Raajje News Blog

#Maldives: The Parliament's Counsel General Fathimath Filza told media today that the impeachment motion against President Mohamed Waheed by opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) is legitimate and can be put on the agenda accordingly. According to the Counsel General, the motion meets the criteria set out in Section 100 (b) of the Constitution. Section 100 (b) stipulates that the impeachment resolution as provided for in subsection (a) of the same Section, must be submitted to the Parliament (People’s Majlis), under the hand of at least one third of the members (amounting to 26 members presently), specifying the reasons. The motion was submitted to the Parliament on October 10th, signed by 28 MPs of the MDP, thereby meeting the criteria of number of MPs required to table the resolution. An impeachment motion requires a 2/3 majority of the Parliament to vote in favor of the motion. With the current composition of the Parliament, presuming that a member would be elected to th...

#Maldives: Pressure is mounting on President Mohamed Waheed to implement the death penalty in Maldives as the murder toll in 2012 rose to nine murders earlier this month. A youth group yesterday announced a rally calling for death penalty, scheduled for the afternoon of Friday 19th October. Calls for death penalty increased exponentially after the brutal murder of Member of Parliament and moderate Muslim scholar Dr. Afraasheem Ali on October 2, 2012. Social media report that support for death penalty in Maldives rose to 64% of Maldivians on social media in the wake of Dr. Afraasheem's brutal murder. The list of murder victims is 18 victims long, from 2007 onwards (pic). Of these 11 murders were committed on the capital Male', the rest on various islands. Fourteen of the 18 murder victims were young adults between 15 and 35 years of age. MP Dr. Afraasheem's murder comes within three months of the brutal murder and decapitation of famous lawyer Ahmed Najeeb, also on th...