Raajje News Blog

#Maldives: September revenue collection is 2% less than forecast, announced Maldives Inland Revenue Authorty yesterday. In a fact sheet publicized yesterday, MIRA reported that revenue collection in Maldivian Rufiya for September totalled 6.6.3 million and 29.2 million in dollars. This was an increase of 16% over September 2011, but a decrease of 2% from the projected value. Tourism land rent contributed 36.4% to total revenue, while Goods and Services Tax contributed 28.6%. Business Profit Tax contributed 12.3%, Tourism Tax 11.3% and Airport Service Charge 4.3%. Over 50% of US dollar revenue was from Tourism Land Rent while Tourism Tax contributed 15.6%, thus making it 65.7% YS dollar revenu directly from the Tourism industry. These figures is brings into sharp focus the high dependence of Maldives on the tourism industry, and industry now being threatened by former President Mohamed Nasheed and his friends overseas.Mohamed Nasheed has consistently carried out campaigns over...

#Maldives: Fresh reports on social media state that Mariyam Naifa, a senior MDP activist, paid three gang members to murder MP Dr. Afraasheem Ali. All four arrested are front line members of former President Nasheed's party, Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). Dr. Afraasheem has been the target of former President Nasheed and his party leaders while serving as Vice President of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC). Days before his murder, Nasheed launched a book by a close friend and MDP Activist Aishath Velezinee which denounces Dr. Afraasheem as deliberately obstructing justice, subverting the Judiciary, and undermining the Constitution. Nasheed is currently running from the law, refusing to appear before the court in a human rights case brought against him by the country's independent Prosecutor General. Dr. Afraasheem belonged to the party headed by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Progressive Party of Maldives. He was found violently hacked to death a few days ago, ...

--> #Maldives Police today arrested four persons in relation to the brutal murder of MP and moderate Muslim scholar Dr. Afrasheem Ali. One of the individuals arrested was Mariyam Naifa, a leading activist of ex-President Nasheed’s party, Maldives Democratic Party. Unconfirmed reports in social media state identify a second individual amongst the arrested four to be a member of a gang providing “security” to MDP Interim President “Reeko” Moosa Maniku. A book launched by Nasheed on 10 th September repeatedly attacks Dr. Afrasheem, former Vice President of the Judicial Services Commision (JSC) at the time the majority of the present Judiciary was sworn in, calling him a “traitor” who allegedly subverted the Judiciary. Dr. Afrasheem’s murder comes within hours of Nasheed’s refusal to appear before court in a human rights abuse case against him. Nasheed refused to obey the court, denouncing the Judiciary as political and not to be obeyed. Nasheed, holding a lifetime position as the...

#Maldives: Days before ex-President Nasheed's trial for human rights abuse, international media and countries have stepped up efforts to assist Nasheed to block the trial. While international media such as AFP have reported the trial as a politically motivated, it is in fact a criminal case brought by the country's first independent Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizzu, for violation of human rights in the military arrest of the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court in January this year. The Prosecutor General's case is built upon an independent investigation by the country's Human Rights Commission, an independent institution headed by a 5 member panel appointed by the Parliament. The current Human Rights Commission consists of 5 members nominated to the Parliament by Nasheed himself.  The Report of the HRCM on the investigation of the Judge's arrest and subsequent solitary confinement at a military training camp for 22 days determined the said actions to be blatant ...

Male', Maldives. On February 7th this year, the reins of the Maldivian Presidency passed to Mohamed Waheed Hassan Maniku, the fifth President of the country. Waheed, then Vice President, ascended to the Presidency when Mohamed Nasheed resigned after weeks of civic protests against him. Some say Waheed was a puppet of the leaders of an alleged coup to topple Nasheed. Nasheed accuses him of leading the alleged coup. Others accuse him being a cowardly man with a history or running away when the going got tough. Very few recall that the country's long road to political reform did indeed begin its modern phase with Mohamed Waheed. Political opponents seek to hide the fact that Dr. Waheed is the man who first introduced a Bill of Rights to the Constitutional Assemply, the first to introduce a Bill on Freedom of Speech to the Majlis. Nicknamed the Professor by his classmates for his studious nature, Waheed may not have a flamboyant history of a prisoner of conscience. Nor does he h...

Male', Maldives. Last night, ex-President Nasheed again called upon his party, the Maldivian Democratic Party, to assist him to immediately remove President Mohamed Waheed and reinstate him. The MDP cannot sit around with folded arms, but must take action to remove President Waheed from office, Nasheed told party members gathered at a rally in Male' last night. These statements come in the midst of international reports which say that Nasheed has agreed with foreign envoys such as US Special Envoy Robert Blake to join a unity government and work for reform leading to an election in 2013. However, neither Nasheed nor MDP have confirmed such a commitment. The international community which collectively expressed support for the new regime earlier in the week have modified its stance after Britain and Germany supported Nasheed's allegations of a forced resignation by a military coup. The international community now collectively call for an independent investigation into t...

Male', Maldives. Day 1 of President Waheed's infant presidency ended in street terrorism, arson and vandalism in some islands, backing a demand by ex-President Nasheed for Dr. Waheed's immediate resignation. In response, Dr. Waheed made three key political appointees, which drew widespread criticism from the public. Police and military response to the riots yesterday are being condemned as brutal and excessive. As Day 2 speeds by, the Judiciary has entered the fray with the Criminal Court reportedly issuing a warrant for the arrest of Nasheed and his Defence Minister DIK Tholhath Ibrahim. The riots in the capital Male' were led by Nasheed himself, while the arson and vandalism in strongholds of Nasheed's party MDP were led by MDP MPs and Municipal Council members. In scenes reminiscent of the last days of Nasheed's regime, large numbers of protestors and riot police officials suffered injuries. The scale and extent of Nasheed's rebellion give a clear me...

In a landmark case, Ghassan Maumoon, the Dhivehi Raiyyithunge Party candidate for Thaa Thimarafushi, has successfully won an appeal to invalidate the Thimarafushi parliamentary vote. On June 11, the Maldives High Court declared that the parliamentary elections in Thimarafushi had not taken place in a free and fair environment. It found that several conditions of voting in Thimarafushi were in direct violation of the law, and that voting in Thimarafushi had taken place in a climate of terror and intimidation. The court ordered the Maldives Elections Commission to take a fresh vote for both ballot boxes in the constituency. Ghassan Maumoon’s appeal stated that, voting on Thimarafushi island took place under intimidation, threat and violence by supporters of Maldivian Democratic Party candidate, Thimarafushi Musthafa. The High Court ordered the EC to ensure within 20 days that the island had a peaceful environment within which free and fair elections could be held as under Article 70 of t...