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Comment: No need for Speaker to take charge if elections held, results respected

The Maldives’ Constitution (Article 4) is very clear that our country is a democracy in which all the powers of the State are derived from and remain with the citizens.

In particular legislative power (the power to enact laws that govern our society) lies with a democratically-elected parliament while executive power (the power to act as executor of those laws and see the will of the people reflected in the governing of the country) should lie with a democratically-elected president.

Unfortunately, since the coup of February 2012 we have seen power flicker from one unelected institution to another, in complete disregard of the will of the people as voiced in the 2008 elections: from an unelected president to an unelected supreme court, and from an unelected police commissioner to an unelected attorney-general.

It is now time to place power back in the hands of the citizens. The 88 percent voter turnout in the September 7 polls was that power. It is imperative that November 9’s elections proceed peacefully and with the full cooperation and goodwill of all political parties and State institutions, including the police.

Certain political leaders, as well as members of the Supreme Court, have treated voters with a level of contempt that beggars belief – asking citizens to vote, and when they didn’t like the result, asking them to vote again, and again, and again.

As the UK’s MP for Redditch, Karen Lumley suggested during the Westminster Hall debate on the Maldives this week, this has been like “watching a child who cannot win at a board game tip over the board”.

If our stroppy candidates (who could put Fagin to shame), and their gang of police boys, discredited judges and the unloved President allow these elections to go ahead, and this time they do respect the result, then we will not enter a constitutional void and it will not be necessary for the parliament as the only body in the Maldives which has been democratically elected in a free and fair vote, through the person of the Speaker, to assume executive control.

If, however, unelected individuals once again demonstrate contempt for democracy, if they once again decide that the powers of the State reside with them and not with the citizens, then parliament will be forced to step in as per the Majlis resolution of October 27th 2013.

The Speaker, as the last remaining democratically elected head of the last remaining democratically elected body must take over the interim presidency and ensure a free and fair vote for the people of the Maldives.

To quote President Nasheed, “there is no Houdini to pull the rabbit out of the hat. No magic tricks. No improvisations. We follow the Constitution. We follow the spirit and letter of the Constitution.”

Eva Abdulla is the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP for Galolhu North, and Asia-Pacific Member of the IPU Committee for Women MPs

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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Syrian refugees show up Maldives’ immigration failings

Rising numbers of refugees seeking to use the Maldives as a transit point has laid bare the country’s need to review its immigration procedures, says the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM).

“The government needs to bring policies into line with human rights conventions,” said HRCM member Jeehan Mahmood.

“The current procedures do not ensure the refugee’s safety – this is not correct, this is not right. The government needs to review and re-visit procedures to ensure its actions to not violate human rights.”

The most recent example of the government’s inconsistent approach to the issue involved a Syrian Palestinian man named Ubaid* who travelled with his family from Dubai, arriving in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

A family member told Minivan News that Ubaid had travelled to the Maldives after seeing media reports of another family who had been granted asylum in Sweden after seeking transit via the Maldives.

The family source explained that Ubaid was a third generation refugee, with a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)-issued refugee card which shows he was formerly resident in the Yarmook camp, just outside of Damascus.

“He was injured while in his home at that camp/suburb and so his left arm is somewhat paralyzed with 20 metal screws and metal plates holding remnants of his bones together, and lots of pain-killers. He does have x-rays to show those metal screws and plates.”

“His concern is that if the Maldivian authorities do what they said they would do – send him and his family back to Dubai – then Dubai would send him directly to Syria. And with an injury like what he has, the government would suspect him of being with the rebels, which he is not. He’s too old to be fighting,” the source continued.

The previous Palestinian refugees arriving in the Maldives were eventually granted asylum in Sweden after an appeal from the UNCHR.

Despite having legitimate travel documents, Ubaid’s family was kept in detention at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport before being flown back to Dubai.

HRCM member Jeehan argued that the government’s current inconsistency was resulting in discriminatory practices inappropriate to a country aspiring to uphold its human rights obligations.

Problem in transit

Local lawyer Abulla Shaairu – who took up the family’s case – described their return to Dubai as “one of the saddest days in my career.”

Shaairu has argued the Criminal Court had denied the family was in detention, making them ineligible for the constitutional right to appear before a judge within 24 hours.

“Detention is defined as restrictions on the freedom of movement – they had no freedom of movement,” said Abdulla Shaairu – an argument that was echoed by Jeehan.

Shaairu stressed that the party had not been seeking asylum in the Maldives, but were hoping for transit to Switzerland.

He claimed that he had been denied their right to meet with him, and that the Criminal Court had refused to provide a written response detailing its decision.

“There are no specific regulations to deal with the situation. People in this type of situation don’t know how they will be treated,” he said.

“I think at this moment it is very necessary – so many people arrive because of civil war.”

The extent of the recent fallout from the Syrian civil war on arrivals to the Maldives has been revealed in a leaked document from the department of immigration.

The confidential document details the cases of 12 Syrian nationals arriving in the country since mid-July, with the document revealing that all but four have been immediately sent back to their last point of departure.

As a tourist hub granting tourist visas upon arrival – and with a large number of flights to and from the EU every day – the Maldives is increasingly attractive as a transit destination, the document revealed.

The powers of the Immigration Controller do not override the constitution, nor human rights law, argued Jeehan.

“These people are just searching for a safer place for their family and children.”

*name has been changed

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Maldivian pro-democracy activists hijack World Travel Market twitter hashtag

The official twitter hashtag of the World Travel Market (WTM) in London has been hijacked by Maldivian pro-democracy activists.

The WTM is one of the world’s major annual travel industry expos, attracting 5000 exhibitors from over 184 countries across the globe. The Maldives Marketing and PR Corporation (MMPRC) has said 143 representatives from 52 Maldivian companies are taking part in the event.

Dozens of Maldivian activists meanwhile on Monday began flooding the #wtm13 hashtag with images of police brutality and allegations against Villa Hotels owner and presidential candidate, Gasim Ibrahim.

The hijacking was widely reported by international travel media, just days after the UK’s Guardian newspaper broke a story about Maldivian police importing over US$100,000 in riot-control weaponry from a Singapore subsidiary of UK firm Survitec.

The twitter activists accused Gasim of funding the 2012 police mutiny that led to former President Nasheed’s controversial resignation, and then influencing the Supreme Court to annul the results of the September 7 poll despite unanimous positive assessments from local and international election observers.

Shortly after placing third and narrowly missing a place in the run-off against Nashed, Gasim alleged he had been robbed of between 20,000-30,000 votes and declared “God Willing, Gasim will be President on November 11”.

On October 7 the Supreme Court overturned the poll on the basis of a secret police report not shown to the Elections Commission (EC)’s defence counsel, and issued guidelines for a new poll on October 19 effectively giving candidates the right to veto elections altogether.

“What happened smacks to me of a child who cannot win a board game, so they tip over the board,” UK Conservative Party MP for Redditch, Karen Lumley told British parliament on November 5.

The October revote was forcibly halted by police just hours before polls were due to open. A third attempt is scheduled for Saturday, just days before the end of the presidential term on November 11.

Hashtag hijack

News of the hashtag hijack was quickly picked up international travel media, drawn by contrast tweets depicting costumed expo mascots and colourful conference hall stalls interspersed with bloodied, hosed and pepper-sprayed protesters: “For much of the day about half the Tweets using the official hashtag were from Maldives protesters,” noted one travel website.

“Travel has both a positive impact and a dark underside. And those unpleasant truths are seeping into the polished booths and buffet tables visited by WTM attendees this year, both online and in person,” wrote Samantha Shankman for the Skift travel website.

WTM tweeted distancing itself from the activists, but did not remove the posts: “We would like to apologise to our followers for the misuse of our hashtag by other accounts. We are no way linked to these tweets,” read a post from the expo organisers.

The coverage follows a downbeat assessment of the industry’s economic performance given by the Finance Ministry this week. According the report given to parliament, tourism growth as measured in terms of bed nights declined by 0.1 percent in 2012 following 15.8 percent growth in 2010 and 9.2 percent in 2011.

“The main reason for this was the political turmoil the country faced in February 2012 and the decline in the number of days tourists spent in the country,” read an accompanying statement.

Tourism Minister Ahmed Adheeb was not responding at time of press.

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World wants “no further artificial impediments” to Maldives polls, Swire tells UK parliament

The Maldivian people’s commitment to democracy has not been respected by some of their politicians, the UK’s Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Hugo Swire, has told British parliament.

The Westminster Hall debate on the situation in the Maldives was called on Tuesday ahead of Saturday’s scheduled election by UK Conservative Party MP for Redditch, Karen Lumley.

Lumley was a political consultant with the Westminster Foundation for Democracy in 2008, and helped train Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party in political campaigning.

“What happened smacks to me of a child who cannot win a board game, so they tip over the board,” Lumley said of the Maldivian politicians’ use of the Supreme Court to annul the September 7 election result, in which Nasheed emerged the frontrunner following his controversial ousting a year and a half earlier.

Hugo Swire told the assembled MPs that politicians attempting to disrupt the elections in the Maldives had, “through various manoeuvres, including calls for military intervention, [sought] to frustrate and impede the democratic process.”

“I want to speak very explicitly and clearly, because I want to leave no one, particularly anyone in the Maldives who is listening to what I am saying or who will receive a report of it later, in doubt,” Swire told the MPs.

“The evidence is that more than 85 percent – how many of us would like to be able to cite that figure for our own constituencies? – of the electorate voted in the presidential elections on 7 September this year, demonstrating their strong commitment to the democratic process. Polls were judged by international and domestic observers to have been fair, free and credible.

“As the Maldives Elections Commission stated, the election was described by observers as ‘one of the most peaceful and best’ that they had seen. That certainly remains our view,” Swire stated.

“Following what appeared to be a weakly substantiated legal challenge from an unsuccessful presidential candidate, the Maldives Supreme Court voted to annul the election results and ordered a restart of the process,” Swire noted, before citing a recent statement from UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay in which she accused the court of “interfering excessively in the presidential elections, and in so doing is subverting the democratic process and violating the right of Maldivians to freely elect their representatives.”

“Regrettably, the controversy does not end there. On 19 October, the scheduled re-run was cancelled at the last moment, and the Maldives police service intervened to ensure that the vote could not take place. The cancellation came as a result of the refusal of two candidates to sign the electoral register – one of the 16 onerous conditions imposed by the Supreme Court. That condition in effect allows any one candidate to veto the elections, raising the possibility, as my hon. friend the Member for Redditch says, of further delays,” Swire said.

“We are frustrated and concerned, but not without hope. There are practical actions that can be taken without delay. The voter registers are due to be signed by candidates today.”

Such was the UK government’s concern at “the Maldives’ disregard for [the Commonwealth’s] values that it prompts the question – if the elections do not proceed as scheduled – of whether it is appropriate for the Maldives to be represented at the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Colombo,” Swire said.

“It is imperative that the rescheduled elections go ahead as planned. Anything short of that will be unacceptable. I say again to those people listening in the Maldives: the world is watching closely and it wants democratic elections, a democratically elected president and no further impediment to that to be created artificially by anyone in that country, which deserves so much better,” he concluded.

Following a meeting between President Mohamed Waheed and the presidential candidates this morning, Gasim Ibrahim and Abdulla Yameen dropped threats to veto the election made as recently as Tuesday night, and sent representatives to sign the voter registry.

Their sudden turnaround removes a major obstacle impeding the elections, and greatly increases the likelihood of polls taking place as scheduled on Saturday.

A growing delegation of senior international officials and state representatives are meanwhile arriving in the Maldives ahead of the election.

The diplomats arriving include UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s Special Envoy Sir Don McKinnon, and a team from India including the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird, an outspoken proponent of the need for elections in the Maldives, has meanwhile issued a statement calling for “the will of the Maldivian people [to be] recognised through a free and fair vote.”

“The international community is watching events in the Maldives closely. Canada calls on those in the current Government, security forces and the judiciary to respect the democratic process and not act to circumvent it. As voters in the Maldives go to the polls again on Saturday, they deserve to have confidence that their voices will be heard,” Baird stated.

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2.2 percent voter registration forms sent to police have been rejected: DNR

Department of National Registration (DNR) Director Fareeda Yoosuf has stated that 11 out of the 500 voter re-registration forms sent to the police for verification have been rejected to date.

Meanwhile, police have announced they are able to verify fingerprints 25 times faster than they had previously stated.

“The DNR is just acting as an intermediary between the Elections Commission [EC]and the police. Once we receive forms from the EC, we forward it to the police who will carry out the verification process. Once we hear back from them, we deliver their results to the EC,” Fareeda explained.

“So far we have received 350 re-registration forms from the EC on Tuesday, and 150 forms on Wednesday. Having sent them to police promptly, we have heard from them that 11 of the forms have been rejected. We haven’t reviewed the report, nor asked for specifics, therefore we can’t say whether these forms have been rejected due to issues with the fingerprint, or some other issue,” she stated.

“As this is a matter related to the election, it is the EC that will decide on how to proceed with the matter. We have sent them the forms and the police report. It is their responsibility to follow it up and decide what to do about it,” Fareeda said.

Meanwhile, the police released a statement on Tuesday stating that they had completed the fingerprint verification process of 350 forms sent in by the DNR. The statement does not mention finding any irregularities in the forms.

Minivan News was unable to contact police media officials or the EC secretary general at the time of press.

Fingerprint verification

Although the Supreme Court ruling issued on September 13 orders the EC to verify fingerprints on re-registration forms through the DNR, Fareeda stated that the department does not possess the capacity or the resources to conduct the process.

The DNR therefore sends the forms they receive from the EC on to the police, who carry out the verification process.

While police routinely fingerprint those arrested and the DNR fingerprints those issued new ID cards, no institution in the Maldives has the capacity to verify fingerprints on the scale of a national presidential election.

The police initially said on October 14 that with the capacity they have, it would take them five minutes to verify a single fingerprint. As each re-registration form has fingerprints of four different people – the voter, the bearer who submits the form and two witnesses – each form would then take 20 minutes for verification.

However, on October 23 – 9 days after the initial statement – police announced that they have “increased capacity” to the level where they can verify five fingerprints in one minute, which amounts to 75 form verifications in an hour.

A statement on the police website quotes Assistant Commissioner of Police Hussain Adam as stating that the institution has increased capacity by deciding that, in addition to the automated verification system, police will also manually verify fingerprints.

He explained that manual verification meant that “fingerprint experts” will judge the legitimacy of a fingerprint by looking at it with the naked eye.

“There are certain things in every person’s fingerprint that need to be counted. This can be done by experts just by looking at it with the naked eye. We have decided to use this approach. It can be done,” he stated.

The Jumhooree coalition has maintained that they need at least five percent of the re-registration forms to have the fingerprints verified, while the Progressive Party of Maldives continues to demand that ten percent be verified.

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EC grants opportunity for parties to review re-registration forms

Elections Commission (EC) President Fuwad Thowfeek has described the differing responses the commission has received to the opportunity political parties have been given to review voter re-registration forms.

Concerns over the voter registry resulted in the failure of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and Jumhooree Party (JP) candidates to sign the lists prior to the vote scheduled for October 19, prompting the police to block polling.

The election has been re-scheduled for November 9.

Representatives have been granted access to the forms from yesterday (October 28), but EC officials have suggested that some parties had failed to take full advantage.

All parties, however, have today assured Minivan News that they are using the review period to maximum effect.

Whilst the PPM is working “very enthusiastically” on reviewing forms – with four or five representatives present at all assigned times -Thowfeek reported that the JP had only sent one person, with a separate EC official revealing the party had failed to send anyone to this morning’s session.

“MDP [Maldivian Democratic Party] said from the start that they are not too concerned about checking the forms, and said that they will however send representatives if the other parties are doing the same. They haven’t really submitted any complaints either,” said Thowfeek.

The MDP was the only party to have signed the lists prior to the delayed vote.

An official from the EC said that the opportunity for reviewing forms has been given to the parties since yesterday, with the allocated times being from 9am to 12pm, 2pm to 5pm, and 8pm to 10pm.

While the forms are scheduled to be sent to the Department of National Registration for fingerprint verification by November 3, the official said the EC has not yet fixed a deadline for the review process, noting that some parties had requested an extension.

Political party responses

JP Secretary General Hassan Shah today assured that the party is “taking complete use of the opportunity”.

“Since we can send in five representatives at a time, we are doing that. Even today, we sent a full team from 2pm to 5pm. We’ll do the same at 8pm tonight. In the morning because of some work, we were able to send one representative. Sometimes there might be one or two, but if possible we send all five,” he said.

“I can however tell you that the representatives who are going there to review the forms have informed us of numerous problems in the form. They have said there are forms where the signatures of the person wishing to be re-registered and the witnesses have signatures which are similar, the fingerprints are unclear or imperfect and copies of the identity cards are unclear,” he said.

Shah was unable to say how many forms the team had gone through, and what quantity or percentage of the reviewed forms were noticed as having problems.

“I can say though that there are a lot of problems,” he said, adding that the team were bringing these issues to the attention of the EC.

Ahmed Tholal, former Director General of the EC, who is currently heading the PPM’s reviewing process told Minivan News that the party was sending full teams at all allocated times to carry out the process as directed by the EC.

“I cannot say for sure how many forms with problems that our team has come across so far, however there certainly are some issues. We’ll know to say for sure once we have completed reviewing all the forms,” he said.

Meanwhile, MDP Deputy Secretary General Ahmed Akram said that his party was also ensuring it sends full teams to review the forms.

“We have reviewed 7,500 forms so far and have not come across any issues of concern,” he said.

“MDP will complete it by whichever deadline the EC decides upon, as we believe that election related matters must be decided on by the Elections Commission, and not the courts,” Akram stated.

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EC maintains impossibility of expedited election after government request

Elections Commission (EC) President Fuwad Thowfeek has told Minivan News he does not believe it is possible to expedite the fresh round of presidential elections – currently scheduled for November 9 – despite requests to do so from the government and the three presidential candidates.

The candidates held a meeting on Sunday evening, agreeing to ask the EC for a November 2 poll. The EC, however, rejected the request stating that the commission does not have the facilities to do so in such a short period of time.

Vice President Mohamed Waheed Deen held discussions with the EC today (October 29), requesting – on behalf of the government – that the election date be brought forward.

Meeting at the EC offices, in addition to asking for an expedited poll, Waheed Deen enquired as to whether the EC needed further support to go forward with early elections.

“I have come here today to ask the EC what the government can do for them, whether we need to empty out some state institutions and give the EC extra space, or find more staff members for them,” Waheed Deen is quoted as saying to local media.

The Vice President is further quoted as saying that the commission members came across as being “very positive” in today’s meeting, and that they would get back to the government “very soon” with a list of what they require.

Waheed Deen further said that although he understands that there are some difficulties in bringing the polling date ahead from November 9th to the 2nd, he believed that it is possible to hold elections “somewhere around the 5th”.

President’s Office Media Secretary Masood Imad told Minivan News today that he has not received any information on the matter.

Earlier this afternoon, he was quoted in local media as confirming that the government had decided to give all possible assistance to the EC to speed up the preparations.

Masood was further quoted as saying that the government would like elections to be held in a manner which is in the best interests of the nation and to elect a president by November 11.

Earlier poll impossible, regardless of additional resources: Thowfeek

EC President Fuwad Thowfeek, however, feels that there is no possibility of bringing the date forward regardless of the support promised.

“In today’s meeting, we did provide them with all possible information that they requested for. However, since this is something we do together with the citizens, I do not believe it will be possible to bring the polling date forward, despite the offer to provide us with more resources, funds, equipment or manpower,” Fuwad told Minivan News today.

The EC announced November 9 as the date for a fresh first round of elections after the police forcibly brought a Supreme Court ordered re-vote to a halt on October 19.

The commission said then at the timea that if a second round was necessary, it would be held on November 16, 5 days after the date constitutionally mandated date for the swearing in of a new elected president.

At the time, EC President Fuwad Thowfeek said that the commission had held discussions with the president, the cabinet, and political parties on the earliest possible date for a new election before deciding on the date.

“We have said, when we get to a certain point, when a certain party doesn’t do what they must do, it should not affect the entire election. If that is the case, we will never be able to hold an election,” he said then, referring to the police obstruction of polls after Progressive Party of Maldives candidate Abdulla Yameen and Jumhooree coalition candidate Gasim Ibrahim failed to sign on the voters’ registry as mandated by the Supreme Court’s 16 point guideline.

“They assured us that they will not allow for these kind of obstructions in the upcoming election. Ministers have given us commitment that they will find a solution and facilitate this. That is why we have started work again.”

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No-confidence motion delayed after Attorney General calls in sick

Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid has postponed the no-confidence motion against Attorney General (AG) Azima Shakoor, initially scheduled for today (October 28).

According to Majlis officials the speaker made the decision to delay for two days after Shakoor informed him that she was unwell and not able to attend the parliament session.

Article 101(b) of the constitution states that cabinet members must be given at least fourteen days notice of any debate concerning no-confidence motions against themselves, and that the individual has the right to defend themselves – both verbally and in writing – in the sittings of the People’s Majlis

Parliament received the motion on September 25, with the ensuing notice to the AG being delivered on October 1.

The motion has now been rescheduled for October 30.

Cabinet members against whom no-confidence motions are raised are allowed to sit in in the parliamentary debate on the matter. At the sitting, they are given the opportunity defend themselves against the claims raised.

An official from parliament stated that it was the cabinet minister’s decision whether or not they used the opportunity to defend themselves. He said that,while the parliament could proceed with the motion even though the minister is unable to attend, it is at the discretion of the speaker to decide to postpone the motion.

Parliament Speaker Abdulla Shahid and Consul General Fathimath Filza were not responding to calls at the time of press.

The no-confidence motion was submitted to the parliament on September 25 with the signature of 26 Members of Parliament (MPs) – 16 more than is stipulated in the constitution’s article 101(a).

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) previously decided to pursue a no-confidence motion against the AG during a contingency meeting of the party’s National Council on September 20 .

During the debate, MDP MP Ahmed Sameer announced that the party’s parliamentary group had prepared a no-confidence motion against the AG, contending that she had neglected her duties and had advocated on behalf of a political party against the Elections Commission (EC), a state institution.

Meanwhile, Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) Parliamentary Group’s Deputy Leader Moosa Zameer at the time said that the party would not support the removal of a former council member of the party.

However, with the support of at least six out of ten MPs of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) – which has pledged support to MDP presidential candidate and former President Mohamed Nasheed in the upcoming election – the MDP would have enough votes in parliament to pass the no-confidence motion.

AG Shakoor was approved to her post by 38 votes in favour in parliament on July 31, with 31 MPs having voted against.

Formerly the lawyer for PPM leader and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Shukoor was initially appointed AG by sitting President Dr Mohamed Waheed after the controversial transfer of power in February 2012.

She was later reassigned as Minister of Family, Gender and Human Rights – an appointed which subsequently failed to gain the approval of parliament, before the President Waheed re-appointed her to her former position as AG.

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Human Rights Commission alleges police intimidation of its staff

The Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has alleged that the police are attempting to intimidate commission staff members following the start of its investigations into what they maintain is police obstruction of the October 19 presidential election.

“The commission believes that what we are facing now is serious, unprecedented and unjustifiable intimidation from the police. We will continue the investigation, while also ensuring that we continue protecting every one of our team members,” HRCM member Jeehan Mahmoodh has told Minivan News.

Jeehan stated that, after criticising the police for acting outside of their mandate when obstructing the Elections Commissions (EC) efforts to conduct the presidential election on October 19, they have been facing what the commission believes to be attempts by the police to intimidate its staff.

Jeehan said that the police had requested the HRCM provide “complete details” of the staff members who witnessed the police’s actions outside of the EC on the morning of October 19.

“In the history of HRCM, we have never before had such a request, where details of individual staff are asked for in relation to an investigation. This just cannot be done,” Jeehan said.

“We responded, invoking Article 27 of the HRCM Act and informed the police that the commission will not compromise the safety of any of our staff members. We also explained that as this is an ongoing investigation we cannot compromise it by providing detailed information regarding the matter,” she continued.

Article 27 of the HRCM Act has two parts, with part (a) stating that, “No criminal or civil suit shall be filed against the President or Vice- President or a member of the Commission in relation to committing or omitting an act in good faith whilst undertaking responsibilities of the commission or exercising the powers of the Commission or the powers conferred to the Commission by a law”.

Part (b) of the same article says “The Commission can only be questioned or a suit can be filed against the Commission in court regarding a component in a report published by the Commission following an inquiry, should sufficient evidence be available to prove the component is false”.

Speaking out on human rights violation is our duty: HRCM

After Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz tweeted saying, “HRCM to seek information after findings revealed!!”, Jeehan’s response echoed the HRCM statement released following the police’s initial suggestions that the HRCM had not made a balanced assessment.

“This is definitely not the first time HRCM has made comments in the instance that we observe a breach of human rights, regardless of who the instigators are. If a human rights violation becomes apparent to the commission, then we have both the right and the responsibility to promptly share this with the general public,” she said.

“For instance, after the events of February 8, 2012, HRCM immediately made a public initial statement on the matter…The police are well aware this is the norm,” she continued.

“Putting it in a different context, let’s say the police see a crime being committed, and arrests a person red-handed at the crime scene. They don’t wait for their full investigation to end, and nor does their investigation end there. But since they saw it happen, they get to make a stand. Similarly, when it is evident that a human rights violation has been committed, the commission will take a stand,” she said.

October 19

Jeehan also spoke to Minivan News about the HRCM’s work on October 19, the date intended for a fresh round of elections after the initial September 7 poll was annulled by the Supreme Court.

“Our team – it’s full strength including the commissioners – was on duty by 5:30am on October 19, as we were ready to carry out election observation. We then received reports of police obstructing EC officials, and immediately dispatched investigators to the EC offices. Our staff spoke with the EC Secretary General Asim Abdul Sattar, as well as a number of police officers there. Thereby, our staff are witnesses to the events that took place that day,” she explained.

“HRCM Vice President Tholal was in charge as Commission President Azra was away on hajj pilgrimage. Tholal tried multiple times to reach the police focal point – incidentally the same as the focal point for the EC – Assistance Commissioner of Police Ali Rasheed by phone, and finally sent a text message. ACP Rasheed did not respond to even the text until nearly midnight,” Jeehan continued.

“Tholal then called the Acting Home Minister [Ahmed Shafeeu], who is in effect the oversight over the police force. He asked the minister, and I quote, “why have police obstructed elections?”. The Minister informed us that the obstruction is not a police initiative or decision, and that they are following orders after much deliberation. Contrary to some media reports, the Home Ministry’s statement did not deny our claims that we contacted him and got this response, but rather confirms it,” Jeehan said.

“Police did not act in their own accord”: Home Minister

A press statement of the Home Ministry reads, “As the letter sent by the HRCM to the Police alleging that the police obstructed the elections scheduled for October 19 reveals that when they contacted the Acting Home Minister via phone and asked him why police had obstructed elections, he responded that the police had not acted out of their own accord but on orders that they had received, this ministry feels we must clarify what happened.”

“On the 19th of this month, in a phone conversation, Vice President of HRCM Ahmed Tholal asked why the police had acted in a manner against the government’s statement that it will provide cooperation to holding the election.”

“In response, the Minister had said that the police had not acted on their own accord, and that it had been in accordance with the advice of the relevant government bodies which was based on the verdict of the Supreme Court,” the statement concluded.

Police asks HRCM to identify officers they spoke with on October 19

Jeehan said that the police had also requested the HRCM provide identification details of the police officers that the commission’s investigators had spoken with on the morning of October 19.

“This is information that the police must have. They ought to know which of their officers they dispatched there, and what they did in their line of duty. That was the commission’s response to them, shouldn’t they know who it was?” Jeehan asked.

Jeehan also said that the commission has requested the police to provide an incident report on the events of October 19, as well as copies of all communication they have exchanged with any other institution after the date of the initial annulled election.

“It isn’t at all like the police are claiming on various media. We are not asking for information after reaching a conclusion. We made that initial statement that police obstructed elections based on our observations, and the fact that our staff were witness to it. We are now conducting a procedural investigation of the matter,” Jeehan explained.

“Furthermore, we have asked for copies of any communication between the police and any other institution from beyond the date of the obstructed election for an investigation that is based on other additional information we have received. We cannot yet reveal the details of this as it may compromise the investigation, but it will be made public upon completion,” she continued.

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