Maldives prosecutor general to appeal against ex-president's conviction

Decision based on Mohamed Nasheed’s complaint of procedural irregularities in his trial on terrorism charges.

The Maldives’ prosecutor general has said he will appeal against the conviction of former president and opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed, who was jailed for 13 years in March after a trial the UN described as “vastly unfair”.

A statement released by the prosecutor general’s office said the decision was based on Nasheed’s complaint of procedural irregularities in his trial, including “the violation of some fundamental rights and inadequate time to prepare his defence”.

“The prosecutor general of the Maldives has decided to appeal the case of former president Mohamed Nasheed,” it said.

The president, Abdulla Yameen, has faced a chorus of international criticism over the jailing of Nasheed, the first democratically elected leader of the archipelago, on charges of terrorism.

Nasheed’s lawyers resigned before the end of his brief trial, saying it was biased and aimed at destroying his political career.

It came at a time of growing opposition to Yameen’s government and was expected to prevent Nasheed from running for president in elections in 2018.

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, warned in May that democracy in the Maldives was under threat, saying Nasheed had been “imprisoned without due process”, and urging a rethink.

An international team of lawyers, including London-based human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, has petitioned the United Nations over Nasheed’s controversial jailing.

Nasheed, a climate change activist who was imprisoned during the three-decade rule of former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, became the country’s first democratically elected leader in 2008. He was toppled in February 2012 after a mutiny by police and troops that followed weeks of protests over the arrest of a top judge who had been appointed by Gayoom.

Nasheed had ordered the arrest, and it formed the centrepiece of his prosecution.

Yameen, the half-brother of Gayoom, controversially beat Nasheed in an election runoff in late 2013 despite trailing in the first round.

The Nasheed controversy has dealt a further blow to the image of the Maldives as an upmarket tourist destination, already marred by political unrest on the streets of the capital since he lost power in 2012.

In May Nasheed’s lawyer filed a petition with the UN arguing his detention was illegal and a violation of international law. His wife Laila Ali also visited Washington to lobby the White House, State Department and Congress over his detention.

The Maldives government had always insisted he had received a fair trial. But last month, Nasheed was moved out of his prison cell and confined to house arrest while he received medical treatment, in what some saw as a possible sign of softening towards him.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/24/maldives-prosecutor-general-appeal-against-mohamed-nasheed-conviction

Maldives law 'selling' foreigners islands stokes Delhi's fears of rising Chinese role

With anyone investing $1bn now able to own land in perpetuity, concerns are growing that the Maldives will become the focus of an Indian Ocean cold war

A new law allowing foreigners to own land on the Maldives, the island nation known for luxury tourism, has sharpened regional competition for influence over one of the busiest oceans in the world.

On Thursday Abdulla Yameen, the controversial president of the Maldives, approved a law allowing foreign ownership of land in the country for the first time, triggering concern in Delhi over a possible opportunity for China to extend its reach in the Indian Ocean region.

Dozens of foreign companies already run luxury resorts on islands that they lease from the government of the honeymoon islands for a maximum of 99 years.

The law would allow foreigners who invest more than $1bn (£650m) to own land in perpetuity, provided 70% of it is reclaimed from the sea.

India has watched warily as the Maldives, which held its first free elections in 2008 after more than three decades of autocratic rule, has tilted towards China in recent years.

The two emerging Asian powers are battling for influence in the region, with Delhi concerned at what it sees as aggressive moves by Beijing in what it considers its backyard.

India won the most recent round of manoeuvring when President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka was ousted in a surprise defeat in January. Rajapaksa had increasingly looked to China for investment and diplomatic support. The new Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena, has shifted Sri Lanka’s policy back towards Delhi.

The Maldives have also seen competition. An Indian company had a major contract to extend the existing airport cancelled, while the Chinese are helping to build a crucial $300m road link between the airport and the capital, Malé. India was also closer to the former president and current opposition leader Mohammed Nasheed, who was ousted in 2012 and is currently under house arrest.

Yameen went out of his way to reassure India in an address to the nation. “The Maldivian government has given assurances to the Indian government and our neighbouring countries as well to keep the Indian Ocean a demilitarised zone,” the president was quoted as saying by the local Minivan News website.

Yameen said the foreign policy of the Maldives would not change and the new move would not pose “any danger to either the Maldivian people or our neighbouring countries”.

Officials in Delhi said they were examining Yameen’s statements closely.

Lawmakers in the Maldives voted on Wednesday for the bill, which easily passed after a brief debate, with 70 members in favour and 14 against, the assembly said in a statement.

But opposition MPs expressed fears that their small nation, made up of about 1,200 tiny islands, would be caught in the “a cold war brewing between India and China”.

Since Nasheed was jailed for 13 years in March there have been regular protests on Malé’s streets.

Loyalists have argued that the detention of the human rights activist turned politician is an attempt to shut down opposition to the government of Yameen.

David Cameron called last month for “political dialogue [and the] release of Nasheed and all political prisoners” in the Maldives.

The Maldivian prosecutor general said on Friday that he would appeal against Nasheed’s conviction.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/24/maldives-law-selling-foreigners-islands-stokes-delhis-fears-rising-chinese-role 

The government in the Maldives has decided to commute a prison term handed down to former President Mohamed Nasheed to time under house arrest.

The Maldivian government, which has been facing mounting international pressure over the conviction of Nasheed, had already moved him from prison and placed him under house arrest.

On Friday, however, his international lawyer, Jared Genser, confirmed that Nasheed’s 13-year prison sentence has been commuted to a term under house arrest.


“The government of the Maldives has permanently moved President Nasheed to house arrest for the balance of his 13-year term in prison,” Genser told reporters in the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo.

Earlier on Friday, the government also announced, “The prosecutor-general of the Maldives has decided to appeal the case of former President Mohamed Nasheed.”

Nasheed, who was sentenced to 13 years in March, has complained to the United Nations about “the violation of some fundamental rights” in his trial, adding that his lawyers had “inadequate time to prepare his defense.”

He was arrested under the Anti-Terrorism Act and charged for authorizing the detention of Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed in 2012, when he was the country’s president.

Fair or unfair?

In May, the United Nations Human Rights Office assessed the trial of Nasheed as “vastly unfair” after a UN delegation to the Maldives found the conviction of the former president to be biased.

 Mona Rishmawi, who headed the mission to the Maldives, said Nasheed’s trial had been “politically biased, inadequate and subject to external influence.”

However, the Maldivian government says the former president had received a fair trial.

Nasheed was the first democratically-elected president of the Maldives from 2008 to 2012.
Source: http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/07/24/421661/Maldives-Mohamed-Nasheed-house-arrest

Maldives commutes ex-president’s 13 year term to house arrest

Former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed's 13 years of jail term has been commuted to house arrest, media reported. Ex-president was sentenced for 13-year prison after he was found guilty of ordering the arrest of a judge while in office.

"The government of the Maldives has permanently moved president Nasheed to house arrest for the balance of his 13- year term in prison", his international lawyer Jared Genser said. The lawyer's comments came hours after the Maldives government said it would appeal against Nasheed's conviction in March which drew heavy international criticism.

A spokesman for the Maldivian High Commission in Colombo confirmed the changes to Nasheed's sentence, but said he had no further details. "It is correct that the jail term is now commuted to house arrest," Hussain Mazin told AFP.

Source: http://www.oneindia.com/international/maldives-commutes-ex-president-s-13-year-term-house-arrest-1816672.html

Indian Ocean games

Delhi must stop complaining and start thinking of how to repair strained ties with the Maldives

New Delhi is predictably upset with the Maldives for an amendment to the country’s constitution permitting foreigners to own land, provided the entity invests a minimum of $1 billion. The move is being seen as an attempt by the Indian Ocean atoll to forge closer ties with China. Chinese companies are already involved in other projects, notably the construction of a bridge to connect Hulhumale island, on which the airport is, with the capital Male. During Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit last September, Maldives President Abdulla Yameen readily agreed to become part of China’s ambitious maritime silk route project. New Vice President Ahmed Adeeb has said that criticism of the amendment as a backdoor move to permit foreign powers to establish military bases on its territory are unfounded. As many as 70 members in the 85-seat Majlis voted in favour of the changes. Among the 19 opposition members who voted for the bill, 10 were from the Maldivian Democratic Party, whose leader, Mohamed Nasheed, a former president, is under house arrest. The concern in India, and for some in the Maldives, too, is that the possibility has not been ruled out entirely.




Sovereign nations act according to what they believe are their own best interests. Other countries have to work towards ensuring that these interests coincide with theirs. Delhi, which harbours an unrealistic expectation that its neighbours must play its game or none at all, was unfortunately not deft at deciphering the signals from the Maldives right from the time Nasheed was ousted back in 2012, or far thinking. It lost no time in dropping the young MDP leader and backing the new regime. It was only when the Indian firm GMR was turfed out from the Maldives airport project did Delhi fathom this Indian Ocean game ran deep. Despite his political brinkmanship, Nasheed was the most India-friendly politician in the Maldives. If some in his party have now voted in favour of the amendment, it is in the hope that in return, the Yameen government may give some concessions on Nasheed’s 13-year jail term, handed down by an anti-terrorist court earlier this year. 

India must stop complaining and start thinking of how to repair strained ties with this small but strategically important neighbour it has helped in many ways. One way to do this might be to step up engagement with all political players there immediately.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/indian-ocean-games/

Maldives government sacks vice president for 'treason'

Mohamed Jameel, until recently an ally of controversial president Abdulla Yameen, dismissed in his absence under unclear circumstaces

The Maldives parliament has sacked the country’s vice president and accused him of treason, as international concern mounts over the state of democracy on the islands.

Legislators voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday evening to oust Mohamed Jameel, who was the running mate of President Abdulla Yameen in a controversial 2013 election but has now fallen out with him.

The 45-year-old vice president, who was abroad at the time of the vote, was also accused of colluding with the opposition, although the precise nature of the charge remains unclear.

Yameen, the half-brother of former Maldivian strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who ruled for three decades until 2008, already faces international criticism for jailing opposition leader and former president Mohamed Nasheed for 13 years on charges of terrorism in March.

In June Nasheed was moved to house arrest to undergo medical treatment.

The United Nations said the trial of Nasheed, the country’s first democratically elected leader, was “vastly unfair”, while the US secretary of state John Kerry warned that democracy was under threat.

Yameen and Jameel have been at loggerheads in recent months even though both had worked together to defeat Nasheed. Jameel accused the president of sidelining him about four months after his November 2013 election.

The vice president, who was not allowed legal representation, said Yameen was undermining the rule of law.

“This is a testament to the state of the rule of law in the Maldives,” Jameel said in a statement quoted by the local Minivan News service, before the vote on his sacking was taken in parliament. “Every act was planned at driving a wedge between myself and the people who elected me. My reputation was threatened and finally I started receiving threats to my life.”

Paradise jihadis: Maldives sees surge in young Muslims leaving for Syria

The image of the Maldives as an upmarket tourist destination has been dented by political unrest since the toppling of Nasheed in February 2012.

Yameen’s defence minister, Mohamed Nazim, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in March this year for trying to topple the government, and another former defence minister, Tholhath Ibrahim, was sent to jail for 10 years in April for terrorism.

Yameen came to power in 2013 after a runoff vote that had been delayed on the orders of the supreme court following a first-round election led by Nasheed.

In a statement issued later on Wednesday, Yameen’s office said tourism minister Ahmed Adeeb had been sworn in as the new vice president.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/22/maldives-government-sacks-vice-president-treason-mohamed-jameel