Human Rights Council’s report cannot be considered a report of the UN- Govt

  -“Rights” mentioned in the report cannot be granted ever in Maldives Spokesperson of the government, Abbas Adil Riza has said that the report of the United Nation’s Human Rights Council (UNHRC) regarding the Maldives cannot be considered a report which was issued by the UN after study and research. Abbas Adil Riza told Miadhu Daily that the report of the UN Human Rights Council was based on the research of the human rights condition reports submitted by the former President Mohamed Nasheed’s regime. He said that Nasheed’s administration has lied and exaggerated many issues in order to achieve their political goals through...

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Posted in: Politics / Religion

Islamic Minister calls to reject issues raised by UN which are in opposition against Islam

Minister of Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed has called the government to reject all issues raised by the UN Human Rights Commission which are in opposition to the fundamentals of Islam. Sheikh Shaheem said that the UN Human Rights Committee’s report called the government to permit freedom of religions and abolish flogging and the death penalty and also to give homosexuals their “rights. He said that these issues raised by the UN is against Islam and the constitution and cannot be implemented in the Maldives. Sheikh Shaheem said that the Ministry rejects all issues raised in the report which against Islam and at...

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Posted in: Politics / Religion

Under the Crescent of Ramadan: Reconciling with Lord Almighty

As we celebrate the holy month of Ramdan, I, as a gay, come to reconsider my relationship with God and where I stand when it comes to religion. Resorting to a supernatural being, which is omnipresent and omnipotent to explain the unexplored and unexplainable can, in my point of view, prevent me from going insane.  It can make me a more enduring person in times of adversity. Also believing in a benevolent and merciful being can lead to manifestation of such godly qualities within me. For a scientist or an atheist this is nothing short of hocus-pocus, but hey this is where I stand. As for the idea of assembled following...

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Posted in: Opinion

12-year-old Maldivian girl tests positive for HIV

UPDATE: A reliable source has revealed that this is a completely fabricated story constructed to stir up the community and health industry.  At a time when the country is in upheaval, this Deceitful lie is being spread by an unregistered news website called Manadhoo Live.  ----- A 12-year-old Maldivian girl has tested positive for HIV, according to some media reports. The case came to light after she was screened at a hospital for HIV/AIDS prior to a surgery she had to undergo after an illness. Following the revelation, the doctor had decided not to perform the operation. She had a previous operation and media reports say...

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Posted in: Gossip

Death penalty to be implemented after appeals process: Home Ministry

The Home Ministry has revealed today that the ministry supports the policy of implementing the death penalty and that if the death penalty is favored in the appeals process it will be enforced. State Home Minister Mohamed Fayaz said that though the Home Ministry’s policy on the matter is pro implementation the matter will be submitted to the cabinet to reach a final decision on implementation and how to proceed on the matter based on the decision. “Our policy is to implement the penalty once the appeals process is over, but a paper is also being submitted to the cabinet for a decision at that level. Either way the death penalty will...

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Posted in: News

CCHDC backs sex education in schools to combat rising sexual health problems

Age appropriate sexual and reproductive health education needs to taught in schools to combat the increasing “sexual health illnesses” in the Maldives, according to the Centre for Community Health and Disease Control (CCHDC). CCHDC’s Public Health Programme Coordinator Nazeera Nazeeb revealed that studies have found high risk behaviors young people - including “unprotected sex, drug and alcohol abuse, homosexuality and prostitution” – are putting them at high risk of  sexually transmitted diseases and HIV risk. During a rapid situation assessment of drug abuse in Maldives in 2003 ...

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Posted in: Health / HIV

Maldives: Human rights campaigner attacked, injured: Ismail Rasheed

UA: 169/12 Index: ASA 29/003/2012 Maldives Date: 15 June 2012 URGENT ACTION    HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGNER ATTACKED, INJURED Human rights campaigner Ismail "Hilath" Rasheed was attacked in the evening of 5 June by men who slashed his throat, near his house in the capital, Malé. He survived but is at risk of further attacks and is in need of effective protection.    Ismail Rasheed needed hours of emergency medical treatment in the ADK hospital in Malé. Hospital sources have said the knife missed a vital artery by millimetres. He is under close medical attention, and unable to speak. No one has been brought to justice for this attack.  Religious groups opposed to Ismail Rasheed’s long campaign for religious...

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Posted in: True Stories

“Compliments from Shaheem, Imran and Muttalib”: Who were behind the attack on me?

I don’t have any forensic evidence as such but I have reason to believe that current Islamic Affairs Minister Mohamed Shaheem Ali Saeed, Adhaalath Party President Imran Abdulla and Jumhooree Party Member of Parliament Ibrahim Muttalib had both a direct and indirect influence on the attack carried against me on June 4 by three men styled up as Wahhabis.When they were slashing my throat, they uttered the words “Mee Shaheem, Imran, Muttalib faraathun hadhiyaa eh“, meaning “Compliments from Shaheem, Imran and Muttalib”. Even though the three politicians may not have directly ordered the three attackers to murder me, their calls for killing me somehow had a psychological influence on the three attackers to the extent that they did attack me.Now how could that happen? An MDP Member of...

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Posted in: True Stories

Maldives journalist flees island fearing safety

Ismail Rasheed wants to see Maldives as a secular country A Maldivian journalist, who narrowly survived a murder attempt last month, says Islamic extremists are pushing the country to "a very dangerous situation".  Talking to BBC News after fleeing Maldives fearing for his life, Ismail Rasheed, nicknamed "Hilath", alleged that the radicals were operating with impunity under the new government in the island nation. The government denies the allegation and has condemned the attack. The T-shaped wound from the slashing of his throat is painfully visible on the neck of Hilath, a blogger with liberal views who used to edit...

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Posted in: True Stories

Hilath Rasheed attack “nothing to do with religious extremism”, government claims

The Maldives government has told international media that an attack last month on prominent blogger Ismail ‘Hilath’ Rasheed was the work of “rival gang members”and not religious extremists as alleged by the victim. Rasheed – a controversial figure in the Maldives for his willingness to tackle taboo subjects, particularly religious tolerance – was left in a critical condition after being stabbed in the neck near his home in Male’ last month. Having since fled the country, Rasheed has told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news service that he believed the attack, which literally silenced him temporarily after his...

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Posted in: Politics / Religion

Jameel and Dunya to defend Maldives’ human rights record at UNHRC

The Maldives’ government will on Thursday defend its human rights record to the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) in Geneva. The delegation will be headed by Home Minister Dr Mohamed Jameel, former Justice Minister under the 30 year rule of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and co-author of a pamphlet entitled ‘President Nasheed’s devious plot to destroy the Islamic faith of Maldivians’, published in January 2012 while in opposition. Dr Jameel will be accompanied by State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dunya Maumoon – Gayoom’s daughter – as well as the Maldives’ Permanent Representative in Geneva, Iruthisham Adam, Counsellor...

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Posted in: Politics / Religion,Society

Slashed journalist claims attack was targeted assassination by Islamic radicals

Ismail ‘Hilath’ Rasheed got out his mobile phone and called for a taxi, but no sound came from his throat. Instead the Maldivian blogger, journalist and former Amnesty prisoner of conscience, infamous for his willingness to tackle taboo subjects, particularly religious tolerance – felt air escaping from his neck. “A very bad kind of panic came at that moment. I knew my trachea was cut. I knew it was a deep cut, and not just on the surface of the skin,” the journalist told Minivan News, prior to fleeing his own country in fear of his life. Moments before, on the evening of June 4, Rasheed had turned into the dark...

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Posted in: Politics / Religion,Society,True Stories