Tag: zuhair

Criminal Court issues death sentence in gang murder case

The Criminal Court of the Maldives yesterday sentenced Mohamed Nabeel to death for the murder of Abdulla Faruhad, after reviewing the statements of witnesses and finding him guilty of the crime.

The Judge said that article 88[d] of the penal code of the Maldives stated that murders should be dealt accordingly to the Islamic Shariah and that persons found guilty of murder ”shall be executed” if no inheritor of the victim denies the murderer to be executed, according to Islamic Shari’ah.

The Criminal Court identified the murderer as Mohamed Nabeel, G. Reef and the victim as Abdulla Faruhad of Hulhudhoo in Seenu Atoll. As no inheritor of the victim opposed his execution, Nabeel was sentenced to death.

This is the first such sentence to be issued in a case related to gang murder. Previous death sentences issued in the Maldives have included (in 2005) those found to be involved in the death in custody of Evan Naseem, and the perpetrators of 1988 coup. None of these sentences were implemented.

The Prosecutor General’s office filed the case against Nabeel after the police arrested him on charges of deliberately killing Faruhad in revenge for harassing his sister Aiminath Niuma. The case report did not mention what kind of harassment occurred.

The judge said that during the police investigation Niuma admitted that her brother Nabeel attempted to attack Faruhad with a six inch box cutter on March 8, 2009.

In her statement to police, Niuma said she attempted to stop her brother from attacking Faruhad as he tried to flee, the judge stated.

However Niuma was unable to control her brother from throwing the box cutter at Faruhad which lodged in his back. Faruhad died the next day from his injuries.

The PG’s office presented CCTV footage of the incident and three witnesses.

The judge said that although Niuma had later in court dismissed her statements to police, which were fingerprinted by her father as she was underage at the time, ”it is unbelievable that her father read the statement and would fingerprint a false statement given regarding his own son.”

Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said he did not know how the sentence would be carried out,  but police would implement the verdict if requested by the court.

Attorney General Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad said he had not yet seen the ruling and would be unable to comment before going through the case.

Press secretary for the president Mohamed Zuhair said the the government would comment on the matter only after the judicial procedure was over, ”otherwise it could be considered as an influence on the verdict.”

He said that the accused had a 90 day term to appeal at higher courts if he felt the judgment was unfair.

Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that the last death sentence issued in the Maldives was following the 1988 coup attempt. This has been corrected to reflect the verdict in the trial over the death in custody of Evan Naseem.

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Tourism Minister Dr Sawad nominated as new attorney general

Tourism Minister Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad has been nominated as the new attorney general of the Maldives, according to a senior government official.

Husnu Suood resigned yesterday, taking some responsibility for the constitutional crisis, and urged Speaker Abdulla Shahid to step down as well.

The source told Minivan News that Dr Sawad was ready to take the oath of office pending the missing law on judges, which the administration is waiting for parliament to pass.

‘’As soon as the parliament passes the new law on judges, the new Attorney General will take the oath,’’ said the source.

Dr Sawad was not contactable at time of press.

Meanwhile, the MNDF has blocked the the interim Supreme Court judges from entering the Supreme Court, on advice from the former Attorney General that the interim Chief Justice and judges at the Supreme Court ceased to have any legitimacy following the interim period deadline last Saturday.

When queried why the Supreme Court judges were not allowed to enter to the court, the source replied “that’s because they are not judges.’’

The opposition – and yesterday, the Civil Court – contends that the interim Supreme Court continues to function until a new court is appointed by parliament.  The government claims this chapter was annulled after the two year deadline.

The former Attorney General Husnu Suood resigned claiming his position is untenable in the “constitutional void” triggered by parliament’s failure to enact legislation ensuring the continuation of state institutions such as the judiciary.

In his resignation letter, Suood stated that he had resigned because he did not believe that the state could be operated according to the constitution, because he had noted that state institutions had failed to fulfil their responsibilities as obliged by the constitution.

As a consequence, Suood wrote he did not have the opportunity to perform his own duties and responsibilities under article 133 of the constitution, prompting his resignation.

All three arms of state – executive, judiciary and legislature – are now deadlocked.

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Government investigates accused MPs’ “dark and evil schemes”, while UK issues travel advisory

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has issued a travel warning for the Maldives following recent political turmoil in the country, urging caution around “large political gatherings”, while debate on the political deadlock has spread to the House of Lords in the UK Parliament.

During Question Time, the UK Labour Party’s Lord Foulkes expressed “disappointment that President Nasheed seems to be reverting to the bad habits of his predecessor”, following the detention of People’s Alliance (PA) MP Abdulla Yameen, and urged the government to pressure the Maldives to restore “democratic freedoms”.

Conservative Lord Howell, also State Minister for the FCO, responded that the government was “pursuing full encouragement through our high commission in Colombo and other means to ensure that democratic development continues.”

Nasheed’s restoration of his cabinet ministers was “a step forward”, Howell promised.

Conservative Lord Naseby pointed out that the Maldives “is no longer a protectorate of the United Kingdom… and that being the situation, what role do we have at all to interfere in what is in fact the Maldivian exercise of democracy as they interpret it?”

Yameen meanwhile remains in MNDF custody on the Presidential Retreat ‘Aarah’, although appears free to communicate with the media given that Minivan News was able to contact him yesterday.

The Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) – and the government – insist that the MP and high-profile businessman is under ‘protective’ custody after demonstrations outside his home last week turned violent.

Yameen has told local media he does not wish to be detained in ‘protective’ custody. The MNDF have also refused to present him before the court on a court order, raising some international eyebrows.

The President’s Press Secretary Mohamed Zuhair stuck to that story, insisting Yameen was being “protected” rather than “detained”.

Zuhair also claimed Yameen’s custodial protection was not unconstitutional, as the opposition has claimed, although Minivan News is still awaiting clarification from government lawyers as to how this is so.

“The MNDF is working absolutely within the constitution,” Zuhair said. “Yameen is being held by the MNDF, not the government. If Yameen is concerned about this he will be able to challenge it in court.”

“Dark and evil schemes”

Beyond the debate over Yameen’s detention, and recent court cases concerning the legality of his arrest along with that of Jumhoree Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim, Zuhair said that given the severity of the allegations against them, neither could be considered prisoners of conscience.

“I cannot describe these people as political leaders – they are accused of high crimes and plots against the state,” Zuhair said.

“These MPs are two individuals of high net worth – tycoons with vested interests,” he explained. “In pursuing their business interests they became enormously rich during the previous regime, and now they are trying to use their ill-gotten gains to bribe members in the Majlis and judiciary to keep themselves in power and above the fray.”

“They were up to all sorts of dark and evil schemes,” Zuhair alleged. “There were plans afoot to topple the government illegally before the interim period was over.”

Zuhair explained that the government felt obliged to take action after six MDP MPs came forward with statements alleging Yameen and Gasim had attempted to bribe them to vote against the government.

The opposition PA-DRP coalition already has a small voting majority, with the addition of supportive independent MPs, however certain votes require a two-thirds majority of the 77 member chamber – such as a no-confidence motion to impeach the president or vice-president.

“In one incident early on in this administration, following the President’s return from Italy, they set up a telephone and a video camera in a committee room in parliament, brought a judge to sit in, and then tried to get two members of the president’s delegation swear on the Qur’an under oath that the President was drinking alcohol,” Zuhair observed.

The privatisation of Male’ International airport had clashed with the vested interests of the accused MPs, Zuhair claimed, sparking the current political debacle.

“Gasim was concerned the new airport might take the charter flights he had intended would be landing at the new airport he is building in Maamagilli,” Zuhair alleged, “while Yameen is a third party supplier of fuel at Male International Airport through the Maldives National Oil Company, which has representation in Singapore.”

The fuel trade is the most immediately lucrative part of the airport deal, Minivan News understands, and is a key reason behind both GMR’s interest and the government’s decision to award the contract to the Indian infrastructure giant. GMR has told Minivan News it will amalgamate the trade under one umbrella, a decision that will likely affect current third party suppliers.

Meanwhile Opposition DQP leader Hassan Saeed, who opposed the airport privatisation and is currently lobbying in the UK for international support for Yameen’s release, “is receiving huge legal fees from both Yameen and Gasim,” Zuhair claimed.

NGOs speak

A coalition of NGOs including Madulu, the Maldivian Democracy Network, Huvadhoo Aid, Transparency Maldives, Maldives Youth Action Network, HAND and Democracy House, meanwhile issued a statement “categorically denouncing the undemocratic actions of the three Powers of the State, at a time when democracy is in its infant stages in the Maldives.”

“We believe recent political and civil unrest is a consequence of these three arms of the State disregarding the spirit of the Maldivian Constitution,” the NGOs said. “We believe a culture of manipulation of the law to infringe upon the rights of one another has developed and that the three arms of the State have failed to give each other due respect.”

“It is not responsible on the part of the parliament, that they should pass laws that undermine the powers of the executive.

“It is unacceptable that the executive, should use its powers to harass and deter the functioning of the parliament, to disrepute the judiciary and to try to exert undue influence on the judicial system.

“The lack of consistency in the rulings of the courts, and actions which undermine the trust of the people in the judicial system are contrary to the high standards which are expected of Judges. We call upon the judiciary to work to restore the people’s faith in the judicial system.

The NGOs added that “other concerned State institutions” have also failed to “give due regard to the situation” and have acted irresponsibly.

The coalition also urged political parties to refrain from bringing violence to the streets, but condemned the security forces “for stepping outside the boundaries of the law with regards to arrest and detention” and the recent distribution of private telephone conversations by the media containing implications of corruption behaviour among MPs.

Between a rock and the Maldives

The government well aware of its status as international darling on climate change, but Nasheed appears willing to risk international censure for the sake of isolating Yameen while the state accumulates evidence in the background. Police were preparing to “make a splash” on the subject, Zuhair hinted.

However even if this evidence is obtained, demands from the international community – and opposition – that the government respect the rule of law and the judicial system, mean the government is faced with the new problem of legitimising its case against the businessmen and opposition leaders, now that allegations of obstruction have been levelled at the judiciary – including, yesterday, from the police themselves.

The government has been urging public respect for the judicial system – and the President’s Political Advisor Hassan Afeef has stated that the government will abide by any rulings from the Supreme Court.

The Judicial Services Commission (JSC), tasked with reforming the judicial system, has three sitting judges as members and vested interests, according to the President’s outspoken member on the commission, Aishath Velezinee.

“Of the 207 of the judges currently in office, 39 have degrees or higher. Some left school before grade seven, meaning they haven’t completed primary school,” Velezinee noted.

In addition there are seven sitting judges found guilty of a criminal breach of trust; five with allegations of a criminal breach of trust; two being prosecuted for an alleged breach of trust; one on trial for sexual misconduct; two have been found guilty of sexual misconduct; one was found guilty for an offence which had a prescribed punishment in Islam; and another who has both been accused of a criminal breach of trust, and found guilty of sexual misconduct – a total of 19 with documented criminal history.

Behind the scenes the executive is racing to nominate new judges before the interim period concludes on August 7, when sitting judges are granted automatic tenure.

However nominations for any new judges will have to be approved by the Majlis, which was cancelled this morning on points of order that developed into a scuffle outside.

“[The MPs] are trying to derail the process,” suggested Zuhair. “They are also panicking because they have no way of knowing who is going to be [implicated] by these corruption charges.”

As for tourists reading the today’s travel advisory urging caution in the capital, Zuhair observed that they “should be happier to know the top dollars they are paying are not being used for corrupt purposes.”

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MNDF refuses to present Yameen on court order

The Maldives National Defece Force (MNDF) has today declined to obey a court warrant issued by the Criminal Court to summon People’s Alliance (PA) Leader and MP Abdulla Yameen, who was taken to Aarah island this morning at dawn by the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) reportedly “for his own protection”.

Police were compelled to used force to restrain ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) activists outside Yameen’s house last night. Shortly afterwards, both police and protesters were showered with rocks an other projectiles by people from nearby buildings, injuring many. Police used tear gas while the MNDF deployed an armoured car to contain the incident.

Yameen was taken to the Presidential Retreat ‘Aarah’ to provide assistance and protection to him upon his request, according to the MNDF.

The MP and high-profile businessman was recently summoned for questioning by police concerning charges of bribery and treason. After a series of court hearings regarding the legality of his arrest and detention, along with Jumhoree Party (JP) MP Gasim Ibrahim, the Supreme Court ruled he be released from house arrest.

However the government yesterday indicated that it was unwilling to drop the matter, and was monitoring judges for signs of corruption.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said the MNDF had refused to the court warrant to summon Yamin “because the MNDF does not believe it was a lawful order issued by the court.’’

‘’He requested the MNDF provide security and protection for him,’’ said Zuhair. “He told the MNDF that he wished to leave Male’ and stay on another island.’’

Zuhair said Yameen had attempted to stay on an island in Alifu Atoll but the MNDF took him to Aarah island “because MNDF knows where they can provide him best protection.”

‘’It was the [opposition] who sparked the riot last night,” Zuhair claimed. “At first it was just a peaceful assembly, but some people tried to attack the president. A group of people ran towards him to attack him, but his bodyguards confronted them.’’

Zuhair said MDP supporters gathered outside Yameen’s house following the attack, alleging he was the person behind the attack.

‘’When MDP supported gathered near Yameen’s house, people in the nearby buildings threw pavement blocks down at them. It proves that they were ready for violence,’’ he said.

PA Secretary General Ibrahim Shareef said everyone should follow an order of the court.

‘’We will not accept this,’’ Shareef said. ‘’If everyone uses their power anyway they want, there is no use for laws and regulations.’’

Shareef claimed that the MNDF took Yameen against his will, and not by request.

‘’They took him after the riot was controlled and when everything was over,’’ Shareef claimed.

Major Abdul Raheem said he did not have detailed information regarding the case, and recommended Minivan News contact Attorney General Husnu Suood.

Suood did not respond to Minivan News at time of press.

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Police investigate leaked audio clips

The Maldives Police Services has begun investigating the leaked audio clips of suspected telephone call conversations believed to be the voices of Independent MP Mohamed ‘Kutti’ Nasheed, People’s Alliance party (PA) leader and MP Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and Jumhoory Party (JP) leader and MP Gasim ‘Buruma’ Ibrahim, confirmed Press Secretary for the President, Mohamed Zuhair.

On July 4, three recordings of discussions between MPs referring to other MPs and officials, including a plan to cease work on the tax bill in the parliament, appeared on the internet and scandalised the Maldivian media.

Zuhair said he met with police officers this morning and that police informed him the investigation was progressing.

“The audio clips also raise issues of threats against the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC),” Zuhair added.

A corruption case presented to parliament against former Auditor General Ibrahim Naeem was instrumental in ousting the AG in vote of no-confidence, days after he publicly demanded a financial audit of all current and former ministers.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said that police received the audio clips through the media and that they would be analysed and investigated.

“Police do not record the telephone conversations of people,” he claimed, but declined to provide further information.

Aishath Azima Shukoor, former Attorney General and a member of the legal team defending the detained MPs, noted that article 24 of the constitution promised “respect to personal communications” and that recording a personal telephone call was “unlawful according to the constitution, and that any evidence collected unlawfully cannot be presented to court as an evidence.”

“The audio clips would be inadmissible,” said Shukoor. “I do not believe that media can broadcast the audio clips either.”

Groups of pro-government demonstrators have been playing the clips through loudspeakers outside the court proceedings.

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Nihan recently told Minivan News that there was an MNDF officer who’s duty was to operate a telephone call recording machine.

“He records our telephone calls and handles it to (former) Defence minister Ameen Faisal,” said Nihan.

Dr Hassan Saeed, who is also a former Attorney General and member of the opposition leaders legal team, said he was busy and unable to comment to Minivan News at time of press.

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MP Muthalib forwards no-confidence motion against education minister

Independent MP Ibrahim Muthalib has forwarded a no-confidence motion against Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy to parliament.

MP Muthalib presented a petition to forward the motion against Education minister, which was signed by five independent MPs, three Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MPs and two People’s Alliance (PA) MPs.

On May 19, MP Muthalib announced he would file a no-confidence motion against Education Minister Dr Musthafa Luthfy over the ministry steering committee’s recommendation to make Islam and Dhivehi optional subjects for grades 11 and 12.

A crowd of people who did not claim to be representing any political party or NGO conducted a series of protests over the decision outside Education Minister Luthfy’s house.

Luthfy told Minivan News that he had not officially received the news yet.

”I also heard that a such motion was presented to parliament, but the parliament has not affirmed it,” said Luthfy.

”I heard that there were three issues highlighted in the petition, ” he explained.

”The first issue they claimed was that Kulliathul Dhuraasathul Islaamiyya school was dissolved, which is literally not true,” Luthfy said. ”The school was not dissolved, rather we planned to place it under the Maldives College of Higher Education when it becomes a university.”

Luthfy said the second issue was a claim that it was his fault that Arabiyya School’s walls fell down.

”The third point was because the Education Ministry has decided to make Dhivehi and Islam optional at A-Level,” he said, ”but this was just a suggestion made by the ministry’s steering committee.”

Muthalib recently said that if the education system implemented the steering committee’s recommendation, students would be moved away from religion and their mother tongue.

”I cannot support such a curriculum that discourages the use of our own culture and language,” he said.

The government meanwhile launched a spirited defense of the Education Minister.

“This is a part of DRP’s plan to pick off ministers one-by-one,” he said. “First they plan to try and bring down the education minister, and if that succeeds they will then go after other ministers. This no-confidence motion is a shallow attempt to destabilise the government and the country,” said the President’s Press Secretary, Mohamed Zuhair.

“The DRP is claiming the government is trying to ‘undermine Islam,’ because an Education Ministry has floated the idea of making the study of Dhivehi and Islam, along with all other subjects, optional for school grades 11 and 12,” he said.

“DRP, led by its dubiously elected leader Thasmeen Ali, has demonstrated time and again that they will do and say anything to try and damage the government”, Zuhair said.

“There are some good, intelligent and responsible people in the DRP. Sadly, under the current leadership, these people have been marginalized and the hot heads have taken over the party.

“The DRP have no policies; they have no vision; they have no substance. It seems their sole guiding principle is to oppose anything and everything that the government is trying to achieve.”

He further accused the concerned parliamentarians “of using Islam as a political tool.”

”I think despite being an Independent MP Muthalib acts in the parliament with the spirit of an opposition MP,” he added.

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Family claims man who self-immolated in custody was tortured

The family of a man who doused himself in petrol and set himself on fire in Gahdhu Police station in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll has claimed he was tortured in police custody.

President Mohamed Nasheed has called on the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) to investigate the death, and determine if there was any criminal negligence of behalf of the police.

24 year-old Ibrahim Afsal of Fulooniyage was arrested by police on after he allegedly disturbed people during Friday prayers.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the man set himself ablaze after pouring petrol onto his body from a bottle stored in the police station, suffering severe burns. He was transfered to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) but died during treatment on Saturday.

”His family did not complain about it before, but now they have said they want a further investigation of the body,” Shiyam said.

”His parents do not wish to bury him yet,” he told Minivan News, adding ”there were no injuries found on the outside of his body, as he was very badly burned.”

Shiyam said Afsal’s body was now stored in the mortuary, allowing his parents to conduct a further investigation of the body.

Afsal’s brother, Ahmed Tholal, told Minivan News that he did not believe what police had said, or the hospital report.

”We know he was tortured because there are injuries on the outside his body,” Tholal said. ”Half an hour before he set himself on fire, people near the area claimed they heard him shouting and screaming for help.”

Tholal said that injuries on Afsal’s hands showed it appeared he had been handcuffed.

”We suspect that he was handcuffed, and a handcuffed man could not have taken a bottle of petrol and poured it over himself,” Tholal said. ”We will not allow him to be buried before we finish investigating his body.”

He said his family was deciding whether to bring burn experts from overseas, or to take Afsal’s body abroad to conduct a postmortem examination.

”Several days before this incident occurred police arrested him on other charges, and when he was released he came home and showed us bruises on his neck, claiming police tortured him,” Tholal said. ”He also claimed police officers had sprayed a whole bottle of pepper spray into his face.”

He said that today Police Assistant Commissioner Ali Rasheed and a group of police officials had met his family “and admitted that police were irresponsible during the incident.”

”Now the government has said they will help our family with everything to do with the case, even help us to take our brother’s body abroad,” he said. ”They said they will keep his body stored until we finish investigating.”

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that President had asked the PIC to investigate the case because of the accusations made by Afsal’s family members.

”I do not believe the torturing culture is there anymore in custody,” he said, ”there might be some people who have awful intentions,”

The PIC said it would not comment on the case as it was currently under investigation, while the Maldivian Detainee Network failed to comment at time of press.

Correction: An earlier version of this article said Afsal’s family met with Assistant Commissioner Ahmed Fayaz. This has been corrected to Assistant Commissioner Ali Rasheed.

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Ali Waheed reports leaking of documents to police, “too late” says Zuhair

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ali Waheed has also reported the leakage of several document concerning the Guantanamo Bay detainees to police. The Foreign Ministry said it was reporting the matter to the police on Tuesday.

Press secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair said that Waheed was trying to escape after he was accused of being the recipient of a stolen secret document of the government.

Zuhair claimed Waheed had reported the case because ”he realised what he had done.”

”All the collaborators involved in the crime of stealing a government document and spreading it without clarifying its validity are also equally culpable,” said Zuhair. ‘They should be given the punishment that one receives for being a thief.”

Zuhair said the theft of the documents was a crime under articles 12 and 13 of the penal code.

”Politics is not an excuse for crime,” he said. ”Whoever stole the documents is a criminal shall be treated as a criminal.”

He said that government was not trying to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees into the country in secret.

”We will only bring him according to the law,” he said. ”What is the problem with it if he has a valid passport, the threat of being attacked if he goes back to his own country and he is a innocent Muslim?”

He said that Ali Waheed was aware the matter was not unlawful or dangerous, and dismissed counter-claims by the opposition as ”pure political circus”.

”That man [Waheed] has the look of a comedian,” Zuhair said.

Waheed, in a press conference yesterday, announced that he had reported the leaked document to police and said he had requested they investigate the case, so the government’s documents could be safely protected while the National Security Committee was investigating the Guantanamo Bay affair.

”I did not steal anything,” he claimed. “When I received government documents that I believed had the potential to harm the national security of the country I presented it to the national security committee to investigate,” he said.

”I do not believe that it is known as thieving. It was not leaked by my mistake.”

Foreign minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed has also reported the case to the police.

Dr Shaheed said the documents consisted of unofficial communications to the Maldives government from the US government, and a document sent to the Attorney General’s office by the Foreign Ministry.

Dr Shaheed said the documents also included an unofficial letter sent from the US discussing how a legal framework could be established to bring in the detainees.

Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair has recently said that the document was not leaked but was “deliberately stolen”, which he said caused “a lot of trouble” for the Maldives, by disrupting diplomatic relationships between countries.

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“99.9 percent” sure detainees already in the Maldives: MP Nihan

Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) MP Ahmed Nihan has said that he has information that the Guantanamo Bay detainees have been brought to the Maldives secretly.

”I am 99.9 percent sure that they are here. The information I received on the issue was from senior officials of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) who are very familiar with the case,” said Nihan.

Nihan said the absence of Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed from yesterday’s National Security Committee proved that there were “still hidden secrets behind the scenes.”

”If the government has not done anything unlawful and if they are so confident, why would they be so afraid to face the parliament and the people,” Nihan asked.

He claimed the government had kept the matter a secret ”but when the document was leaked the issue became heated and people became aware that this was happening.”

Nihan claimed that the Maldives was now at risk of becoming “a nest for terrorists.”

”When the country becomes a nest for terrorists, others will start hating us,” h said. ”Then we will see our little nation under attack by another country.”

He accused President Mohamed Nasheed of failing to disclose details of the case during his presidential radio address.

”He only briefly said that we should help the detainees in Guantanamo Bay, and urged the President of the United States to release the detainees and shut down the jail.”

Furthermore, Nihan claimed that the act of government could potentially disrupt the peace and sovereignty of the country, and claimed the Maldives may “turn into a terrorist hub.”

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Ahmed Naseem said the foreign ministry did not want to comment on the issue.

However, Press secretary for the President, Mohamed Zuhair denied the suggestion made by Nihan and dismissed it as ”all lies.”

Zuhair said that Nihans aim was to hype up the population.

”The President gave information about the Maldives accepting Guantanamo detainees last year on November 9, 10 and 11 during his official speeches,” Zuhair said.

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