench. The five took their oaths of office last night.

The five were Shuaib Hussein Zakariyya, Dr Azmiraldha Zahir, Abdurauf Ibrahim, Abbas Shareef and Ali Sameer.

The appointment of the judges had been previously scheduled however right before the five were about to take the oath and officially commence work, Criminal Court Judge Abdul Baary Yousuf filed a case in the Civil Court claiming that there was discrimination between men and woman in the appointment.

Judge Baary’s case, which was later taken to the Supreme Court, ended up as a void complaint after the court ruled that Judge Baary had left the town without informing the Supreme Court.

The High Court has said on its website that the five new judges have taken the oath of office last night.

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Maldives marks Earth Hour

Many shops along Male’s main street of Majeedee Magu, as well as houses and even television stations turned the power off for an hour last night to mark Earth Hour.

At the Bangladesh independence day celebrations held yesterday at Dharubaaruge, attended by President Mohamed Nasheed, the lights were ceremoniously dimmed then restored.

The international event, organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) was first held in Sydney in 2007 when 2.2 million residents turned off the electricity. Power utilities estimated that electricity consumption dropped 10 percent.

Earth Hour 2011 took place across the world at 8:30pm-9:30pm local time.

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Islamic Ministry says alms payments up during 2010

The Islamic Ministry has claimed that the number of Maldivians paying alms has raised “dramatically” due to its own efforts in raising awareness of the religious rite.

The claims were made as the “Nisab”, defined as the minimum amount of income that should be earned before people are required to donate 2.5 per cent of their savings and revenue, rose 14.2 per cent to Rf8,573.95 based on the ministry’s guidance, according to Haveeru.

This guidance is formed around calculations made by the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) based on factors such as comparing market prices for gold and silver.

The paper reported that by December of last year, Rf36,000,478.05 in alms was paid by 2,225 people. The figure was up from the Rf 27,412,507.83 collected over the same period in 2009.

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