The Maldives is like a string of pearls – 1192 islands and atolls, none more than 6′ above the sea level. The country stretches 600 miles north-south with no island more than a couple of miles long as it dangles below the Indian sub-continent.
The Maldives are reminiscent of the South Pacific Islands with clear waters, gentle breezes, and white sandy beaches.
PARADISEBy Aiman Rasheed
February 25, 2008
Ali Hassan, 66, Imam of Gnaviyani atoll Fuvahmulak, has been accused of molesting and raping a ten-year-old girl last Wednesday.
The gynaecologist at the island’s hospital, Dr Thajwar, told Minivan News there was conclusive evidence of rape and that the ten-year-old had been “sexually active.”
Police media co-ordinator Sergeant Shiyam confirmed that such a case was “under investigation,” but refrained from revealing any further information “due to the nature of the case.”
But local police said they were investigating other, similar allegations against the same suspect, who is currently out of the country.
Grooming
Abdulla Ahmed, brother of the alleged victim, said that Ali Hassan had “groomed” the girl by giving her sweets and money before allegedly committing the crime.
Mazeena Jameel, Director General of the Child Protection Authority, said international research indicates paedophiles either “threaten” or “bribe by giving presents” to the child they plan to abuse, as part of a “strategy” to gain access.
Staff Sergeant Hassan Shifau, who heads Fuvahmulak police station, told Minivan News that further allegations of child abuse against Ali Hassan were being investigated by Fuvahmulak police.
But the investigations are hindered by the absence of Ali Hassan, who is out of the country for medical reasons, he added.
Social Stigma
The family of the alleged victim also believe it was “not an isolated” incident. They accuse Ali Hassan of being a “serial molester.”
Aishath Mohamed, 47, claims that Ali Hassan also molested her daughter, now 16 years old, seven years ago.
However, Aishath said she had not gone to the authorities because the Imam was a “respected member of society”.
She felt that pressing charges would “hurt her daughter” due to the social stigma attached to such an incident.
Justice
The families of both of Hassan’s alleged victims question whether justice will be served.
In child abuse cases, there maybe no evidence of trauma on the victim’s body, argued Aishath Mohamed.
This means that – unlike in last week’s case – there would be no way to prove her child had indeed been molested, besides the child’s evidence.
In child abuse cases, medical reports, witness accounts and victim statements can be used as evidence, State Attorney Hussein Shameem said.
Shameem added that a draft bill on admissible and inadmissible evidence had been completed, and that this will clarify how expert opinion – such as a statement from a psychologist – can be used as evidence in courts of law.
Further Cases
Another case of accused child abuse is under investigation by Fuvahmulak police, but the accused man, Ahmed Shareef remains at large in the island while the investigation is ongoing.
This case comes after the Justice Ministry announced that sex offenders will face jail sentences rather than banishment under amendments brought to sentencing earlier this month.
This is the second case of alleged paedophilia from Gnaviyani Atoll Fuvahmulak this month.
Now this takes some believing
By Minivan News
January 29, 2008
A gang of four men cleared previously of raping a twelve-year old girl were sentenced to two years’ banishment for “forceful sexual assault” in a high court appeal case today.
But in defiance of previous government pledges, the court has not imposed any prison sentence.
The state had appealed following a ruling last July that the men were guilty of “consensual sex before marriage”, claiming the girl had agreed to have sex because she didn’t “scream out” after the men broke into her house.
The men were then sentenced to eight months’ exile from their home island, Lhaviyani atoll Kurendhoo, the minimum possible for sex outside marriage.
The High Court has now overruled the previous verdict, stating that sex was not necessarily consensual, and has increased the punishment.
But the victim’s father said he is concerned the men will be free to reoffend – echoing previous comments by local women’s and children’s organisations.
Banishment
The four men were sentenced to a total of two years’ banishment and fifteen lashings each. But the gang have already served part of their banishment sentence so face only eighteen months more in exile.
However the ruling directly contradicts a government commitment to the UN that child sex offenders would be imprisoned rather than banished.
The government had also pledged to change the law, which allows sex offenders to live and work among children on any island outside their own atoll.
The father of the victim, who has four children, said: “The government should not allow the criminal to have access to other children on other islands. No parent would want it.”
The Attack
The twelve-year-old was attacked on January 31 2007 when the group of four men, aged between 19 and 25, used an axe to smash the window of the her bedroom before taking her from her bed and having sex with her.
The father also alleged that, although the defendants were said to have been under house arrest in Male’ in the run-up to the trial, one of them, Ahmed Jaleel, had broken into a shop during that time.
He also told Minivan News that his daughter was “psychologically affected” by what had happened and has still not recovered.
In July, the judge noted “the girl had reached puberty” and found “she was a willing partner,” because she had not screamed, struggled or told her sister-in-law or stepmother about the event.
But on Tuesday, High Court Judge Ali Hamid said that the explanation given for the decision that sex was consensual was inconsistent with Maldivian legislation and Shari’ah law.
State Attorney Hussein Shameem said he believed the new sentence was “probably about average” for such a crime.
During the prosecution case, Shameem argued the minor could not give consent for something that was harmful to her. He also said that just because the girl did not struggle, it did not mean she had consented.
Defence Lawyer Mr Shaheem refused to comment on the case.
“Protect Our Children”
A number of high profile sexual offence cases in recent years have increased pressure on the government to confront the issue and reform the law.
Local NGO Rights for All launched a campaign last year to raise awareness.
And the lack of harsh sentencing has led to an online petition calling for legal reform.
With about 200 signatories, it demands that current gender minister Aishath Mohamed Didi “protect our children” by condemning lenient sentencing.
“How can four men, who raped a twelve year old, be sent to an island – possibly four separate islands – where there will be other vulnerable young females?” Aishath Velezinee, of women’s rights NGO Hama Jamiyya, said after the previous hearing.
Stay away from this paradise for pervertsFebruary 25, 1982: Twelve Shia gunmen, firing automatic weapons into the air, seized a Kuwaiti jetliner with 105 people aboard shortly after it landed at Beirut airport on a flight from Libya. The gunmen were seeking to draw attention to the disappearance of their religious leader in Libya. They threatened to blow up the plane unless they were granted their demands.
This act of terrorism, unlike that of the Armenians, was wrong in every way. Imam Sadr was the founder of a ruthless terrorist organization and he was killed because he actively advocated the creation of an Islamic theocracy in Libya. Further, the airline hostages were civilians – not Libyan government representatives. And even then, while the OPECing Qadhafi was a terrorist scoundrel, he only killed Sadr because Sadr had called for him to be deposed. The Libyan regime was worthy of condemnation to be sure, but they had not systematically slaughtered a million Christians.
There had been six previous hijackings by Shiites protesting the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr. The Iranian-born Shiite Islamic leader was the highest-ranking religious cleric in Lebanon. He was best known for having founded AMAL to terrorize the Lebanon into accepting a Shi’ite theocracy.
Sadr’s AMAL terrorists surrendered when a Shiite leader promised that Islamic leaders from Lebanon, Syria, Algeria, and Iran would form delegations to press their case at the United Nations and the International Court of Justice. Seeing the jihadists as heroes, Lebanese security officials released the hijackers. When Western aviation officials asked the government where the hijackers had gone, a Lebanese official said, “They have gone home. They are probably sipping hot coffee with their kin.”.
February 25, 1990: A gunboat flying a Syrian flag opened fire on a Cypriot ship transporting passengers from Lebanon to Cyprus. One person was killed and 25 were injured. The Cypriot ship had been flying the Lebanese flag when it was attacked.
February 25, 1990: An exiled Albanian leader was assassinated in his car in Brussels, Belgium.
February 25, 1990: A gunboat flying a Syrian flag opened fire on a Cypriot ship transporting passengers from Lebanon to Cyprus. One person was killed and 25 were injured. The Cypriot ship had been flying the Lebanese flag when it was attacked.
February 25, 1990: An exiled Albanian leader was assassinated in his car in Brussels, Belgium.
February 25, 1993: In Thailand, Muslims planted a bomb exploded outside an American-run oil depot in the Songkla Province, near the border with Malaysia. The device was similar to one used to terrorize passengers riding the Hat Yai railway in August 1992. That one had been deployed by Islamic fundmentalists wearing the Pattani United Liberation Front label.
February 25, 1994: A British tourist was stabbed by a Palestinian Muslim from Hebron.
February 25, 1994: Demonstrating what a prolonged terrorist assault is capable of doing to a man, Baruch Goldstein, a resident of the Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron, snapped, opening fire on Muslims at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, killing 29. The enraged Israeli wounded 250 Arabs before he was killed. Islamic riots broke out throughout Israel in response.
The exact date which Dr. Goldstein chose to carry out his one man genocide-suicide has a special significance for hard-core, fundamentalist Zionists. That year (1994), the jewish holiday of Purim (see Book of Esther in the Old Testament) fell on February 25th. Purim celebrates the mass killing of the jews’ ancient Persian enemies. The heroine of the story is named Hadassah. Hadassah and her Uncle Mordecai gain influence over King Xerxes and use that influence to save the jews from the persecution of the hated vizier named Haman.
Hadassah and Mordecai persuade Xerxes to issue a decree of extermination against Haman and the “anti-semites” of Persia. Under the direction of Uncle Mordecai, and the blessing of his puppet King Xerxes, the jews of Persia proceed to carry out a mass killing of Persians. Chapter 9 of The Old Testament Book of Esther tells the bloody story:
“All the people were seized with fear of the jews. Moreover, all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, governors, and royal procurators supported the jews for fear of Mordecai: for Mordecai was powerful in the royal palace and he was continually growing in power…In Susa, the jews killed and destroyed 500 men.
“The jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them: they did to their enemies as they pleased…..When the number of those killed was reported to the king, he said to Queen Esther:…”You shall be granted whatever you ask.” So Esther said, if it pleases your majesty, let the jews be permitted again tomorrow to act according to today’s decree, and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on gibbets.”……So the ten sons of Haman were hanged, and the jews mustered again…and killed 300 men in Susa. “The other jews who dwelt in the royal provinces also mustered….they killed 75,000 of their foes.”
An official inquiry later ruled that Goldstein had been working on his own and did not have an accomplice. Goldstein had lived in Israel for 11 years and was a doctor in the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, just outside Hebron.
As the settlement’s main emergency doctor he was involved in treating victims of Arab-Israeli violence. It is reported that his hatred became so intense that eventually he refused to treat Palestinians.
Goldstein had been a member of the Jewish Defence League, a violent organisation established by Rabbi Meir Kahane. Some settlers treated Goldstein as a saint, establishing a shrine to him that was forcibly removed by the Israeli Government in 1999.
In the thirty-four year history chronicled in the Islamic Terrorism Timeline, in all of the 2000 pages of evidence and events, this is the first significant act of terror perpetrated by a Jew against Arab Muslims. And while this man’s actions were inexcusable, the Muslims were not entirely innocent. Not only was their religion responsible for the massacre of millions of Jews starting with Muhammad himself, Muslims should never have built a mosque on a Jewish religious site.
There had been long-standing tensions between Muslims and Jews over the use of the Cave of the Patriarchs because Muslims didn’t belong there any more than Jews belonged building a synagogue around the Ka’aba in Mecca.
February 25, 1995: Two Turkish travel agencies in Cologne, Germany were attacked by Muslim Kurds armed with Molotov cocktails. At the site of the crime, PKK Kurdish literature was found.
February 25, 1996: The Palestinian religious and political organization HAMAS, detonated a pair of human bombs in public busses in Jerusalem and Ashkelon. They killed 28 civilians and wounded 80 more. Three of those injured were U.S. citizens—all of whom later died of their wounds.
In Islam, a woman’s womb is a weapon of mass destruction.
The first Islamic suicide bomber detonated himself on the No.18 Egged bus in Jerusalem. His 22-pound bomb killed 23 Jews and Americans while mutilating 50 others. Immediately after the attack, the Ezzedin al-Qassam wing of Hamas, claimed credit for the savagery, saying that it was in retaliation for the killing of Yehiya Ayyash—Hamas’ most notorious suicide bomb maker. While “The Engineer” had died in a bomb blast from a booby-trapped cell phone, it could well have been a case of premature detonation. And even if Israel had killed him, assassinating a mass murderer isn’t morally equivalent to committing mass murder – at least to non-Muslims that is.
The second Islamic suicide bomber blew himself to Allah 30 minutes later. He was riding in an Ashqelon bus. Trying to be as deceptive as possible, this bomber wore an Israeli army uniform. He killed three IDF soldiers and wounded thirty civilians.
February 25, 2001: An Israeli woman was wounded by Palestinian gunmen who fired into her car as she was driving near the West Bank settlement of Ofra. An Israeli man was wounded in a drive-by shooting near the West Bank settlement of Ateret.
On This Day Since 9/11
February 25, 2002: Tekoa, Israel. An Islamic terrorist kills two Jews and injures one other in a shooting attack.
February 25, 2002: Neve Ya’akov, Israel. One killed and two injured by a Palestinian terrorist while waiting for a bus.
February 25, 2003: Dilaram, Afghanistan. Senior Afghan official gunned down in Taliban-sponsored attack. His bodyguard is also injured in the shooting.
February 25, 2003: Zamboanga, Philippines. Muslim rebels attack a logging company and kill two employees.
February 25, 2003: Hameur El Ain, Algeria. Armed Islamists set up bogus roadblock and then stab or shoot to death twelve civilians. Seven others are injured in the attack.
February 25, 2003: Aidabaleten, East Timor. Pro-Jakarta militiamen attack a minibus in East Timor, killing one person and injuring two pregnant women.
February 25, 2003: Punzgam, India. A man is pulled brutally from his home and killed by a group of radical Muslims.February 25, 2004: Yelwa. Nigeria. Forty-nine members of a farming community are slaughtered by Muslim Fulanis after taking refuge in a local church. Most of the Christians were brutally hacked to death. The number of injured is unknownFebruary 25, 2005: Narathiwat, Thailand. Islamists murder a civilian in a coconut plantation.
February 25, 2005: Sokoto, Nigeria. Shia extremists kill three Sunnis as they are walking out of a mosque.
February 25, 2003: Tel Aviv, Israel. Three weeks after a truce-signing, a Palestinian suicide bomber kills five Israelis outside a nightclub. Forty-nine others in line are injured
February 25, 2006: Pattani, Thailand. A Thai soldier is killed after being ambushed by Islamic radicals
February 25, 2006: Baghdad, Iraq. Twenty-six bodies are found in six locations in the city. Some showed signs of torture.
February 25, 2006: Karbala, Iraq. Eight people are blown apart by a Sunni car bomb at a crowded market. At least thirty others are injured.
February 25, 2006: Baqubah, Iraq. In a horrible attack, thirteen members of a Shia family (representing three generations) are slaughtered by Sunni gunmen as they are fleeing the violence.
February 25, 2006: Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Ingushetia. A woman is killed when a militant throws a hand grenade trough the window of her house.
February 25, 2006: Sarhuti, India. Only weeks after the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen beheaded her fiance, the same group breaks into a young woman’s house and shoots her to death.
February 25, 2006: Baghdad, Iraq. Radicals attack a funeral procession for a journalist, killing at least three people.
February 25, 2007: Baghdad, Iraq. Nineteen people are murdered by Islamic terrorists in various attacks.
February 25, 2006: Baghdad, Iraq. Suicide bombers strike a university, slaughtering at least forty innocents in the reception area
February 25, 2006: Mosul, Iraq. Sectarian factions go on a killing spree, taking down at least two dozen Iraqis.
February 25, 2006: Kahan, Pakistan. A woman and two children are killed when Taliban-backed militants fire a rocket into a home.
February 25, 2006: Hebron, Israel, An Israeli settler is stabbed to death by Palestinian militants.
February 25, 2006: Larkana Tehsil, Pakistan. Three Hindu woman are gang-raped in their home at gunpoint by a Muslim gangFebruary 25, 2008: Mansehra, Pakistan. Two women are among five dead when Islamists attack and burn down a humanitarian agency office.
February 25, 2008: Mosul, Iraq. Three members of the same family are killed in their home by Jihads. Four other Iraqis are killed in a separate attack.
February 25, 2008: Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Eight people are killed when a suicide bomber rams into another vehicle along a city road.
February 25, 2008: Baghdad, Iraq. Three women are among four Shia pilgrims killed by radical Sunni bombers.
February 25, 2008: Haruja, Iraq. Eight women are kidnapped and executed by Islamic fundamentalists.
February 25, 2008: Mogadishu, Somalia. A young police officer is assassinated outside his home by Islamic militia members.
February 25, 2008: Helmand, Afghanistan. Religious extremists kill five civilians with a rocket.
February 25, 2008: Samarra, Iraq. A suicide bomber in a wheelchair murders three Iraqi policemen.
February 25, 2008: Mingora, Pakistan. A traffic cop is gunned down by Muslim militants.
February 25 2009
Scotland Yard’s claims to have put its racist past behind it suffered a blow yesterday when it was alleged that senior officers allowed a “culture of apartheid” at a police officers threatened black colleagues and refused to ride in the same van. station where white. The allegations will be heard at an employment tribunal tomorrow and will embarrass the force, whose head, Sir Paul Stephenson, yesterday said the Metropolitan police was no longer institutionally racist. He was speaking at a conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the Macpherson report into the bungled Stephen Lawrence murder investigation.
The allegations of discrimination and victimisation to be heard at a tribunal this week – which the Met will deny – centre on Belgravia police station in central London. A Muslim police community support officer (PCSO), Asad Saeed, claims white officers framed him by alleging he had abused and threatened to assault a drunk vagrant in a McDonald’s burger restaurant in central London. The officer was ordered to be dismissed, but later reinstated on appeal. Both of the internal police discipline hearings heard allegations of racism that Scotland Yard thought belonged to the canteen culture of two decades ago.
One senior white officer privately believed one of Saeed’s accusers was a racist, according to Saeed’s claims. The officer, a superintendent, wrote that the racism allegations were disturbing and that “it appeared the lessons of Lawrence were in need of relearning”, Saeed’s lawyers will claim at the tribunal.
According to Saeed’s grounds of claim, lodged with the court, white and ethnic minority community support officers at the station lived separate lives. Referring to one alleged incident, the ground of his claim says: “The claimant reported that on 23 February 2007 a [white] PCSO had ordered a black PCSO to get out of his patrol van and into ‘the black van’ where the claimant and another black PCSO were already sat. After the ejection of [the black] PCSO the van comprised only white PCSOs. The claimant reported that there was an ‘apartheid’ culture amongst the PCSOs at Belgravia and that when the [white] PCSO was driving the patrol van he refused to pick up the claimant during his shifts.”
In his claim Saeed says CCTV evidence from the incident that led to his dismissal was withheld from him by police bosses. He says it also shows one of his white colleagues, who claimed to have witnessed the incident, was not in the restaurant.
Saeed, a former publican, was accused by the white officers weeks after joining the Met as a PCSO. He had hoped to become a fully fledged police officer.
In its defence filed to the employment tribunal the Met says the two white PCSOs had claimed Saeed had threatened them. They say the officer did not make any allegation of racism until after he had been placed under investigation.
The Met’s defence says that at the hearing that led to Saeed’s dismissal the panel was concerned about the “demeanour” of one of his accusers.
It accepts other officers, apart from Saeed, made accusations that a white officer was “racist” including one black woman officer who “raised a concern that people were not confident that racism would not be tolerated”.
The Met’s document goes on to say: “The board was concerned by this evidence, but considered it was not germane to the allegations against the claimant.”
In a statement Scotland Yard said: “This is an isolated case and not representative of day-to-day reality in the Met. Diversity amongst PCSOs is good, 1 in every 3 PCSOs are from a black and minority ethnic background (BME) and last year (07/08) 52% of BME police officer recruits were previously PCSOs. This suggests working in the Met is a positive experience for most.
“Alfred John, chair of the Metropolitan branch of the Black Police Association, said: “It displays all the hallmarks of a very familiar and disturbing picture.”Saeed’s MP, George Galloway, said: “It is quite clear there was a culture of overt racism in the station whichwas tolerated, if not encouraged, by senior management.”Asad was wrongly dismissed from the police service.”
This above article was from The Guardian,
It is interesting to see the anti BNP spin the Daily Mail (home of Melanie Philips) puts into this article
Further claims include that one white PCSO ‘boasted’ his family were all members of the British National Party.
Mr Saeed is being backed by the Yard branch of the Black Police Association which has repeatedly clashed with senior officers in recent years.
See there is no problem for a Black Police Association, but when it comes to …..
My take on this is the British police force is good enough, in fact much superior to the police forces in Uganda or Pakistan, where beating up people outside Mcdonalds or killing people after fridays prayers is the rule of the day
It is interesting to compare the articles, the first in the Guardian is by an Indian (thumbs up), the second is in the Daily Mail and penned by Brits(thumbs down)
February 25, 2009 Killer Ordered Wife to Read from the Qur’an A TAXI driver stabbed his wife to death just days after his second arrest for allegedly abusing her, a court has been told.
Sabina Akhtar was murdered by Malik Mannan within five days of police cancelling bail conditions which banned him from contacting her, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Mr Mannan had been arrested for defying those conditions – imposed after Sabina told police she had been attacked by him as many as 25 times, the jury heard.
Sabina, 26, the mother of their three-year-old son, was found dead at the family home in Charlton Road, Levenshulme.
She died from a single stab wound to her chest which penetrated her heart. Mr Mannan, 36, of Meldon Road, Longsight, denies murder, claiming he acted in self-defence.
Sabina, from Bangladesh, had an arranged marriage with Mr Mannan, who was divorced, the court heard.
She became upset when she found he was having an affair with a woman she called his `other wife’ and with whom Mr Mannan had two young children, the jury was told.
But Sabina decided to `suffer in silence’ and stay with him.
After marrying in Bangladesh in 2003, Sabina learned of the affair in 2005. Despite assurances it was over, Mr Mannan kept seein the woman, said prosecutor Paul Reid. He said Mr Mannan subjected Sabina to a catalogue of threats and attacks – and last July she called police. But owing to her confusion and language difficulties, no formal complaint was recorded’. The next day, Mr Mannan slapped their son and he burned the marriage certificate, the jury was told. The court heard he grabbed Sabina’s throat and ordered her to read passages from the Koran. “This is your final hour,” he is alleged to have told her. The jury was also told he said to Sabina: “I am going to get a knife and when I return I am going to slaughter you.”
Sabina made a second complaint to police and Mr Mannon was arrested that day and later released on bail, on condition he did not approach his wife or go to their home. But the Crown says he continued to harass Sabina and was arrested on September 7 for defying his bail conditions. The jury was told Mr Mannan was arrested after he put his hand through the letter box and shouted to Sabina to open the door.
After he was released without charge and his bail conditions cancelled, the court heard he sent a text to Sabina boasting: “I am a free man since 1.30. Case file closed. Isn’t it great?” Mr Mannan’s family told police on September 12 they hadn’t heard from him, so officers broke into Sabina’s home and found her dead.ON THIS DAY Febuary 25 ISLAM
ILLUSTRATED P.I.G TO ISLAM 