Police have arrested a man for entering a house, threatening its people with a sharp object and stealing jewellery and a phone.
According to the police, the arrested man is 22 years of age. He was arrested while inside the Fisherman’s Park, Malé, after the burglary.
Police found the stolen items in his possession.
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(0)The Family Court has ruled that the baby of Ahmed Sharuan and Tanja Sharuan cannot be separated from the mother.
The verdict last week however stated that the court cannot rule on child custody as the couple is still legally married.
In March 2014, Ahmed Sharuan was accused by his wife Tanja Sharuan of abducting the couple’s baby from her home in Zurich.
The Family Court subsequently released an injunction ordering the father to return the child to the mother. Sharuan appealed the decision at the High Court.
However, the High Court upheld the decision of the Family Court on March 20, and on March 24 Sharuan returned the baby to the mother in the presence of police.
Tanja also launched an Aavaaz petition at the time, seeking support for her cause while claiming that Sharuan was accusing her of attempting to raise the child as a non-Muslim despite her conversion to Islam.
(0)Dislikes(0)Vice President Mohamed Jameel Ahmed has stated that the government will review and raise teachers’ pay once the state income increases.
Speaking at a meeting with the school management staff of several atolls held in Nasandhura Palace Hotel on Sunday, Jameel also spoke of the policies for teachers which the current administration has introduced since it assumed office in 2013.
In addition to increasing the amount of pay that teachers can earn during overtime working hours, the government also introduced a scheme in which teachers can pursue studies while on pay leave, Jameel said.
He described the teachers work as a service done “in national spirit”, stating that they continue to work with extremely low wages, adding that the services are so valuable that it cannot ever be repaid.
“At the moment, there is no additional income to the state budget. However, I am aware of how to develop the Maldives. While we introduce huge plans and talk about needing accountants and hundreds of doctors or other professionals, the truth is that it all rests in your hands,” he told the education professionals.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Maldives Journalists Association (MJA) has announced that it will be holding its executive committee elections on June 2.
The association has attempted to hold the elections on two previous instances, with each attempt halted due to disagreements on procedural matters between its members.
MJA President Ahmed Zahir said that he is hopeful that the election can be successfully held this time.
“Our intention has always been to hold a successful election. Even on the previous two tries, we tried to complete it. However, some of our members had various reservations. We have tried to address them this time around, and so are hopeful that it can be successfully concluded,” he said.
(0)Dislikes(0)With additional reporting by Lucy Lovell
The Maldives should take precautionary steps to ensure that it does not become a hub for people smuggling, Minister of Defence and National Security Mohamed Nazim said on Sunday.
“This smuggling of people is done by garnering a lot of financial aid. People smuggling has become a huge business globally.”
“We must do all necessary to inhibit people smuggling through the Maldives,” said the minister.
Despite the recent introduction of legislation to address the country’s longstanding problems with human trafficking, doubts persist over implementation, as well as the law’s capacity to prosecute human smuggling – different to trafficking in that individuals give a measure of consent to be transported illegally.
Speaking at the inauguration of a workshop titled ‘Capacity Building for Front line Investigation and Border Control Officers to Combat People Smuggling’ – which started in Kurumba Island Resort on Sunday – Nazim spoke of the important role that can be played by immigration and police officers to prevent people smuggling.
He further stated that the immigration cell established at the Immigration Department needs to further develop and function more strongly in the future.
“We in the Maldives do not want anyone to use our borders to illegally cross into other countries. Even quite recently, we came across some Syrians who used the Maldives as an intermediary to travel onto another country.”
“We must ensure that the Maldivian border is one which is safe and protected, and that people are aware of this security,” added Nazim during the event organised by the International Organisation for Migration, and the Department of Immigration and Emigration.
Smuggling concerns
The defence minister – also in charge of the immigration department – announced plans to apprehend and deport all undocumented foreign workers from the capital Malé within four months.
Local NGO Transparency Maldives recently estimated that the number of migrant workers in the country could number as many as 200,000 – a figure that amounts to two thirds of the country’s population.
The Maldives’ first anti trafficking legislation was ratified by President Abdulla Yameen in December last year, receiving a mixed responses from the Human Rights Commission Maldives (HRCM).
Assistant Controller Ali Ashraf from the HRCM described the new legislation at the time as “an excellent piece of work”, though he noted that the failure to include the category of smuggling in the act made it very likely that offenders would be able to evade prosecution.
“The definition of trafficking can be twisted so easily,” warned Ashraf.
The HRCM has also raised the issue of Syrian refugees – mentioned by the defence minister today – using the Maldives as a transit point back in November 2013.
A leaked document from the immigration department, obtained by Minivan News last year, that the Maldives status as a tourist hub granting free visas upon arrival to over one million tourists a year, made it increasingly attractive as a transit destination
Previous case studies on several refugees appeared to reveal inconsistencies with the immigration department’s decisions, with similar refugee cases receiving different verdicts from Maldivian authorities.
HRCM member Jeehan Mahmood argued that the government’s inconsistencies resulted in discriminatory practices inappropriate to a country aspiring to uphold its human rights obligations.
(0)Dislikes(0)Police have arrested a man on charges of sexually abusing a 13 year old girl with disabilities.
The arrested man is a 25-year-old male – reportedly a friend of the victim’s family.
Both the victim and the arrested man are from the island of Gaafaru in Kaafu Atoll.
While confirming the arrest, police declined to provide further details on the case.
(0)Dislikes(0)The Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure has contracted the Maldives Road Development Corporation to build nine main roads in the island of Fonadhoo in Laamu Atoll.
The project is estimated to cost MVR47 million (US$3 million) which is funded for in the state budget.
The roads are to be built with tar, while the first phase will see the construction of pavements in all nine roads.
As per the agreement, the project is to be completed within 18 months after the work commences.
(0)Dislikes(0)Netherlands based maritime infrastructure company Royal Boskalis Westminster is committing “serious environmental crimes” in the Maldives, a local environmental group has said.
The company – claimed to have the world’s largest dredging fleet – has come under fire for mining sand from the country’s only UNESCO biosphere reserve in Baa Atoll.
It also failed to build a barrier to prevent excess dredge soil from spilling onto the reef in Baa Atoll Eydhaushi Island – a move that could cause serious damage to the fragile ecosystem.
“Boskalis has to leave the Maldives now,” Ecocare founder Maeed M. Zahir told Minivan News.
The US$ 37 million four-island reclamation project has reclaimed 20 hectares in Dhaalu Atoll Meedhoo Island in March and 33 hectares in Baa Atoll Eydhafushi Island last week. Work is ongoing on Kaafu Atoll Thulusdhoo Island while a date for reclamation in Dhaalu Atoll Kudahuvadhoo Island has not yet been set.
In the two islands where reclamation was completed houses and vegetation on the shorelines were also covered in fine mixture of sand and salt due to the use of the “rainbow technique” which propels soil into the air.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has previously said fine sand particles thrust into the air by the rainbow technique could cause lung and respiratory issues.
Housing Ministry complicit
Maeed accused the Housing Ministry of being complicit in Bosaklis’ violation of environmental regulations, noting the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) had issued several warnings ordering the company to stop unsafe dredging.
“The Housing Ministry’s failure to stop the project means the ministry is pushing Boskalis. By the time, the EPA warnings arrive, the damage is already done,” he said.
Minister of Environment and Energy Thoriq Ibrahim told Minivan News the EPA is investigating the case.
According to Maeed, the EPA had said it will impose a fine on Boskalis, but the agency has failed to do so. He called for the EPA to be removed from the Environment Ministry’s remit and given greater powers as an independent body to prevent violations in the future.
Boskalis began dredging in Meedhoo in March, but the EPA halted the project temporarily for failure to follow procedures recommended in an environmental impact assessment report.
Instead of using pipelines to transport dredged sand to the shore, Bosaklis dredgers propelled sand and salt through the air covering houses and vegetation on the shoreline in debris.
Housing Minister Mohamed Muizz told local media at the time that safety measures would be followed in the future.
However, Boskalis used the same techniques in Baa Atoll Eydhafushi Island, and furthermore, dredged sand from the UNESCO biosphere reserve and transported it to Thulusdhoo Island in Kaafu Atoll for ongoing land reclamation.
Eydhafushi residents spotted a Boskalis dredger carrying sand away from the island this weekend, and raised the issue with the EPA.
Eydhafushi Island Councillor Mohamed Riza said the company had not sought permission from the local government to mine sand from the atoll.
Baa Atoll was declared a biosphere reserve in June 2011. It is the first of it’s kind in the Maldives.
President Abdulla Yameen inaugurated the Thuludhoo reclamation project this morning.
(0)Dislikes(0)With additional reporting by Daniel Bosley
The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has noted the increase of child participation in serious crimes, stating that children coerced or forced into committing such crimes should not be prosecuted.
“It has come to our notice that children are taking part in serious crimes of late. As children are persons who are sometimes unable to reflect on their situations and judge wrong from right, the number of children who realise they are committing a crime will be few,” the commission said.
The HRCM described it as “unacceptable that some adults are coercing children to commit crimes so that they can remain safely in the background and free of legal repercussions while it is the children who are prosecuted for these crimes.”
“Crimes involving children must be fairly investigated, and those who coerce the children to commit those crimes must be duly prosecuted and brought to justice,” the statement continued.
The participation of young people in Malé’s prominent gang culture has been well documented, as have the links between organised crime and powerful local politicians and businessmen.
Police Commissioner Hussain Waheed also noted the increase in child offenders, stating that theft, assault, drug abuse, and mugging were the most common crimes into which children are coerced.
Waheed spoke of the importance of organising a national level movement to bring an end to children being forced to participate in criminal activity.
The HRCM called upon parents to be mindful and for the relevant state authorities to raise the rights of the child as their highest priority.
The commission’s statement – released on the occasion of Children’s Day – followed the government’s introduction of regulation enabling the reintroduction of the death penalty last month, which allows for the sentencing of juvenile offenders once they turn 18.
Urging repeal of the new regulations, the spokesman for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani, has said that such “deeply regrettable” practices contravened international law.
“We urge the Government to retain its moratorium on the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, particularly in cases that involve juvenile offenders and to work towards abolishing the practice altogether,” said Shamdasani.
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