Replies

“Police Seek Help Of “Counterparts Overseas””
By Ajay Makan
September 29, 2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “The Maldives police service has contacted “counterparts overseas” as they begin investigating the explosion in Malé on Saturday afternoon, the government’s chief spokesman has told Minivan News.

Mohamed Hussein Shareef stressed this did not mean police suspected international involvement in the explosion.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7020319.stm

Last Updated: Saturday, 29 September 2007, 21:38 GMT 22:38 UK

“Two arrested over Maldives bomb”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Two people have been arrested in connection with a bomb blast in the Maldives which left 12 tourists injured, local police have said.

Two Britons, two Japanese and eight Chinese tourists were hurt by the bomb in a park in the capital Male.

The injured British couple have been named as Christian Donelan, originally from Rotherham, and his wife Jennifer, whose maiden name is Green.
The Maldives Police Service said forensic tests were being carried out.

‘Burns and cuts’

Local media said a mobile phone and washing machine motor attached to a gas cylinder triggered the bomb - reported to have been homemade.”

Article Snippet:
“A witness reported seeing scattered nails after the blast.”

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gw4Prf18Iq-lpbCEh5Gx_toy0OyAD8RVK6NG0

“Maldives Bomb Wounds 12 Foreign Tourists”
By KRISHAN FRANCIS – 2 hours ago

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Maldives police have arrested two local men after a nail-packed bomb exploded in a busy park Saturday and wounded 12 foreign tourists, a government spokesman said Sunday.”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Government spokesman Mohamed Shareef said that police arrested the suspects hours after the blast. But no motive has been established yet, and it was unclear whether they would be charged.”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Shareef said Saturday was too early to say whether the bomb targeted the tourism industry or determing whether an Islamic jihadist organization was involved.

Some Western diplomats have expressed concern about the potential for violence in this Sunni Muslim country. Half the population is under 18, reasonably well-educated and with few prospects for good jobs. Some young people have turned to drug use, while others have embraced a conservative strain of Islam that had been virtually unheard of on the islands just a few years ago.”

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STEPPING BACK IN TIME...
In Other News...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1870270/posts

http://www.minivannews.com/news/news.php?id=3446

“Gang Rapists” Given Eight Months Exile”
By Ajay Makan
July 19, 2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Four men who had sex with a twelve year old girl after breaking into her home have been cleared of rape. A judge found the girl from Kurendhoo, Lhaviyani atoll, had consented to have sex with the men after they smashed her bedroom window with an axe.

The judge sentenced the four men to eight months exile from Kurendhoo for sex outside marriage. The sentence contradicts a government commitment to the UN in May that child sex offenders would be imprisoned rather than banished.

On January 31 the four men aged between nineteen and twenty-five used an axe to smash the window of the girl’s bedroom before taking her from her bed and having sex with her.

The state charged the four men with rape.

But in his summation 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 step mother about the event.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1828108/posts

http://www.minivannews.com/news/news.php?id=3200

“Aniya Arrested Over Article “Against Islam””
By Will Jordan in Male’
May 3, 2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Aishath Aniya was arrested on Thursday morning in connection with an article she wrote criticising the wearing of the veil.

She was apprehended by police at around 9:40am outside the offices of Minivan Daily newspaper as she parked her motorcycle. Aniya was lifted into the back of a police van and taken to Police Headquarters, before being transferred to the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs for questioning.”

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1890027/posts?page=2281#2281

UPDATE:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gw4Prf18Iq-lpbCEh5Gx_toy0OyAD8S02MQ80

“7 Men Arrested in Maldives Bomb Blast”
By KRISHAN FRANCIS – 2 hours ago

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Seven local men have been arrested in a home-made bomb explosion that wounded 12 foreign tourists in the Maldives, an official said Sunday. Some were detained at the airport allegedly trying to flee the country.

The nail-packed bomb exploded outside a crowded park in the Maldives capital, Male, on Saturday. It was the first such attack reported on the Indian Ocean archipelago renowned for its exclusive tourist resorts.

“Police have arrested seven men based on forensic evidence and now they have been named suspects,” government spokesman Mohamed Shareef said. “Some of them were trying to flee the country and were apprehended at the airport.

Shareef said the seven local men would be prosecuted for the attack. He said police would not yet release their names because authorities were still searching for other suspects.”

UPDATE:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/01/nmaldives201.xml

“Maldives were ‘warned of Islamic danger’:

Last Updated: 1:56am BST 01/10/2007

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “The Government of the Maldives had received explicit warnings of the dangers of rising Islamic fundamentalism but failed to take action to address the issue, the country’s former attorney-general told The Daily Telegraph.”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Two men were arrested yesterday in connection with the attacks. Local sources said they were “jewellery repairmen” who had been linked to the mobile telephone used to trigger the blast.

The attack, using a home-made device constructed from the telephone and a washing machine motor, has realised the worst fears of many Maldivians who have watched the traditionally moderate Sunni Muslim country grow increasingly radicalised.”