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Comment: Mistakes cannot be rectified after an execution

This article first appeared on the website of the UK High Commission. Republished with permission.

Like many I was saddened by the execution of the Sri Lankan housemaid Rizana Nafeek in Saudia Arabia last week.

The UK has been actively supporting calls for clemency, not least because there is evidence to suggest that Rizana was a minor at the time of the alleged murder she committed (UK statement on execution).

The UK and fellow EU Member States are strong advocates for abolition of the death penalty (which is no longer permitted in the EU). Last autumn we tried to encourage both Sri Lanka and Maldives to join us in supporting the UN moratorium on the Death Penalty. Despite supporting the previous UN motion in 2010, this time both countries chose to abstain.

Although both Sri Lanka and the Maldives have legislative provision for imposing the death penalty, neither country has carried out judicial executions for some time (since 1976 in Sri Lanka and 1953 in Maldives).

But in both countries there have been recent calls for the reintroduction of the death penalty to help combat some of the more serious crimes. As someone who has worked with very serious offenders in previous jobs, I personally doubt the efficacy of capital punishment as a means of deterring crime and the research I have seen bears this out.

Of course for some people and cultures retribution is an important part of the argument.

It’s natural to feel anger and to desire revenge when we have been wronged. But part of the role of an impartial justice system is to remove emotion from the consideration in order to arrive at an objective assessment of the facts.

This is not to say that the victim’s wishes or feelings should be ignored, but a more dispassionate approach reduces the prospects of a miscarriage of justice. And after an execution, mistakes can, of course, never be rectified.

For others, forgiveness is a stronger impulse.

I was humbled to read the recent comments of Mrs Nimalaraja, a Sri Lankan whose husband was killed by a 14 year old boy in the UK last summer. Following the sentencing of her husband’s assailant last week she said: “I am not angry any more. Before, I was angry because I lost my husband, but I am not angry now. The boy is a child and he didn’t mean to kill Nimal – it was an accident.”

For Mrs Nimalaraja – who attended every court sitting – understanding what had happened and seeing justice done was more important than heaping heavy punishment on the perpetrator.

Robbie Bulloch is the UK Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

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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Parliament probe into CoNI report meeting government resistance

A probe by parliament’s Executive Oversight Committee into the Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI) report is meeting resistance from high level government officials, members have claimed.

Attorney General (AG) Aishath Azima Shakoor issued a letter to the Majlis Speaker Abdulla Shahid stating that the probe into the Commonwealth-backed report was a violation of the Parliamentary rules of procedure, local media reported.

“The work carried out by the Parliament’s Government Accountability Committee is out of the mandate assigned to it under the Parliament rules of procedure,” Shakoor told Haveeru.

“I stress that the committees do not possess the authority to deal with this report in any other manner.”

According to Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) Spokesperson MP Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, the committee has been a bipartisan effort following the “house rules” of Parliamentary procedure.

Nine of the 11 members, including MPs of the government-aligned Dhivehi Raiythaungee Party (DRP) and Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM), were present on Tuesday (January 15).

The committee has been conducting a “normal” probe since December 2012 to determine whether former President Mohamed Nasheed’s resignation was made under duress, Ghafoor said.

“It is rather bizarre that after two weeks of committee meetings the Attorney General is suddenly opposed to business as usual. These allegations have arisen after hearings with people involved in the coup, such as Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz, Minister of Defence Mohamed Nazim, and Chief of Defence Force Major General Ahmed Shiyam.”

Shiyam and Nazim refused to cooperate with the Committee, as advised by their lawyers. In response, the Committee filed a motion on Wednesday (January 16) requesting the Prosecutor General forward charges against them for violating the constitution with their non-compliance.

Meanwhile, President Mohamed Waheed refused to provide the interviews, tapes and statements given to the CoNI as per the Committee’s request, local media reports. The Committee made two previous requests in December 2012 before it adjourned for 10 days.

“Parliament’s job is oversight over the executive [branch] rather than the executive having oversight over us. Dr Waheed does not understand that basic concept of democracy,” Ghafoor told Minivan News.

“The Attorney General is doing the same, she has the general concept [of democracy] wrong. I don’t see what mandate she has to comment on procedures of parliament or question the powers of the committee,” he added.

According to Ghafoor, the committee will continue to conduct the CoNI probe – as they believe they are operating “by the book” – and compile the report. Their findings will then be sent to the Parliament floor, where the Majlis will accept or reject it.

Attorney General Shukoor was not responding to calls at time of press.

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Thilafushi Corporation Limited incurs MVR 650 million loss from reclamation project

Thilafushi Corporation Limited (TCL) has incurred MVR 650 million (US$ 42 million) worth of losses over the Thilafushi reclamation project, local media reports.

Speaking at a Parliament Public Accounts Sub-Committee, attorney representing TCL Mazlan Rasheed was quoted as saying that if the project had been completed, the company would have earned US$400 million.

The loss was incurred due to the Heavy Load company not reclaiming the agreed 152 hectares of land within the granted six month period, Sun Online reported.

According to Rasheed, Heavy Load had only reclaimed 32 hectares and that a further US$1 million needs to spent on levelling the reclaimed ground.

The Thilafushi reclamation project was awarded to Heavy Load for a sum of US$21 million (MVR 323 million).

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No intention to reverse decision to charge 15 year-old with fornication: PG’s office

The Prosecutor General’s (PG) office has “no intention” of reversing the decision to charge a 15 year-old child abuse victim with fornication, local media has reported.

An official from the PG’s office told local newspaper Haveeru that the decision to charge the 15-year-old from Shaviyani Atoll Feydhoo with fornication was made after extensive assessment of the case.

Back in June 2012, the same minor – a school student at the time – gave birth to a baby later discovered buried in the outdoor shower area of a home on Feydhoo.

The discovery led to the arrest of four people, including the 15 year-old girl’s mother and step father.

Haveeru reported that as the charges filed against the girl have no connection with the buried baby case, the PG’s office had no intention to withdraw the charges.

“So far we have no intention of reversing the decision to charge her at the Juvenile Court,” a PG’s official was quoted by local media.

Speaking to Minivan News on January 9 the Prosecutor General (PG’s) Office confirmed it had pressed charges against a 15 year-old girl from the island of Feydhoo in Shaviyani Atoll for having “consensual sexual relations”.

A spokesperson for the PG’s Office said the charges against the minor were unrelated to a separate case against the girl’s stepfather over allegations he had sexually abused her.

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Foreign Ministry halts issuing India visa application tokens

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to hand back all Indian visa application operations to the Indian High Commission following a decline in visa requests, a Foreign Ministry spokesman has confirmed.

Last month Maldivians were forced to queue outside the Indian High Commission in Male’ – sometimes overnight – to obtain medical visas to travel to India due to tightened restrictions by Indian authorities.

To alleviate the issue, the Foreign Ministry launched an SMS system that alerted individuals when it was their turn to have their visas processed.

However, following a decline in visa requests this month, Maldivians wishing to obtain tokens for their Indian visas to be processed will now have to use the Indian High Commission building as before, as the Foreign Ministry is no longer providing the service.

A spokesman from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Minivan News that the decision to hand back full control of the visa process to the Indian High Commission was due to a “decline in visa requests”.

“During the school holidays there were more locals requesting visas to go to India, however the holidays are over now and the demand is less.

“Also, only 50 percent of the people we contacted by SMS to collect their visas from the high commission actually turned up,” the spokesman added.

Asked as to what would happen should the visa demand suddenly increase, the spokesperson assured the ministry would take measures to “ensure” all visas are processed

“If there is a requirement we will consult the Indian High Commission. It is currently issuing 53 tokens per day and we think that is working fine for now,” he said. “We will ensure that Maldivians will get their visas.”

An official from within the Indian High Commission today confirmed that visa applications to India had decreased, noting that today there had been “less than 50” applicants.

“The Foreign Ministry is only taking difficult cases now as the arrangement from December was only a temporary solution to deal with the circumstances,” he said.

The official admitted that there was a possibility for the queues to increase following the switch, however added “if there is a problem, we will try our best to find a solution to it.”

Visa restrictions

The High Commission has claimed that the tightened restrictions were in line with a bilateral agreement signed back in 1979 and its appropriation by Maldivian authorities in the intervening years.

A source within the Indian High Commission, speaking to Minivan News on December 29, 2012, contended that all visas given to Maldivians for travel to India were provided free of charge – a courtesy claimed to have not been extended to Indian citizens coming to the Maldives for work.

The commission spokesperson added that the introduction of the tighter regulations was imposed as a clear “signal” from Indian authorities that the concerns it had over practices in the Maldives such as the confiscation of passports of migrant workers, needed to be brought to an end.

On November 26 last year, a public notice had been issued by the Maldives Immigration Department requesting no employer in the country should be holding passports of expatriate workers.

The Maldives has come under strong criticism internationally in recent years over its record in trying to prevent people trafficking, with the country appearing on the US State Department’s Tier Two Watch List for Human Trafficking three years in a row.

The high commission also claimed this year that skilled expatriate workers from India, employed in the Maldives education sector, had continued to be “penalised” due to both government and private sector employers failing to fulfil their responsibilities.

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Freedom House drops Maldives, Mali from list of electoral democracies

The Maldives is one of two countries to be dropped from Freedom House’s list of electoral democracies, in its annual survey of political rights and civil liberties.

The other, Mali, is a landlocked nation in West Africa which experienced a coup d’état on March 21 and is now battling a surge in Islamic extremism, harsh sanctions and foreign military intervention.

Freedom House is an independent, non-government watchdog organisation dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world. The NGO assesses and scores countries for political rights and civil liberties each year, and labels them ‘free’, ‘partly free’, or ‘not free’.

The Maldives’s political rights rating shifted from three to five (higher is less free) during 2012, “due to the forcible removal of democratically elected president Mohamed Nasheed, violence perpetrated against him and his party, the suspension of the parliament’s summer session, and the role of the military in facilitating these events,” Freedom House stated. Civil liberties remained at a score of four.

The country remained listed as “partly free” for the third time, after being upgraded from ‘not free’ in 2009 following the 2008 presidential election.

According to Freedom House’s definition, a partly free country “is one in which there is limited respect for political rights and civil liberties. Partly free states frequently suffer from an environment of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic and religious strife, and a political landscape in which a single party enjoys dominance despite a certain degree of pluralism.”

Approximately 46 of the world’s population live in ‘free’ countries, while 47 live in those designated ‘not free’. “Noteworthy gains” in freedom were made in Egypt, Libya, Burma, and the Côte d’Ivoire. Lesotho, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Tonga moved from ‘party free’ to ‘free’.

Full report

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ACC to investigate Club Faru Resort complaints

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is to investigate whether Club Faru Resort employees were hired without being told of a change in management, local media reports.

Earlier this month, the Tourism Ministry took over the resort from its present owners following the expiry of its lease agreement and handed control to the government-owned Maldives Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC).

President of ACC Hassan Luthfy told local media that while no case had been filed to the commission in writing regarding Club Faru, the ACC was investigating due to the complaints received from “various groups” in relation to the resort.

“The major complaint we have received is that the government operates the resort using its previous employees, and that they were given employment without making the necessary announcements. These kinds of complaints, we are looking into them,” he said.

Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb told Minivan News that the resort would be closed within two months as part of the government’s plan to begin the second phase of “reclaiming” Hulhumale’ this year.

“The resort is to be operated by a government company for two months and it will then be closed down and reclaimed.
“It was a seven year lease that expired on November 15,” he said earlier this month. “Now the government has decided to reclaim that part of Hulhumale’.”

Adheeb told Minivan News that the resort would be closed as part of the government’s plans to begin the second phase of “reclaiming” Hulhumale’ this year.

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PPM would pursue oil exploration, foreign investment: Abdulla Yameen

The potential for developing a domestic oil industry was launched as a campaign issue during a speech on Monday (January 14) by Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) presidential prospect, MP Abdulla Yameen.

Yameen proclaimed “when the PPM comes to power” it will conduct oil exploration, attract foreign investment and create 26,000 tourism jobs.

However, the Maldives’ environmental image and commitments are no obstacles to oil industry development, according to Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb – currently standing for nomination as the PPM’s vice president.

Adheeb told Minivan News the Maldives was “a big nation, and places not in marine protected zones or tourism areas could be explored for oil, like in the less developed north.”

“Oil exploration is a term and [we] cannot conclude something with out the details. Regulations and more planning need to be done,” he said.

The ‘Draft Maldives Fourth Tourism Master Plan’ released January 9 by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture emphasises the need for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and renewable energy as part of its five-year strategic plan.

“The tourism sector is expected to contribute to the carbon neutral goal by introducing measures over the next eight years for energy efficiency and replacing fossil fuel with renewable energy,” the report states.

The plan contains various strategic actions aimed at “developing and enforcing” management plans for [marine protected areas] and sensitive environments. This includes “implementing a low carbon program for the tourism industry”.

“A long-term focus on adopting reliable and affordable energy from renewable resources (like sun, wind, sea and biomass) provides an opportunity to enhance our tourism development model, already well known for its sustainable practices. A low carbon path for development has been identified as key development strategy in Maldives as a whole,” the report notes.

“[Economic] diversification is in line with the tourism master plan,” Adheeb told Minivan News.

“[The] first priority should be tourism [however] the economy needs to be diversified and protected,” he said.

Yameen pledges oil exploration

During the launch of the PPM ‘Team Yageen’ campaign, Yameen declared his platform would focus on foreign investment and the creation of job opportunities, local media reported.

“Given the current economic situation, local businessmen alone cannot create enough job opportunities. We must welcome foreign investors for the benefit of our nation,” Yameen said, according to Haveeru.

Yameen’s proposals include searching for oil, prioritising the tourism industry, and creating a cargo transit port.

Previous oil exploration attempts in 1980 found the cost of retrieving the oil was too high compared to the US$20 (MVR 308) price per barrel at the time. However the present price of US$125 (MVR 1925) per barrel made further exploration feasible.

“It is very possible oil might be found in the Maldives,” Yameen said.

“[The PPM] have a very close relationship with tourist resort owners. The [economic] benefits of the tourism industry are creating job opportunities through the [tourism goods and services] tax,” he added.

Team Umar’s stance

‘Team Yageen’s opposition for the PPM leadership, ‘Team Umar’, played down the proposal.

PPM Interim Vice President Umar Naseer said it was not acceptable for people in responsible portfolios of the government to talk about things that they could not do while they were in power.

Yameen’s proposal to search for oil in the Maldives was not new, Naseer claimed, noting that Yameen had plenty of time during the Gayoom administration to pursue such an agenda.

”Fifteen years is enough time for someone searching for oil to find it. ‘Team Umar’ will not make empty talk; if we are to search for oil, then we will find it and sell it,” said Naseer.

”These words are not new to us. If they had been new words they would have impressed ‘Team Umar’ as well,” he added.

Government biosphere and renewable energy commitments

The development of an oil industry in the Maldives would be an apparent reversal of President Mohamed Waheed’s declaration during the Rio 20+ UN Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012 that the Maldives would “become the first country to be a marine reserve”.

During the conference, Waheed highlighted the 2012 establishment of the first UNESCO Biosphere reserve in Baa Atoll, as well as the Maldives’ commitment to carbon neutrality and sustainable development.

“Our tourism sector is a sustainable one, relying on the preservation of our magnificent coral reefs, beautiful beaches and our rich and diverse marine life,” Waheed stated.

The Maldives is meanwhile participating in the 3rd General Assembly of International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, which started this week (13 January 2013).

Minister of Environment and Energy Dr Mariyam Shakeela has also highlighted the ongoing renewable energy activities undertaken by the Maldivian government and the necessity of renewable energy for mitigating climate change.

Shakeela recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Diesel Replacement Project of the Clinton Climate Initiative’s Clean Energy Initiative, a program of the William J Clinton Foundation.

The focus of this program is to enact “projects and policies that directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions” including renewable energy projects to reduce dependency on diesel fuel.

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Government schedules talks over reforming sexual abuse laws

The Maldivian government has said it remains committed to legislative reforms regarding the treatment of minors and other victims of sexual offences in the country.

President’s Office Media Secretary Masood Imad told Minivan News the government had scheduled meetings next week with the both the environment and Islamic ministries to amend local laws that he contended, in certain cases, punished sexual abuse victims as if they were criminals.

The government last week announced it was looking to review legislation in the country in line with relevant authorities amidst international media coverage of a decision by the Prosecutor General (PG’s) Office to press charges against 15 year-old girl for having “consensual sexual relations”.

In a case unrelated to these charges, the girl’s stepfather was also facing criminal charges for alleged sexual abuse of the minor after authorities last year discovered a new born baby buried in the outdoor shower area of a home on the island of Feydhoo.

Judicial authorities told Minivan News earlier this month that the charges against the 15 year-old were yet to be filed with the Juvenile Court at the time.

Director of the Department of Judicial Administration Ahmed Maajid was not responding to calls today.

Victimisation

After pledging last week to review laws on the back of a number of similar cases where young women had been victimised and punished by authorities – Masood claimed that discussions would be held next week on the treatment of minors and adults who had been sexually abused.

“If needs be we will come out with legislation were victims [of sexual abuse] are treated as victims,” he said. “It’s incredible that sometimes these victims are actually being seen as perpetrators [of crime] under the law.”

Masood added that the government would be making further announcements on its future plans to address these concerns once it had held talks scheduled for next week with ministerial and legislative authorities.

Acting Minister of Gender, Family and Human rights Dr Mariyam Shakeela, Minister of Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed and Attorney General Azima Shukoor were not responding to calls at time of press.

NGO criticism

The filing of criminal charges of “consensual sexual relations” against the 15 year-old girl were slammed this month as an “absolute outrage” by NGO Amnesty International.

The NGO’s Maldives Researcher Abbas Faiz stressed that suspected victims of rape and sexual abuse required counselling and support rather than facing prosecution.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) Vice President Ahmed Tholal told Minivan News at the time Amnesty’s statement was released that he was hugely concerned about the number of reports of sexual abuse against minors in the country.

Fornication offence

Back in September 2012, a 16 year-old girl was sentenced to house arrest and 100 lashes for fornication with a 29 year-old man.

Permanent Magistrate of Hulhudhuhfaaru in Raa Atoll, Magistrate Abdul Samad Abdulla, sentenced the girl to eight months house arrest, and public flogging once she reaches the age of 18.

Ali Rashid, an official of the Hulhudhuhfaaru Magistrate Court,referred Minivan News to Article 25 of the act detailing special actions to be taken in cases of sexual offences against children (Act number: 12/2009).

Article 25 says: “Unless proven otherwise, it cannot be considered that a child between ages 13-18 had given consent to committing a sexual act. And unless proven otherwise, it will be considered that the sexual act was committed without the child’s consent.”

In November 2011, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, speaking in parliament, raised concerns about the issue of flogging in the Maldives.

Pillay said at the time: “This practice constitutes one of the most inhumane and degrading forms of violence against women, and should have no place in the legal framework of a democratic country.”

Her statements and calls for discussion on the issue were met with outrage from then political opposition and religious conservative Adhaalath party, giving rise to protests and demonstrations. The Foreign Ministry, under the former government of Mohamed Nasheed, dismissed the calls for discussion on the issue, stating: “There is nothing to debate about in a matter clearly stated in the religion of Islam. No one can argue with God.”

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