Raajje News Blog

#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. Yesterday's face-off between President Mohamed Waheed and his predecessor Mohamed Nasheed on the Male' streets ended with a victory for Waheed, but perhaps a victory that may be very temporary. Backed by an impressive display of people power over 50,000 strong, President Waheed condemned Nasheed's Maldives Democratic Party as terrorists, as enemies of the state. Alluding to the massive economic losses under Nasheed, Waheed warned that "There is no place for people who destroy our economy." Clearly, public support was behind Waheed. The MDP Women's Protest staged yesterday afternoon to balance the scale was vastly outnumbered, mustering about a 1,000+ to the National Unity's 50,000. The maximum Nasheed had been able to gather at his rallies was just over 7,000, even including his supporters arriving from the islands. However, what is most evident from the past two months of protests and rallies by all political parties, is that Nas...

Male', Maldives. "We will defend our nation, its culture and Islam with the last drop of our blood." pledged President Mohamed Waheed, amidst rousing cheers by the thousands gathered in support of his National Unity Government. In a rude wake up call for Mohamed Nasheed and fallen government, thousands thronged to Male's Artificial Beach today to stand in unity with President Waheed's government. Organizers of the event estimate over 50,000 supporters at the rally, with over 15,000 having already arrived from the islands. President Waheed was backed by the leaders of 8 political parties and 150 civic associations. This is in sharp contrast to the series of rallies being held by former President Nasheed at the South East corner of Male' since February 17th. The most support for Nasheed was received on the 17th itself, with an estimated 7,000 hard core MDP members attending from Male' and the islands combined. Since then, Nasheed's rallies have at the...

Male', Maldives. Day 21 of President Nasheed’s illegal military incarceration of Judge Abdulla Mohamed, and Nasheed is still unable to decide on the scapegoat for his wide step outside the country’s Constitution and laws. Nasheed and his town criers are seesawing back and forth between their two favorite bogeymen: 1) So-called Islamic extremists; and 2) Ex-President Gayyoom, Nasheed's punching bag for his every dismal failure. Of the two, the latter goes without saying and does not even merit discussion here. Gayoom is the scapegoat for every dismal failure by the Nasheed regime. According to Nasheed, Gayoom is an all powerful entity, who mysteriously controls the Parliament, the Judiciary, all Independent Commissions, non-profit organizations, civic watchdogs, opposition politicians. You name it, Gayoom controls it, like a Grand Master Ninja, through some inexplicable and mysterious network, of which Nasheed can show no evidence. Like the bogeyman in a child's imaginati...

Male', Maldives. Tension and alarm escalated amongst Maldivian citizenry yesterday with President Nasheed's re-introduction of the controversial UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navirathnam Pillai into the Maldivian internal matters. President Nasheed's grand design in the forced disappearance of Judge Abdulla appears to be to create an opportunity for international forces to enter Maldivian domestic politics and civic matters. If it were so, this would be a sad betrayal of centuries of struggle for political independence by Maldivians high and low. The end objective of this foreign influence is perhaps not reform of the Judiciary itself, but amendment of the constitution to remove its basis on Islamic Sharia. The fact that he chose to invite Ms. Pillai for legal assistance in the current constitutional crises shows that there is a link between the current military arrest and Ms. Pillai's agenda. Ms. Pillai sparked the largest civic protest in the country to...