Raajje News Blog

#Maldives: Ex-President Nasheed and his militant party Maldives Democratic Party last week declared a ban on all courts of Maldives, in response to the scheduled start of human rights case against Nasheed. MPs and leading individuals of Nasheed's party are also currently facing charges ranging from terrorism, corruption, arson, vandalism, theft, pillaging and slander. Nasheed, together with four others, is being presecuted by the Prosecutor General for the illegal and unconstitutional arrest of the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court in January this year. Judge Abdulla Mohamed was arbitrarily arrested by the Military and held in solitary confinement upon Nasheed's orders as President and Commander in Chief. The Judge was released by incoming President Waheed after the transfer of power on February 7th upon Nasheed's voluntary resignation as President. During his tenure as President, Nasheed locked down the Supreme Court of the country using military personnel. He also abo...

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. Maldives Military wore black face masks to conceal their identity as they stormed the site of another civic protest against the military's forced disappearance of Judge Abdulla Mohamed. In doing so, the military obstructs justice and accountability by preventing the persons harmed and others from enforcing their constitutional right to hold military officers accountable for their actions. In the international scene, it is common to see Israeli security forces don face masks and this too, only when attacking innocent Palestinians. Hence, it is rather disturbing to see the Maldivian military dodging accountability and justice by wearing identity concealing masks when confronting civilians. The disturbing incident adds to the growing lengthy list of violations of fundamental constitutional rights by President Nasheed's military, police, administration and party. The wearing of face masks by protestors is banned in several countries. The issue is relate...

Male', Maldives. President Nasheed today launched a third prong in his takeover bid of the independent Judiciary that was established under the new constitution brought in ex-President Gayoom as part of his Reform Agenda. President Nasheed today led a rally of his militant party Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), at which MDP Vice President Alhan Fahmy announced that he would be leading an MDP protest group to confront Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz Hussain and the rest of the Supreme Court tomorrow. Alhan Fahmy declared that the objective of the protest would be to show Chief Justice Faiz that he had failed in his duties, and to demand action by the Judicial Services Commission against Criminal Court Senior Judge Abdulla Mohamed. Judge Abdulla has been incarcerated by the military and held incommunicado against his will since 16th January 2012. He has not been brought before a court of law since his forced detention. The protest, led by Alhan Fahmy, is in support of a letter to the...

Male', Maldives. Into the sixth day of civic protests against President Nasheed's overturning of the constitution and compromising of judicial independence, the protests shows no sign of abating. If anything, civilian numbers joining the protests each night are increasing. However, at the same time, the protest does show any clear signs of succeeding in its stated demands. Over various nights of protest, leaders of the protest have stated varying demands. It began with a demand for the release of opposition politician Dr. Mohamed Jameel Ahmed, Deputy Leader of Dhivehi Qaumee Party. Dr. Jameel was released upon a criminal court order issued by Senior Judge Abdulla Mohamed. Dr. Jameel has been detained several times since then, yet not arrested as before. President Nasheed immediately took Judge Abdulla into military detention, an action that violated a number of constitutional provisions while raising a hue and cry amongst the Judiciary and independent governance organs of ...

Male', Maldives. The fledgling democracy of the Maldives, carried into place by Gayoom and his DRP, has been well and truly killed by President Nasheed and his militant party, Maldives Democratic Party. Nasheed this week compromised the independence of the judiciary by arbitrarily arresting and holding in isolated detention, Senior Judge of the Criminal Court, Abdulla Mohamed. Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz, Prosecutor General Ahmed Muizzu, Attorney General Abdulla Muizzu, Maldives Lawyers Association, Human Rights Commission of Maldives, and top lawyers around the country have called the act a violation of the constitution and laws. President Nasheed today broke his total silence on the matter, by trying to justify his military action compromising the independence of the judiciary as an action he was required to take in order to uphold the constitution. Nasheed claimed that the Constitution gave him the parental role of protecting and upholding it. His arrest of Judge Abdulla, he s...

Male', Maldives In a direct challenge to the constitutional powers of the Judiciary, Maldives military today ignored a High Court summons to appear before the court and provide an explanation for its arbitrary arrest of Senior Judge of the Criminal Court, Judge Abdulla Mohamed. The Parliament must take ultimate responsibility for failing to control the Nasheed administration's abuse of the country's military and police services. The military has also refused to abide by a Criminal Court order to release Judge Abdulla. By these actions, the military continue to defy the constitution and the Judiciary, holding Judge Abdulla in military detention since last Monday night. More than 48 hours after the military arrest of Judge Abdulla, there has been no word on his whereabouts or his state of health. The military has refused appeals from the Judge's family to be told his whereabouts and his state of health. Over the past 48 hours, the military has ignored demands for his...

Male', Maldives. This week's military intervention in civic affairs is no small matter. Even leaving aside the subjugation of the judiciary to military and police might, the active participation of the military in the Nasheed administrations political wars with political opponents will have caused alarm amongst the more thinking Maldivian voter base. Maldives Defence Minister Tholhath Ibrahim (DIK) said last night, that the military's arbitrary arrest of Senior Judge Abdulla Mohamed was to protect national security and maintain public peace. Reading from a written statement, Minister Tholhath stated on the state television network MNBC1 that the military had acted upon a request from Home Minister Hassan Afeef for military assistance to secure the detention of Judge Abdulla. Judge Abdulla's whereabouts and the state of his health are unknown from the time of his incarceration by the military on January 16, 2012. Military actions cannot be merely dismissed as Mini...

Male' Maldives. President Nasheed has again wielded his military to attack opposition MPs, this time on the Parliament floor while the parliament was in session. Media reports are streaming in that military personnel are active inside the parliament hall, forcibly removing opposition members from the hall. Some opposition MPs are reported to leaving on their own, under orders from the military personnel to either leave the parliament floor or be removed with the use of force. Today's Parliament session to debate the various loans proposed by the Nasheed Government was halted due to points of order taken by opposing MPs. Opposition MPs noted that the parliament session on the topic (Government loans) was proceeding out of order as the session period had expired. They pointed out that the legal process for extending the session was for a member to proposed the extension and for another to support it. However, this process had not been followed, with the Speaker of Parliament...

Male', Maldives. The Nasheed Presidency, now into its 4th year, was rocked to its foundations by the scale of the civic protest against it on December 23rd, 2011. Media estimate that over 20,000 civilians participated in the peaceful protest held at Victory Square, Male', under the aegis of a Civic Coalition of over 90 civic associations and interest groups. While bickering opposition leaders scramble to take steering wheel of the civic protest into their hands, President Nasheed has relied on his military to maintain his grip on the presidency. On the sidelines of military interference in civic affairs, Nasheed's cronies in his militant party (Maldives Democratic Party, MDP) and his Cabinet, continue to throw up various smokescreens in the public eye. Nasheed's military made a decisive entry into the civic forum hours prior to the Civic Protest, by sending intimidatory directives to all media, threatening to close down all media outlets which air anti-government...

Male', Maldives The historical civic protest in the Maldives on December 23rd, 2011 saw an escalation of President Nasheed's intimidatory tactics against free media in the country. Under Nasheed's direct order as Commander in Chief of the Maldives Military, the Military had sent a written warning to all free media, warning against the airing of anti-government demonstrations. The military warning was received by all media channels and print media just hours prior to the mass gathering at Victory Square to protest against President Nasheed and his corrupt Government. A few days prior to the protest, Maldives Police arrested Ali Ahsan, web designer and online news editor, for creating a website which provided updated news on the upcoming Civic Protest. In further actions against free media, President Nasheed shutdown Maldives youth website www.mvyouth.net on the day of the Civic Protest, in a move to stifle dissenting voices against his corrupt government. The websi...