The Prosecutor General’s office declined to press charges over the alleged sexual abuse of a four-year-old girl in the Galolhu pre-school, the school revealed, condemning “misleading” media reports and allegations on social media about an elderly female toilet attendant.
The 63-year-old woman was arrested and briefly detained after the allegations surfaced in the media last October. According to the school, the education ministry informed this week that the case has been filed as no concerns regarding the accused employee were raised during the police investigation.
Venezuelan and Iranian ships transferred cargo just outside Maldivian territorial waters to evade U.S. sanctions, Reuters reported, citing monitoring services and shipping documents.
The Maldivian Democratic Party‘s election committee urged members and rival campaigns to ensure that voting on Saturday to elect a new chairperson as well as leaders for the youth and women’s wings is conducted peacefully and smoothly.
Economic Development Minister Fayyaz Ismail and MP Imthiyaz Fahmy are vying for the top post in the most fiercely contested internal polls in the MDP’s 17-year history, as infighting has split the ruling party into rival factions loyal to former president Mohamed Nasheed and incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
The candidates faced off in two heated TV debates during the final week of the campaign.
More than 94,000 members are eligible to vote and polling stations have been set up on 194 islands.
(UPDATE: Fayyaz won with 58% of the vote, according to provisional results).
The health ministry shut down a popular Hijama clinic for operating without a license. The clinic’s operator, Fazeela Usman, informed clients that she will reopen after completing a diploma needed to apply for a permit. No Hijama therapy clinic is presently registered in the Maldives, according to Fazeela, who said the health ministry has assured her that she would be granted a license after she submits the course certificate.
Hijama therapy or wet cupping involves cutting the skin and drawing blood with suction cups to treat a range of conditions.
Faxy’s Hijama Therapy’s closure came after a backlash on social media to the clinic’s claim that Hijama could control diabetes better than medicine or insulin. Fazeela’s lack of a license emerged during the ensuing controversy.
Graffiti calling for the arrest of former president Abdulla Yameen was spray-painted on the walls of his residence and the nearby Progressive Party of Maldives office in Malé’s outer ring road.
The PPM condemned the vandalism as “latest in line of a state sanctioned siege by pro-government elements”.
A 55-year-old man accused of sexually abusing six girls from his family was taken back into custody after the High Court overruled the criminal court’s conditional release of the suspect. Upon appeal by the Prosecutor General’s office, the High Court ordered the man to be detained for the duration of his trial.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Vilimalé, former president Abdulla Yameen threatened to jail the police commissioner and Supreme Court Justice Ali Rasheed if the opposition returns to power. The judiciary would be “purged” and prisons would need to be expanded, he said, alleging that Rasheed had been promoted from the criminal court as a reward for convicting Yameen of money laundering.
The opposition leader – who was freed after the Supreme Court overturned his conviction – also accused his half brother, former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, of orchestrating a coup attempt in February 2018. The government was forced to detain the elder statesmen after a determination by the national security council, Yameen said.
The Maldives High Commission in Kuala Lumpur started offering the SSC Dhivehi and Islam examinations to Maldivan students living in Malaysia. Six students studying in grade 10 will reportedly sit for the exams next month.
A shark attacked a 62-year-old fisherman after he fell overboard near Velifushi island in Lhaviyani Atoll. The coastguard assisted with taking the man to a hospital to treat leg injuries.
The police denied claims that a suspect in the attempt to assassinate former president Mohamed Nasheed in May 2021 was a police intelligence officer at the time of his arrest. Mohamed Fathih resigned in February 2021, police said.
The Prosecutor General’s office decided not to raise charges over his alleged involvement in the bomb attack.
The police press statement came after criticism from the former president and his family.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih ratified a new Associations Act, which will replace the 2003 associations law when it comes into effect in six months. The new law introduces updated processes for incorporation, registration, and regulation and specifies the rights and obligations of NGOs as well as the duties of the Registrar of Association, who will have the authority to formulate regulations and to dissolve inactive associations that fail to pay annual fees and meet a six-month deadline to settle due fines.
The law also “seeks to establish a mechanism to ensure the accountability of associations and to provide a legal framework for associations to contribute to the development of society. The law also specifies terms for fundraising, financial liabilities, and dissolution of registered associations.”
The Met Office declared the onset of the southwest monsoon over the southern atolls, marked by rainfall of 2.5mm or more and surface winds of 10 knots or more for two consecutive days.
The relatively drier northeast monsoon lasts from January to March with April as a transition month.
Customs seized 4.2kg of cocaine from the luggage of a tourist. The street value of the drugs was estimated to be MVR21 million (US$1.3 million).
Lecturers at the Maldives National University – whose wages have reportedly remained unchanged for 10 years —wore black to work in protest against their exclusion from a pay rise for teachers. The finance minister has promised an imminent hike but lecturers plan to continue protests until an official announcement.
