Silence is not always golden

By Munirah Moosa | December 19th, 2009 Silence is not always golden, and never so under compulsion. The Maldives is travelling on a road not just less travelled but abandoned by most other nations – the road of regression. Reading the headlines of a Maldivian newspaper is like travelling back in time. Female genital mutilation (FGM), concubines, under-age brides, calls to bring back capital punishment, deportation of ‘suspect’ foreigners, increasing acceptance of man’s alleged superiority over women… concerned about this state of affairs? The key, apparently, is to say nothing, because whatever you say is certain to be used against you...

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Posted in: Society

President ranked 14th ‘hottest’ leader

By JJ Robinson | December 13th, 2009 President Mohamed Nasheed has been ranked as the 14th hottest leader in the world out of 172 on the list, Miadhu reports. The president came before US President Barack Obama who followed in 15th place. The number one slot was given to Yulia Tymoshenko, the Ukranian prime minister followed by Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is the least ‘hot’. Source: Minivan N...

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Posted in: Arts / Entertainment

Authorities Warn Of Looming AIDS Pandemic

The Health Ministry has warned of the spread of AIDS in the Maldives after an expatriate prostitute tested positive for HIV. At a press conference yesterday, Dr Ahmed Jamsheed Mohamed, senior medical officer at the centre for community health and disease control, said prostitutes from neighbouring countries were working in the Maldives on tourist visas. “We have some evidence now that expatriate women who came to the Maldives without a work permit on a tourist visa are involved in prostitution,” he said. “We learned that one of them was HIV positive.” While the authorities required medical checkups for expatriates...

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Posted in: Health / HIV

Imam among seven men arrested for homosexual activity

A group of men, including an imam, were arrested in Alif Alif atoll Maalhos on Thursday after photos and videos emerged of the seven engaged in homosexual activity.  An islander who spoke on condition of anonymity told Minivan News a group of teenagers from the island came upon the video CDs in the house of one of the suspects. When the CDs began to be circulated in public, the “island elders” alerted police. “It came as a big shock to everyone on the island to see that [the imam] was one of them. He gives the Friday sermons at the mosque every week,” he said. “He is a well respected person on the island and we saw him as our religious...

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Posted in: News

British Editor Targeted for Publishing Letter on Homosexuality

by Olivia Lang I’ve been meaning to write about this since it kicked off in early October. An editor of an English news website has been accused of diluting Islam and promoting homosexuality in the Maldives by an Islamic group who have asked for her deportation. The religious group took offence after Maryam Omidi, who took over from me as editor of Minivan News at the beginning of the year, published a letter written by a reader who said that the 100% Muslim country should recognise gay rights. The Islamic Ministry, headed by the religious conservative Adhaalaath party, then condemned the publication of the letter and asked for an investigation into both the letter (to establish its author) and the website. The rest of the government, headed by President Mohamed...

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Posted in: Politics / Religion,Society

Serial Paedophile Sentenced To Six Years

By JJ Robinson | November 25th, 2009 Convicted paedophile Hussain Fazeel has been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for 39 counts of child sexual abuse, the highest sentence for such a crime in the Maldives and a landmark decision for the country. Fazeel was initially arrested in February for smuggling alcohol in Male, but when police searched his home they discovered a hard drive containing a large quantity of images and videos of Fazeel having sex with young boys, some as young as 10. In other videos, the boys were made to had sex with each other. Inspector Ismail Athif of Maldives Police Service said at the time that many of the...

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Posted in: News

Letter on Tolerance & Dialogue

This letter was sent to the editor of Minivan News by an anonymous writer, published on their website on November 19th, 2009*** Dear Editor, I am appalled at the ease with which Muslims in the Maldives and all over the world take offence at the slightest indication that there is an opposing view expressively forbidden by Islam. Constitutional law dictates that all tenets of Islam should be observed strictly and nothing else can supersede this entrenchment. Unfortunately, we do not do that. We have adapted and inherited a watered-down version of Islam and rally in Islam’s names as hypocrites. Hypocrisy is the Maldivian National Identity. I strongly appeal as a Muslim moderate to open up a dialogue and invite the public to educate and inform about the numerous cases of openly homosexual, atheistic...

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Posted in: Letters

Islamic Foundation calls for Minivan News website editor to be deported

The Islamic Foundation has called on the Government to deport the editor of Minivan News website, Maryam Omidi, for publishing a reader-submitted letter on the website which talked about legalizing homosexuality in Maldives. Speaking at a news conference held at Dharubaaruge, the Islamic Foundation’s spokesperson Ahmed Shain said that their investigation to discover the reason the letter had been published on the website had revealed some interesting details. Shain said that their investigation had revealed that Maryam Omidi, a resident of UK and the editor of the Minivan News website, had worked as a journalist for one of the largest European online websites that endorsed equal rights for homosexuals. He further said that she had written and published 37 articles endorsing homosexuality...

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Posted in: News

MPs vote for harsh penalties for sex offenders

By Ahmed Naish | November 4th, 2009 A bill on child abuse was passed by parliament today with amendments to increase jail terms for sex offenders. Of the 60 MPs who participated in the vote, 58 voted in favour, two voted against and one abstained. The two MPs who voted against were Bilendhoo MP Ahmed Hamza and Hoarafushi MP Ahmed Rasheed of the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). Kulhudhufushi South MP Mohamed Nasheed, an independent, who drafted the legislation, proposed a raft of amendments to reverse the changes to the jail terms made by the committee that reviewed the bill. A total of 36 amendments were passed. The...

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Posted in: Politics / Religion

HRCM should comment on homosexuality: Islamic Ministry

State Minister of Islamic Affairs Mohamed Shaheed Ali Saeed has said that the ministry was very worried about the fact that the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) was not concerned about the issue of homosexuality as they were concerned about the issue of child concubines in Maldives. Speaking at a press conference yesterday State Minister Shaheem said that the issue of child concubine was only based on hearsay. He said that the Ministry has been unsuccessful in their attempts to find the truth of this matter and that this makes one doubt the authenticity of the this talk of child concubine. Shaheem further said that they had a lot of work by contacting Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH), to find the truth about child concubine case and that so far they have no evidence to...

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Posted in: News,Politics / Religion

Islamic Ministry criticizes HRCM

State Minister of Islamic Affairs Mohamed Shaheed Ali Saeed has said that the ministry was very worried about the fact that the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM) was not concerned about the issue of homosexuality as they were concerned about the issue of child concubines in Maldives.  Speaking at a press conference yesterday State Minister Shaheem said that the issue of child concubine was only based on hearsay. He said that the Ministry has been unsuccessful in their attempts to find the truth of this matter and that this makes one doubt the authenticity of the this talk of child concubineShaheem further said that they...

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Posted in: Politics / Religion

Islamic Affairs Ministry seeking legal action against Minivan News website

The Islamic Affairs Ministry has asked the Ministry of Tourism and Arts to take steps against Minivan News website for publishing a comment letter about legalizing homosexuality on its website. Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, State Minister for the Islamic Ministry, said that they had sent the letter asking the Tourism Ministry to take steps against the website last Monday. He said that the Ministry condemned the letter on homosexuality that was published in the news website and that the letter should never have been published. The State Minister said that they had noticed that some foreigners were trying to undermine the country’s stability and that such people should not be allowed to work in Maldives. “Even foreigners have to respect our religion,” he said. “Otherwise they should not...

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Posted in: News,Politics / Religion