Showing posts with label Maldives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maldives. Show all posts

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Maldives won't allow debates on anti-Islamic issues: Foreign Minister

This is Islam in it's purest form. This is what the Islamists want to impose on YOU.

FROM HAVEERU.COM:

Maldives won't allow debates on anti-Islamic issues: Foreign Minister

Ahmed Hamdhoon, Haveeru News Service
Nov 26, 2011 - 04:09

The government will not allow debates to be held in the Maldives on issues that are against the fundamentals of Islam, Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem said today.

The minister's comments come two days after the UN human rights chief called for a public debate in the Maldives on the practice of flogging women found guilty of extra-marital sex.

Minister Naseem told Haveeru that the government would not open a basic Islamic principle such as flogging for public debate in the Maldives despite requests to do so.

"What's there to discuss about flogging? There is nothing to debate about in a matter clearly stated in the religion of Islam. No one can argue with God," he said.

"Our foreign ministry will not allow that to happen."

Naseem stressed that the government will not act against the views expressed by Islamic Minister Dr Abdul Majeed Abdul Bari on Navi Pillay's comments.

"The government will follow the recommendations given by the Islamic Ministry on religious issues. The government will not stand up against the views expressed by Bari, which is the view of the government [regarding Pillay's remarks]," he said.

"Maldives is a 100 percent Muslim country."

During her four-day visit to the country, Pillay told parliamentarians on Thursday that flogging women convicted of extra-marital sex is one of the most inhumane and degrading forms of violence against women.

"I strongly believe that a public debate is needed in Maldives on this issue of major concern," she said.

Pillay later told reporters that she held discussions with President Mohamed Nasheed, ministers and the judiciary on how to end the practice of flogging in the Maldives.

"At the very least, pending more permanent changes in the law, it should be possible for the government and the judiciary to engineer a practical moratorium on flogging," she proposed.

She also called on Maldivian authorities to remove the "discriminatory" constitutional provision that requires every citizen to be a Muslim.

"I would again urge a debate on that to open up the benefits of the constitution to all and to remove that discriminatory provision," she said.

Meanwhile, the UN human rights chief's comments sparked protests in capital Male with some calling for her arrest.

Protestors surrounded the UN Building yesterday, condemning Pillay's remarks and demanding an apology from the UN and parliamentarians.

Pillay's visit was the first such visit to the Maldives by a UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Maldives Arrests, Deports Indian Teacher for Owning Bible

Intolerance in paradise. Little Maldives is right up there with Saudi Arabia and Iran as far as religious intolerance is concerned. But then, they are just practicing pure Islam by following the example of Mohammed.

FROM COMPASSDIRECT.ORG:

Maldives Arrests, Deports Indian Teacher for Owning Bible

Island nation cracks down on preaching unofficial Islam, non-Islamic faiths.

NEW DELHI, October 21 (CDN) — Police in the island nation of Maldives held a teacher from India for about 15 days before deporting him on Oct. 14 for having a Bible in his house, a source said.


Shijo Kokkattu, a 30-year-old Catholic and teacher at the Raafainu School in Raa Atoll, had been arrested in late September after police found a Bible and a rosary in his house during a raid, a foreign source in the capital city of Male told Compass by phone.


Charging that Kokkattu was preaching his Christian faith in the Muslim nation, which recently tightened restrictions on preaching and practice of non-Islamic faiths, police took him to another island for interrogation and kept him in custody for more than two weeks, said the source, who requested anonymity.


Police raided his home after Kokkattu’s colleagues found Christian materials on a school computer he had used and reported it to authorities. While downloading material from his pen drive, Kokkattu had mistakenly downloaded some Catholic songs in the Malayalam language (used in a south Indian state) and a picture of the Virgin Mary.


“The videos were in Indian, so I don’t know what they were saying, but the images were Christian,” school principal Mohamed Shiraj told Minivan News, an independent news portal based in the Maldives.

Article continues HERE.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Indian Catholic jailed in the Maldives over a Bible and a rosary

Islam in action in the Maldives. It looks like the government of the Maldives is vying with Saudi Arabia as the most religiously repressive regime on Earth.

But then, this is just what Islam is and does.


FROM ASIANEWS.IT:

10/07/2011 16:14
INDIA – MALDIVES

Indian Catholic jailed in the Maldives over a Bible and a rosary

by Nirmala Carvalho

Shijo Kokkattu, a 30-year-old teacher, was betrayed by his colleagues because he accidentally left a picture of Our Lady and some Marian songs on a school computer. Islam is state religion in the Maldives, where there is no freedom of worship. For Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, religious intolerance and injustice are the “worst form of persecution”.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) – Shijo Kokkattu, an Indian Catholic from Kerala, has been languishing in a Maldives prison for more than a week because he had a Bible and a rosary at his home. Both items are banned on the archipelago.

“The lack of justice and the degree of religious intolerance” on the islands “are reflected by the actions of the Maldives government,” said Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC). “This is the worst form of religious persecution. The Indian government should demand an apology for the shabby treatment inflicted on one of its citizens.”

Islam is state religion in the Maldives. There is no freedom of worship. In 2008, a constitutional amendment denied non-Muslims the right to obtain Maldivian citizenship.

Shijo, 30, has taught at Raafainu School on Raa Atoll for the past two years. Recently, whilst transferring some data from his pen drive to the school laptop, he accidentally copied Marian songs and a picture of Mother Mary into the system. Some teachers reported the matter to the police who raided his home and found a Bible and a rosary in his possession.

Shijo Kokkattu’s case shows the paradox of the Maldives, a nation that “claims to be a major tourist destination, yet arrests innocent people,” George said. “This shows its intolerance and discrimination towards non-Muslims as well as its restrictions on freedom of conscience and religion.”

“Religious freedom remains a taboo on the archipelago,” the GCIC president explained. “Muslims refuse all other forms of worship other than the one approved by the state. Doing the opposite means arrest. Kneeling, folding one’s hands or using religious symbols like crosses, candles, pictures or statues can lead to government action.”

For George, “All this is a clear violation of universal human rights. If Muslims living in non-Muslim countries can enjoy religious rights, the spirit of reciprocity should apply to countries like the Maldives and Saudi Arabia.”